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Those of you who were fortunate enough to meet Bradley Nowell, saw a man
who liked to smile and sing. He did these two things with the greatest of ease.
The man we knew liked to pick up a guitar, not needles, but on the 25th of May
in 1996, many of us were shocked by the news of his tragic death. Just seven
days earlier, he married the beautiful Troy Dendekker. Things were lookin
absolutely bright for him. It was rumored that he even woke up extra early on
the morning of his death to walk his dog on the beach because he felt just
great to be living. Hours later after he woke up, he was found dead from a
heroin overdose in his San Francisco motel room.
W hat went wrong I thought to myself? I remember hearing the news of his death
on a local radio station. I've been a Sublime fan since my senior year of high
school. The single "Date Rape" made the Chicago airwaves and I was
hooked. I did a little research and I discovered that Bradley had been in and
out of rehabilitation centers since 1992. Many people that I've talked to about
Bradley's death really didn't seem to care. Being a huge Sublime fan, I was
angered by their ignorance. Most of the time I heard people say that it was
Bradley's fault for taking the drug in the first place, but I came to realize that
it really wasn't his fault. Troy Nowell says in the VH1 documentary on Bradley
that obviously the drug was "bigger than both of us (Bradley and
Troy)". She said he hated what he was doing, and tried to stop numerous
times, but the world is ignorant to the fact that this drug, heroin, is
extremely physically addictive. Bud Gaugh, the drummer of Sublime, said he used
to hug, sweat, and cry with Bradley during his fight with heroin. If it were
his choice, Bradley would've stopped using it, but heroin took a hold of his
nerves and his entire body.
W e need to remember the Bradley who gave us three absolutely spectacular
albums and a voice that stopped the world, not the one who stuck needles in his
arm. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about him a good twelve
hours during the day. He is perhaps the most talented musician that I know of
besides John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Bradley defied the image of a junkie.
He was a man well-read in philosophy and literature, an A honor roll student at
Wilson High School in Long Beach, CA, and was one semester away from receiving
his degree in finance. The man could do it all. Most importantly, we need to
realize that he hated what he was doing. Shooting heroin made him lie, cheat,
and steal. These things were in stark contrast of what he loved. Bradley loved
Jakob, Troy, friends, family, Lou Dog, and music. If you ever fall upon video
footage of him singing "Pool Shark", you can easily see the hurt in
his face from singing the lyrics. He ultimately knew "one day he was gonna
lose the war".
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Please make donations to the Jakob James Nowell Trust Fund:
Jakob James Nowell Trust Fund
275 Redondo Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90803