10 Legendary Artists That Never Saw Their Last Music Record Come Out

Around the same time that grunge was dominating the charts, there was a bit of a different buzz coming from just south of Seattle. Back in California, Bradley Nowell was more into the reggae flavor of rock and roll, crafting Sublime into something that was a lot more punchy than the likes of hair metal, with songs that you could listen to either basking in the sun or getting stoned depending on your mood. Right when they were about to explode though, Bradley ended up passing away of a heroin overdose while on the road.

Without their frontman, any hope for the band continuing ended on the spot, as Brad Gaugh and Eric Wilson tried to get other gigs in the meantime. Something funny happened on the radio at the time though, with some of the biggest stations in the world picking up the songs off their final record, sending What I Got and Santeria into the charts, along with the rest of their albums getting a sudden boost in sales after the fact.

For all of the pot that was being smoked around this time, there was a certain magic in this record that Bradley hadn't really hit on before, bringing the more unsavory sounds of California and treating them with just as much respect as the glamorous side of life. Most of us like to remember California as this hub of sunshine and endless fun in the sun, but Sublime's self titled is practically the street rat version of what the Beach Boys were talking about back in the day.