11/2/2022 0 Comments Sublime wrong way lyrics![]() ![]() I wasn’t really aware of what else was out there, but they also had a hold on my environment. I’ll admit that I was a Sublime fan in high school, partly because I only had the radio, a small handful of CDs, including the City of Angels soundtrack, and very little access to the then still burgeoning internet. And accepting Sublime into my heart after two decades of rejecting them is the final concession to this truth. Multiple men have shown up at my door for a date on a skateboard! These are all a product of my environment that endear me even if I’m poking fun at them. ![]() I love the excessive use of a shaka gesture. I love a Home Goods-looking wall sign that says “Positive Vibes,” even if I’d never allow one in my apartment. And, the effects of nature and nurture mean that while I haven’t owned a pair of flip flops since high school and the mere sight of an acoustic guitar puts me on high alert for the threat of “Tears in Heaven,” I kind of love this shit. The archetype of a local San Diegan-drives a vehicle with Tribal Gear decals, longboards to the fish taco joint, wears Chucks to weddings, perhaps enjoys hula hooping at the beach-is a long-running joke among locals, and while it would be reductive and inaccurate to say this is what all of San Diego is like, there's some truth to it. So it’s truly everywhere, all the time, nearly impossible to avoid and as a result the lyrics to “Californication” sit there in your brain, being known. or Switchfoot, and bands that are SoCal in spirit, like 311 and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The local alternative radio station, 91X, keeps the band on heavy rotation (by mandate, from what my friends at the station used to tell me), along with other San Diego-centric bands like P.O.D. Long Beach as in “with so much drama in the LBC it’s kind of hard bein’ Snoop D-O double G.'' So yes, hip-hop and rap, like everywhere else in the world, have a huge influence in the area, and the mix of all this creates a powder keg of bravado, boyish immaturity, a preternatural lean towards good vibes, and the “appreciation” of various sounds and cultures. Long Beach, where Sublime comes from, is just 94 miles away. Then there’s the large population of Latinx people and the city’s proximity to Mexico, which inevitably impacts the local culture. ![]() This is where the appropriation of Jamaican stereotypes and culture comes in. All that is largely tied to its surf and skate culture, which also helped birth its punk and ska scene. ![]() For context, the carpet at the San Diego airport has stickers that read “spread good vibes” as a response to COVID. Like Sublime, San Diego (and other parts of Southern California) preaches the gospel of chillaxin’. There are also these fine words from “Caress Me Down”: “Mucho gusto me llamo Bradley / I’m hornier than Ron Jeremy / And if you wanna get popped in your knee / Just wipe that look off your batty face.” Count ‘em: that’s two cultures being appropriated. Take these lyrics from “What I Got,” for example: “Why I don't cry when my dog runs away / I don't get angry at the bills I have to pay / I don't get angry when my mom smokes pot / Hits the bottle and goes right to the rock / Fuckin' and fightin', it's all the same / Living with Louie Dog's the only way to stay sane.” Sublime was an intrinsic part of my upbringing in San Diego, a city that so prides itself in its sunny and mellow disposition it’s practically the encapsulation of a Sublime song. Their popularity runs deep, and in certain parts of the U.S., they are inescapable. As a result, their audience is massive and wide-ranging: How many bands’ music can you hear played at a frat party, a skateboarding competition, a kickback in the hood, or a Chili’s? Comedian Brian Posehn hit on pretty much all the reason why Sublime is such a divisive band in The AV Club’s Hate Song. It’s easy to make these sort of cliché jokes about the band because they really do epitomize the very concept of cargo shorts music: alternative enough to seem radical but bland enough to be (mostly) inoffensive. ![]()
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