"Brad
had an addictive personality. Before he was addicted to heroin, he was
addicted to girls; it was a different girl every night. I was afraid he
was going to get AIDS"--Eric Wilson
If Sublime traced it's beginnings back, they'd start in 1986, in Long Beach,
CA's punk scene. In 1990, Brad, Eric and Bud self-released a tape called
'Jah Won't Pay the Bills and Sublime began to emerge from Long Beach's
party circuit. After the1992 release of 40 oz. to Freedom, and selling
30,000 copies of it from the trunk of their car, the band turned into a
tidal wave of local support. A second CD, two years later was a less compelling
release. Robbin' The Hood was less popular due in part to Brad's increasing
involvement with heroin, but it hardly prevented Sublime from expanding
their influence. Later in 1994, Sublime came to the attention of Gasoline
Alley, a MCA subsidiary and signed with them. In January, 1995 a Los Angeles
radio station added Date Rape from 40 oz. to its play list. The song became
the most requested track for the next 16 weeks.
Until Nowell's death, the legend of Sublime continued to grow, due to their
alcohol inspired antics on the road. In 1995, they were kicked off the
Warped Tour for bad behavior and earned a reputation for never letting
an insult pass unanswered. Eric Wilson recalls that, "Two years ago, we
played with 311 in Santa Barbara and they acted really snotty because they
had a big tour bus and we didn't. So after sound check, when they had their
sampler on the stage, Brad deleted all their samples before the show. I
don't know how they played the show; we didn't stick around to find out."
Written
by Adam Fetcher
