Sadly, we’ll by no means know what pioneering ska-punks Elegant may have achieved. Stuffed with pleasure, anarchy and devilment, the band’s rollercoaster historical past is the stuff of legend, however the untimely demise of frontman Bradley Nowell, simply two months earlier than the discharge of Elegant’s self-titled third album, meant they have been unable to reap the advantages of considered one of ska-punk’s best albums.
Nowell’s demise, at simply 28, brutally truncated eight stable years of dues-paying, which started when childhood buddies Floyd “Bud” Gaugh (drums) and Eric Wilson (bass) started enjoying collectively of their Lengthy Seashore high-school outfit The Juice Bros: a formative group which additionally featured Elegant’s future supervisor, Michael Happoldt.
Broadening their horizons
At this stage, the youthful Californians have been solely punk followers, however once they befriended guitarist/vocalist Nowell, their horizons broadened considerably. A younger musician with catholic tastes, Nowell launched his new buddies to reggae, ska, and hip-hop, all of which might quickly be detectable within the DNA of their newly-formed trio, Elegant, once they first trod the boards throughout the summer time of 1988.
Akin to Californian contemporaries like Pink Scorching Chili Peppers and the fledging No Doubt, Elegant set about creating an unique sound by way of cross-pollinating the musical kinds they liked. Nonetheless, their raucous ska-punk initially had a selective attraction and their nascent fanbase solely grew past southern California after they launched their debut album, 40oz To Freedom, by way of Nowell’s personal Skunk Data imprint in 1992.
A sleeper hit, 40oz To Freedom remained an underground phenomenon till LA rock station KROQ picked up on its key observe, “Date Rape,” which led to Elegant securing a cope with MCA offshoot Gasoline Alley and releasing a second full-length effort, Robbin’ The Hood, in 1994. Lo-fi and experimental in design, the album missed the charts, however the band’s fixed touring nonetheless ensured their profile continued to rise.
‘A genre and sound totally their own’
The Lengthy Seashore trio repaired to Willie Nelson’s studio in Austin, Texas, early in 1996 to document their self-titled third album with producers David Kahne and Butthole Surfers’ Paul Leary on the controls. With their predilection for partying spilling into the studio, the periods have been unstable and anarchic, however whereas the candle was properly and actually burnt at each ends within the course of, the document they emerged with was fearlessly executed and brimmed over with madcap vitality.
Proving that expertise borrows however genius steals, Elegant demonstrated that Nowell and co had developed a magpie-like present for creating one thing uniquely theirs from the best supply materials going. The lilting ‘What I Got’ and the mellow “Doin’ Time” sailed perilously near the wind by co-opting melodies clearly sourced from The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna” and George Gershwin’s well-known “Summertime,” respectively. Nonetheless, each tracks have been nonetheless streaked with maverick excellence on their very own phrases, as have been “Garden Grove,” “Pawn Shop” and “Wrong Way,” which deployed beats and strategic samples, fusing them with parts of punk, ska and the heaviest Jamaican dub with a talent redolent of Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique.
‘A band with great promise – and the confidence to make good on it’
Sadly, whereas all involved knew they have been onto one thing good, they by no means had the possibility to benefit from the spoils. With the album within the can and slated for launch on July 30, 1996, the band returned to the street, however after a present in Petaluma, California, on Might 24, Bradley Nowell died of a drug overdose, aged simply 28.
Understandably devastated by the demise of their buddy, Gaugh and Wilson promptly known as an finish to the band. Whereas that meant MCA have been left to advertise Elegant with out a group to get behind it, the document merely took on a lifetime of its personal.
Critiques from Rolling Stone (“the stuff of a band with great promise and the confidence to make good on it – if only that were possible”) and Spin (“a confident work by an artist just coming into his own”) famous that the album exuded an across-the-board attraction. This quickly proved correct when lead single “What I Got” topped Billboard’s Fashionable Rock chart, after which Elegant shot to No.13 on the Billboard 200 and stored proper on promoting – ultimately going quintuple-platinum within the US by the top of 1999.
Regardless of the non-public tragedy surrounding its creation, Elegant’s self-titled third album has grown in stature ever since. Repeatedly cited as a 90s alt-rock touchstone, it stays a well-liked catalog album and has been reissued various instances. Extra just lately, one of many band’s most high-profile followers, Lana Del Rey, launched an acclaimed cowl of ‘Doin’ Time’. Her ideas on the tune echo the the explanation why followers nonetheless hunt down the band at the moment:
“Not a day goes by that I don’t listen to at least one Sublime song,” she stated. “They epitomized the SoCal vibe and made a genre and sound totally their own.”
Purchase Elegant’s music on vinyl or CD now.
