Pick a Day

Drummer Bud Gaugh is born Floyd I. Gaugh IV in Long Beach, California. With lead singer Brad Nowell and bass player Eric Wilson, he forms Sublime in 1988. After Nowell's death in 1996, he and Wilson keep making music together but can't use the Sublime name until Nowell's son Jakob joins them in 2023.

Sublime lead singer Brad Nowell is born in Long Beach, California. He dies of a drug overdose in 1996 at 28, just months before the band break through with a string of hits that includes "Doin' Time" and "Santeria." Sublime return to action with Brad's son Jakob at the helm in 2023.

Sublime bass player Eric Wilson is born in Long Beach, California.

Future ska legends Sublime whip up the crowd at a backyard gig in Long Beach in a scene that explodes into chaos, riot, and seven arrests. It becomes known in fan lore as "the Peninsula Incident."

Ska music bubbles under in America as Billboard publishes a cover story called "Hunt for 'Next Big Thing' Unearths Ska Underground." Bands like No Doubt, Reel Big Fish and Sublime soon break through with ska-inflected sounds.

Sublime frontman Brad Nowell dies of a heroin overdose at age 28, just one week after marrying Troy Dendekker, the mother of his 11-month-old son, Jakob.More

Fewer than 900 attendees are present to witness the final live performance of Brad Nowell of Sublime. The venue is the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, California. Nowell is found dead from an overdose the next day.

Brad Nowell of Sublime marries Troy Dendekker, the mother of his son, Jakob. He dies of a drug overdose a week later.

Sublime's self-titled album is released. It's their major-label debut, and also their last, as lead singer Brad Nowell died of a heroin overdose two months earlier. The album goes on to sell over 5 million copies.More

With ska booming in America, Time magazine runs an article titled "It's a Ska World After All." Sublime, No Doubt and 311 all have albums on the chart.

Lou Dog, beloved mascot of the band Sublime (you can hear him on "Doin' Time"), passes away from old age. After the untimely death of frontman Brad Nowell, who rescued Lou Dog from being chained to a toilet in a yard, he'd spent his remaining years living with Sublime's manager, Miguel Happoldt.

At Coachella, two of the biggest ska bands of the '90s reunite: Sublime and No Doubt. Sublime is fronted by Jakob Nowell, whose father Brad was the group's lead singer until his death in 1996. For No Doubt, it's their first show since 2015.

Sublime, recently re-formed with original lead singer Bradley Nowell's son Jakob on vocals, go to #1 on the Alternative Airplay chart with "Ensenada," their first trip to the top of that chart since "What I Got" in 1996.