I loved the White Stripes first album, played it over and over one summer. I have never fallen in love with another, liked some tracks but felt like much of it was overworked when it was original sounding and sometimes overly derivative. There is no way they are the worst thing to happen to Rock and Roll. I think they were a good thing. When they came out Rock was fettered by a a bunch of shitty bands. Third Eye Blind, Sublime, Green Day and Pearl Jam were touch stones for a generation and they were just fucking horrible. The Stripes shook that shit up a lot. Way better to have crunch aggressive blues rock than what ever it is that you call the generation of rock that was out before them.
I like them inasmuch as I like can listen to certain songs I liked twenty years ago. Sacrilegious as it may be I like their cover of Trenchtown Rock more than the original, if only due to Bob Marley's low quality production. This article made me feel guilty for even still liking what little I like: http://www.avclub.com/article/jonah-ray-his-intense-burning-hatred-sublimes-what-206997 If I remember the guy likes Minor Threat, hates people who do drugs, personally I think straight edge people are kinda stupid but I found his argument very persuasive. I've done drugs, I might do drugs right now if you offered them to me, but I also hate people who's primary personality trait is how much weed they smoke. Sublime does represent that bro subculture of guys very well. That said, there are a number of tracks off 40oz. to Freedom that I still enjoy.
I think I've pinpointed what I don't like about the viewpoint of Sublime displayed in that article. I don't like the idea that music has to have a message for it to be good. There's plenty of good music that has no message whatsoever. I think it's silly to write off an artist merely based on the lyrical content and barely take into account the actual music. I think Sublime did a very good job of writing music that's enjoyable to listen to. Sure they're not campaigning to change the world or fight the system but not everyone needs to do that.
I agree, I think Sublime pretty much is the touchstone for 3rd wave ska. By therein lies the issue. They aren't a rock n' roll band, they a pop ska band. I think rock n' roll is effectively dead as a genera. I feel it died in the 70's and we just keep shoehorning bands from different styles into it as an umbrella term, and then getting frustrated when they don't really fit.
I can't remember, you may have seen me post these albums before. If not, you may enjoy one or both of these bands. I'm fucking pissed I just missed a show with both of them on the bill a couple weeks ago.I think rock n' roll is effectively dead as a genera. I feel it died in the 70's
I'm butting up against my mobile data limit, so I'll have to wait until I get home to listen. And I readily admit that there are still bands that carry on the torch. I guess I really just feel that the term has been diluted to the point of being meaningless for conveying what to expect.
Sublime is a gateway drug to 3rd wave ska without wholly being it. They ware their influences on their sleeve in a charming way and those influences are diverse and only partly ska. They are as much a gateway to The Decedents, Operation Ivy, various punk and hardcore acts, ska and reggee without being a pure form of any of them. As someone who played in 3rd wave ska bands long before Sublime came out the groups that everyone aspired to be like in the the 3rd wave were more along the lines of Bad Manners, The Toasters and Let Go Bowling. @Yeollowoftops@ post with Sublime and Gwen is a pretty good example of the whole Rockin Ska that No Doubt and Sublime pushed. I think it's a branch off the tree.
I've been waiting for an opportunity to tell this story for about a week, this isn't a very good segue but I'm going to force it anyway because I'm afraid I'll forget this ridiculous story. Around 2000-2001 me and a couple friends went to see Voodoo Glow Skulls and Pulley play at a club in Little Rock. One of the opening acts was a Christian ska bad. A three piece ska band made up of high school kids with a horn section that was a trumpet. They played a cover of Bryan Adams "Summer of '69" with the words changed to be about going to Bible camp in 1999. It was an origin story for an awful band told within the framing device of one of the worst musical choices ever forgotten by humanity: the Christianized Bryan Adams cover. They also asked the sound guy to make changes after every song and were about as annoying as you'd expect for a group with such poor judgement. Sorry for the tangent. I was just thinking about how weird that was and wanted to share. As a side not the VGS tour bus broke down which was disappointing but we got an extended Pulley set that was fun as hell.
Little fun trivia that you may not have heard: Gwen Stefani and Sublime did a song when they both were tramping around Orange County. The live version The recorded version