Did you know that Sublime's Self Titled album almost had a different title and cover? Or that one of the songs includes a take where Bradley sang the wrong lyrics? What about the famous actor who was bitten by Lou Dog during the filming of a music video? Stick around and we'll answer these questions and more.
10 Fun Facts About Sublime's Self Titled Album
1. Tragedy
Sublime's
self-titled album met with monumental success, reaching the Top 20 of
the Billboard 200 and spending over 3 years on Billboard charts.
However, singer and songwriter Bradley Nowell would not be around to
enjoy any of the album's success because he unfortunately passed away of
a drug overdose on May 25, 1996 in a San Francisco hotel room while the
band was on tour, just two months before the release of the album. He
was only 28 years old.
2. Killin It
Sublime's self-titled album was originally planned to be called Killin It but this title was changed following singer Bradley Nowell's passing as it was determined that it would be in bad taste. It's also hard to imagine the album cover with anything other than Bradley's iconic back tattoo.
3. Friends Don't Let Friends Get Stomach Tattoos
Speaking of the popular Sublime tattoo, Bradley originally wanted to have it done on his stomach. However, his artist Opie Ortiz suggested that he get it on his back because nobody would see a stomach tattoo if it was always going to be hidden behind a guitar.
I'm just gonna
go ahead and say what everyone else is probably thinking at this point
but a big "thank you" to Opie Ortiz for saving us from the possibility
of an album cover featuring a stomach tattoo. No offense to Bradley or
his stomach but I do agree that getting the tattoo across his shoulders
was a much better choice.
4. No Bozos
The popular album cover for Sublime's self-titled album featuring singer Bradley Nowell's tattoo is actually a photograph taken by tattoo artist Opie Ortiz after he finished working on the piece for Bradley. It's not uncommon at all for a tattoo artist to take a photograph of the finished work. However, very few of such photos end up becoming iconic album covers.
The original album cover was supposed to feature the slobbish clown watching TV in his underwear. However, this piece was moved inside the CD booklet when the band decided to go with Opie's photo in honor of Brad after his passing.
"The original album art for Self Titled, it was an idea that we were gonna do this clown sitting in a chair, and it's like a fat clown. He's relaxing in his lounge chair with his drugs or whatever looking out the window and that was gonna be the album art...
And then what happened with Brad's passing is we had changed it to the picture that I'd tooken of the tattoo with the floral border pattern and then we moved the clown to the inside of the cd jacket." - Opie Ortiz, Sublime (Behind The Cover), TheofficialSublime, YouTube (Jul 30, 2021)
f the debut album -- what does this title mean to you personally?
It was just the way I was feeling when I wrote that record. I was in a really dark place and the record was kind of my way of working through it.
How was the overall creative and recording process for the full length album?
It was good, honestly it was very smooth. I did the record myself, I have a studio in my house. I would just go down and write songs whenever I’m bored or if I can’t sleep in the middle of the night I would just go and work on music. It went well.
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
f the debut album -- what does this title mean to you personally?
It was just the way I was feeling when I wrote that record. I was in a really dark place and the record was kind of my way of working through it.
How was the overall creative and recording process for the full length album?
It was good, honestly it was very smooth. I did the record myself, I have a studio in my house. I would just go down and write songs whenever I’m bored or if I can’t sleep in the middle of the night I would just go and work on music. It went well.
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Read More: 5 Questions With Caleb Shomo of Beartooth: New Album ‘Disgusting,’ Leaving Attack Attack! + More | https://loudwire.com/5-questions-caleb-shomo-beartooth/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
5. Deebo's Dog Bite
The music video for Santeria features notable actor Tom Lister Jr performing as the Sancho character. Fans of the 1995 Ice Cube comedy Friday might recognize him as the bike-stealing antagonist Deebo. While his character spent most of the sequel Next Friday inside of a dog-kennel, the actor was also bitten on the lip by Lou Dog while filming the music video for Santeria where he apparently got a little too close for the famed dalmatian's comfort.
6. 6-9
Attentive listeners may have noticed that although the Sublime song about the infamous Los Angeles Riots is titled "April 29, 1992" which is the day the actual riots occurred, the lyrics clearly mention April 26. Bradley allegedly sang the wrong date by mistake but otherwise the take still sounded good enough that it was used on the final cut of the album.7. Cancel Me Down
The popular Sublime song "Caress Me Down" was never released as a single but received significant radio airplay on rock alternative stations throughout the 90s. However, as of 2020 the song has allegedly been removed from many playlists due to a controversy surrounding Ron Jeremy, who is mentioned in the song's lyrics.
8. Doin Time in the Summertime
9. Rock Star Obsession
Although some speculate that Bradley Nowell's drug addictions may have been initiated by his early
prescriptions of Ritalin as a youth, The Sublime singer's wife attributed his heroin
use to an unhealthy obsession with rock stars.
10. No More War
The story of Sublime's self-titled album and its meteoric rise to the top of the billboard charts is ultimately a tragedy. However, some of Bradley Nowell's surviving friends and family members try to look at the situation as a dark cloud with a silver lining.
As Bradley's wife explained:
“You know, the one thing that gave me the most peace after Brad died... was when his first love, Eileen, came to me and said, ‘He did everything that he wanted to do, and he went to sleep. He was tired and went to sleep.’ The way she put it was exactly true. Brad was so tired – he really was. He was tired of letting everyone down, of letting himself down; he was tired of trying to stay clean, tired of everything...
Brad had accomplished everything he wanted... He always wanted to have a baby... He wanted to get his family back... He wanted to get this album written, and he wanted it to be the best one he ever wrote. And he did. He wanted his band to have glory. And they did...
I’m not saying that it’s OK that Brad died, because it’s not OK. So many things have happened that I wish he could see – Sublime being nominated for awards and their videos being on MTV all the time and their songs played on the radio. Or things will happen with me, and Brad’s the first person I want to tell, ’cause we were best friends. I want to see his reaction to all this.
What’s OK is [that] there’s no more struggle, no more war. That struggle took up a lot of our energy and our time, and it was horrible. He’s at peace now.” - Troy Dendekker; Bradley Nowell: Life After Death, Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone (Dec 25, 1997)
Sources:
Sublime (Behind The Cover), TheofficialSublime, YouTube (Jul 30, 2021) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzzFDHKtjQw
Bradley Knowell: Life After Death, Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone (Dec 25, 1997) - https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bradley-nowell-life-after-death-250120/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caress_Me_Down
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santeria_(song)