So why is Sublime’s 40oz. To Freedom on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
All Sublime albums are shaggy affairs replete with experimentation in which not everything works – and that includes the relatively more polished self-titled Sublime LP (#211 of the best 1,000 albums ever), the band’s breakout album in 1996.
But for me, 40oz. to Freedom is the one with the highest highs, the sweetest ska and dub grooves, all thrown in a blender with SoCal-flavored skate punk and Latin-flavored rhythms.
Sublime is a wholly original band – there will never be another precisely like them. And that’s the kind of magic that drew me to embarking on this long, wild, and admittedly crazy journey through the best 1,000 albums ever.
If I had to choose a favorite song on 40oz. to Freedom, it’s the medley that’s a combination of a Toots & The Maytals’ cover song and a Sublime original, packaged together as, “5446 Thats My Number/Ball and Chain.”
It’s my favorite version of the band overall, though I’d note that Sublime’s variety and range is one of its strengths. But the ever so slightly punk rock edge and up-tempo beat applied to Toots’ great roots reggae original, coupled with the perfect segue into “Ball and Chain,” is musical bliss for me every single time I throw it on.
“Don’t Push” is my favorite dub-infused Sublime track that even gets as close to hip-hop as Nowell and the band will ever get. Side note that Brad Nowell’s voice is really great, and this is a song in which he gets to show off multiple aspects of what he’s capable of.
Well, I might take back most of what I just stated above, but replace “Don’t Push” with “D.J.’s” (it’s that kind of album, okay?).
“Smoke Two Joints” is one of those song titles where you know everything you need to know about the lyrics of the song right there. It’s sort of a stoner anthem on its own, but also includes an absolutely classic audio clip from the movie, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, where this very square character speculates on whether someone else was into habitually smoking “marijuana cigarettes.”
This one always makes me smile as well because my good friend and rugby teammate in college, Dave, was the one who introduced me to this song (and Sublime, and other great ska punk bands of the era, such as Voodoo Glow Skulls; he was very ahead of the curve that way). And I recall him saying – with a smirk and a glint in his eye – this song is called “Smoke Two Joints,” it’s about smoking two joints.
Not to get confused with “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” of course.
“Badfish” is a tremendous song – truly special and unique – that in sound is sweet and melancholy and reminds me of going to scruffy, extra low budget parties during my early days of living of California. Lyrically, it’s a pitch black affair: via Wikipedia, badfish “is slang for a heroin user who gets someone else hooked on the drug…. and the song is described as being an anti-drug song to the scene that Sublime frequented early on.”
And that gets all the darker as Sublime frontman and guitarist Brad Nowell succumbed to a heroin overdose in 1996 (just at the moment when Sublime was about to become one of the most popular bands in the country).
The title track, “40oz. to Freedom,” meshes hard rock and dub in a way that I’m pretty sure no other band could pull off. Sublime surely does pull it off, with Brad Nowell’s performance and personality permeating every instant.
Some stats & info about Sublime’s 40oz. To Freedom
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Ska Punk, Punk Rock, Punk Revival, Third Wave Ska Revival, Alternative Rock, SoCal Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3 out of 5 stars
- When was 40oz. To Freedom released? 1992
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #160 out of 1,000
Sublime’s 40oz. To Freedom on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Sublime’s 40oz. To Freedom that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Lord knows I’m weak – won’t somebody get me off this reef?
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.