BY OLIVER KOGOD//
Returning to in-person school has been an exciting experience so far. It’s fun to see so many people who all seem happy to be back. From our collective re-entrance to school, I have a few observations. The observation I think about the most is the amount of people I’ve seen on campus wearing Sublime t-shirts or sweatshirts. It feels like every day, walking between classes, I witness someone rocking a shirt with the stoned sun from the 40oz to Freedom album.
Seeing the Sublime logo so often has left me with a lot of questions. A major one is, has Sublime become another Nirvana/Ramones? Bands whose logos have been commodified and printed on Hot Topic-type brand shirts. Or are people actually fans of Sublime? Side note story: I remember during a biology class junior year of high school, this person I kinda knew came in with a Sublime sweatshirt on. As a devoted Sublime fan, I quickly asked her to name five songs by the band (I know this is not nice, I realize now that doing sh*t like that is stupid and gatekeep-y). Nonetheless, she failed to do so and rebuked me by sarcastically telling me to name 40 Sublime songs. If you don’t get it, her aim was to tell me to do an impossible task so I wouldn’t actually do it. So, guess what I did! I named 40 Sublime songs off the top of my head. If you look at my biology notebook, I have the titles of 40 different Sublime songs written out.
You may be wondering why I can name so many Sublime songs off the top of my head. My answer? Cause Sublime rules. People on the internet really love to hate this band, but I feel differently. The group crafts a grooving, relaxed sound that no one else has been able to make. Their mixing of genres and styles is pioneering and admirable. 40oz to Freedom and the self-titled album are all time classics. Even deeper cuts and lesser known albums/EPs/compilations are excellent. People forget that the band is more than Santeria.
Maybe I like Sublime because I’m from California and know what it’s like to spend a hot day jumping in the ocean. I recognize not everyone has felt that and because of that, music like Sublime’s may be meaningless. But, whether these people I see around campus with Sublime clothes on are fans of the music or not, I am still glad the group’s imagery is being propagated widely. RIP Bradley.