Sublime Slated to Reunite... or Are They?

When an artist dies, it's often mourned as the end of a creative and productive musical life. One that cannot possibly return to greatness, save the odd Tupac or Michael Jackson who leave already made music behind. However, when the leader of a band dies tragically, like Nirvana's legendary Kurt Cobain or Sublime's distinctive Brad Nowell, they leave behind them a band that is oftentimes capable of carrying on their legacy. In the case of Cobain, this obviously didn't happen, as he was the sole singer and songwriter and carrying Nirvana on without him would've been a ludicrous, if not sacrilegious idea. In Nowell's case, however, he left behind two eager and capable band-mates who are, thirteen years after his death, eager to get Sublime started up again.

Legal matters in 2009 have swirled around the issue of misusing the likeness and property of these two deceased rock stars. Cobain's estate challenged the completely absurd (but Satan, er…Courtney Love sanctioned) decision by Activision to include a fully playable avatar of Cobain in Guitar Hero 5. It was a decision that drew the ire of the living Nirvana members, all Nirvana (and music) fans, and the apparently anesthesia-ridden Love. Nowell's estate (i.e. parents) is making similar claims to uphold the integrity of their son's work (and it was just chock full of integrity). Their lawsuit, however, focuses on the attempts by surviving members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh to reunite Sublime, this time with twenty-year-old singer-songwriter Rome Ramirez (a.k.a. Rome).

Rome has proudly and publicly announced that he's working on material for a new Sublime album, and Wilson and Gaugh have expressed nothing but altruistic excitement to bring the music back to their fans. Nowell's parents, however, are adamant that their son's posthumous rights to artistic property be upheld. You see, before he died, Nowell made a point of copyrighting Sublime and all of the material he had created for Sublime under his name. Not Wilson's, not Gaugh's, but his and his alone.

So, you can see the conflict of interest. Wilson and Gaugh, now over a decade removed from their glory days as Nowell's band-mates, are yearning for the successes of yesteryear. And, predictably looking to capitalize on Sublime's phenomenal and unending run of success, they turned to Youtube sensation Rome to awaken the slumbering giant. It's a move that reeks of desperation for attention and lacks any tact whatsoever.

Will Rome somehow reincarnate Brad Nowell? Will he channel his predecessor's spirit and create identical music? Will the band be the same as it was under Nowell's steady leadership? The answer, of course, is no. Nowell created Sublime in name and style, and to use his intellectual property – not just the music, but also the name of the group itself – is as amoral and blasphemous as Activision's playable Cobain avatar. I may be cynical, but it's unrealistic of Wilson and Gaugh to expect people not to see through such a transparent wringing of every dime from Sublime's name. Why should a group without its lead member – its creator and driving force – retain its name under new frontmanship?

Those very same fans for which Wilson and Gaugh are fighting the Nowell estate are just as likely to follow a "reunited" band of a different name that performs both Sublime songs and non-Sublime new material. If a Sublime reunion is indeed all about the fans – and there is little doubt that we would love to see it – then there is no harm in letting Nowell's life's work stay as it is: cut short, incomplete, and at the top of its game. He's owed at least that much respect by his band-mates.

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