Are we really discrediting the caliber of music they play because of the marketing or the pushing of singles after the singer’s death?

I know this blog is pop-centric, but maybe its a little too superficial for me.

Santeria may be overplayed, but what about: Garden Grove, What I Got, Wrong Way, April 29, 1992, Doin’ Time, Waiting for my Ruca, 40oz to freedom, Smoke Two Joints, Badfish, the Scarlet Begonias cover, Date Rape, Rivers of Babylon, Same in the End. What about Saw Red with Gwen Stefani?

Even if you don’t like them, how can you possible put them into the worst band folder?

I will say, however, even when I was into them, “Santeria” was the one song on the self-titled album I skipped without fail. It’s really boring and it doesn’t have the hodgepodge production and sloppy sampling that could mask the shitty lyrics and awkward warbling like the rest of the album could.

Oh, and I’ve got a bro rock band to add…Sugar Ray, bitches. They were like the prettier version of Sublime that all the ladeez loved, which naturally attrcted throngs of bros.

I’d say this still neatly encapsulates my feelings on Sublime.

“Wrong Way,” Sublime
Remember when the death of a band member was reason enough to stop promoting a record? I know, naive question, but there’s a difference between putting out hits and live compilations (cf. Nirvana) and pushing new singles from an act that won’t be around to record a follow-up album. The Traveling Wilburys stopped pushing their first album after the second single, because the videos were gonna get too morbid if every time you heard Roy Orbison, they cut to an rocking chair (the trope in the “End of the Line” clip). Even a new band with tons of promise would, until recently, stop for death; in ‘95, For Squirrels recorded a pretty terrific major-label debut, lost half its members in a van accident, and dutifully dropped off the face of the earth. Remember in ‘94 the then-comparably-restrained Courtney Love stopped promoting Hole’s album for almost a year because her husband died? Not even a band member, just a spouse?!

As for Sublime…okay, “What I Got”–a fine single, and there’s enough footage of Bradley Nowell to make a respectable video; why not promote it and rack up some royalties for his kid? But now we’re on single #3, and they’ve used up all the bad camcorder footage of Nowell from before-they-broke club shows; they’re now reduced to using outtakes of the bad camcorder footage. If MTV wasn’t the key to MCA’s marketing campaign for Sublime (guaranteed, they would have sold one-tenth the records without Matt Pinfield plugging them every hour), this wouldn’t be so offensive. And by the looks of it, the other three guys are lost. I mean, doesn’t it hurt? There they are, dragging their asses through Brad-less video after video, and they know exactly how and when the ride is going to end. Talk about prolonging the agony. (4.0)

Quite possibly one of the least apropos shows to play that song at. I was helping out at the Planned Parenthood table which was surprisingly rarely frequented. Who likes domestic violence and hates free condoms? Answer: that campus.

Heh, “Bro’ Rock,” that’s acccurate.