Died On This Date (May 25, 1996) Brad Nowell / Sublime

Brad Nowell
February 22, 1968 – May 25, 1996

Brad Nowell was the guitarist and lead singer for Southern California punk band, Sublime. In a sad twist of fate, Nowell’s death from a heroin overdose on the eve of the release of their major label debut helped it become one of the most successful albums of the year. By the time Nowell was eleven, his parents were divorced, perhaps leading him to the local sounds of punk and hip-hop for an escape. It was at this age that Nowell’s father took him to the Virgin Islands where he was introduced to a heavy dose of reggae music which would become the integral part of the music he would go on to make. After returning home, Nowell was given his first guitar, and never looked back. At twenty, he co-founded Sublime along with fellow Cal State Long Beach students, Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh. With a sound that was equal parts punk, ska, reggae and hip-hop, the band quickly became the local rage often playing at bars and parties in exchange for alcohol. The band soon recorded and released 40 Oz to Freedom on their own Skunk Records. That album contained a song called “Date Rape” which found its way to Los Angeles powerhouse alternative station, KROQ who added it into rotation, causing the request lines to explode. The song quickly became one of the most popular songs at KROQ that summer and grabbed the attention of executives at MCA Records who snapped the band up and put them into the studio to record their follow-up album. It was around this time that Nowell began to descend into the depths of substance abuse. Upon the completion of Sublime, the band embarked on a west coast run of dates in preparation of their first European tour. On May 25, 1996, as the band was checking out of their San Francisco hotel, Gaugh went to fetch Nowell only to find him face down in his room, dead of a heroin overdose. MCA Records and the surviving members debated whether to still release Sublime but ultimately decided to go ahead so that potential profits could go to help raise the one-year-old son Nowell left behind. The album went on to sell over 5 million copies.

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