Staff Writer

While many children today jam to hits off Radio Disney, my gateway to music was whatever played on my older sister’s giant boom box.

Being that she was older (thus representing all things cool) I believed in whatever she listened to, whether it was Madonna, Eve or what is one of my favorite bands: Sublime.

“What I Got” was one of many hits off Sublime’s first and only album released by a major label in 1997. The song boasts a mellow but melodic pace that’s easy to listen to and lyrics that are easy to sing along to.

The steady bass strumming in the opening instrumental pulls you in to singer Brad Nowell’s smooth voice. With influences hailing from ska-punk and reggae, the three-man band produced an instant classic with a song about not having anything, but having everything at the same time.

Despite everything that they were beginning to have, however, Sublime’s mainstream success was cut short just before it was about to begin. Just after the birth of his son, seven days after getting married and only 11 months before the release of what would become their best-selling album (featuring “What I Got”), Nowell overdosed on heroin and died alone in a hotel room.

Knowing the band’s troubled history casts a slight shadow on the usual upbeat nature of “What I Got.” While the song still remains at the top of my play list, I sing along with a tinge of bittersweet memory in my own, maybe offbeat, voice.

With the band’s abrupt demise before its prime, “What I Got” reminds me to love what I got before it’s gone.