40 Oz. to Freedom is the 1992 (see 1992 in music) debut ska punk album by the Southern California rock band Sublime. 40 Oz. to Freedom received mixed critical reviews upon its first release, but is now generally approved of as an immature but sincere record, with a few spots of brilliance. Sublime would not achieve any mainstream success until the release of their eponymous album, two months after the overdose death of their lead singer and guitarist, Bradley Nowell, in 1996 (see 1996 in music). When this album was recorded, Nowell had not yet begun using heroin. To some degree, the failure of 40 Oz. to Freedom to sell well or earn the band a major label release caused a despondent Nowell to begin using heroin. When the band recorded their next album, Robbin' the Hood, they did so in a Long Beach, California crackhouse.

40 Oz. to Freedom is one of the most popular albums released in the third-wave of ska. Its sound blended various forms of Jamaican music, including ska ("40 Oz. to Freedom"), rocksteady ("5446-That's My Number", cover of Toots & the Maytals), roots reggae ("Smoke Two Joints", a cover of The Toyes) and dub ("Let's Go Get Stoned", "D.J.s") with British and American hardcore punk ("New Thrash"), hip hop ("D.J.s") and folk music ("Rivers of Babylon" a Melodians cover, "Scarlet Begonias", a Grateful Dead cover).

In 1995 (see 1995 in music), Sublime sent a radio CD to the influential radio station KROQ, and one of 40 Oz. to Freedom's songs, "Date Rape", became the most requested song on the station, leading the album to appear at #1 for five weeks on Billboard magazine's (North America) Pacific Region chart, and to appear on the Alternative Artist Albums Chart for fifty weeks. The band then signed with MCA Records, which, along with the birth of his son, convinced Nowell to voluntarily enter rehab. Though he remained clean for several months, Nowell died of a heroin overdose shortly before the release of Sublime's breakthrough album, Sublime.

On the original pressing of the album, which was distributed independently by Skunk Records, there were two additional songs. "Get Out!" appeared as the second track, and the theme from "Rawhide" was included on the same track as "Date Rape". Also, there were some samples included in "We're Only Gonna Die" and "Let's Go Get Stoned". The former two tracks and the latter samples had to be removed for national distribution due to copyright issues. Other differences on the original pressing include the fact that "Rivers of Babylon", a folky religious song originally by The Melodians, and the outro, "Thanx", were hidden tracks.

The album has six covers: "Smoke Two Joints" (by The Toyes, commonly thought to originally be by Bob Marley), "We're Only Gonna Die" (by Bad Religion), "5446" (by Toots & the Maytals), "Scarlet Begonias" (by Grateful Dead), "Rivers of Babylon" (by The Melodians), and "Hope" (by the Descendents).

The album ranked at #10 for Top 100 Albums of 1992 and #402 for overall by Rate Your Music.

Track listing

1. "Waiting for My Ruca" (Bradley Nowell) - 2:20
2. "Get Out!" (Sublime) - 3:32 (On Original Release)
3. "40 Oz. to Freedom" (Sublime) - 3:02
4. "Smoke Two Joints" (Kay/Kay) - 2:53
5. "We're Only Gonna Die for Our Own Arrogance" (Greg Graffin) - 3:07 (3:27 On Original Release)
6. "Don't Push" (Sublime) - 4:18
7. "54-46 That's My Number/Ball and Chain" (Toots Hibbert) - 5:17
8. "Badfish" (Sublime) - 3:04
9. "Let's Go Get Stoned" (Sublime) - 3:32
10. "New Thrash" (Sublime) - 1:30
11. "Scarlet Begonias" (Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter) - 3:31
12. "Live at E's" (Sublime) - 3:08
13. "D.J.s" (Sublime) - 3:18
14. "Chica Me Tipo" (Sublime) - 2:16
15. "Right Back" (Sublime) - 2:49
16. "What Happened" (Sublime) - 3:27
17. "New Song" (Sublime) - 3:14
18. "Ebin" (Sublime) - 3:32
19. "Date Rape" (Sublime) - 3:37 (Rape/Rawhide - 4:38 ~ On Original Release)
20. "Hope" (Aukerman) - 1:43
21. "KRS-One" (Sublime) - 2:23
22. "Rivers Of Babylon" - 2:29 (hidden track on original release)
23. "Thanx" (hidden track)

The song "D.J.s" includes, after the dancehall-style intro, a few lines quoted from "Cornerstone" by Bob Marley & the Wailers.

The song "D.J.s" also includes, at the end, a few lines from The Specials' "A Message To You, Rudy" (originally by Dandy Livingstone).

The song "Smoke Two Joints" contains samples from the movie Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

On the original release of 40 Oz. to Freedom there were 23 tracks (2½ more then you can get on the current release of this CD). It had "Get Out!" and "Rawhide" (added to the end of "Date Rape"), and the songs "Let's Go Get Stoned" and "We're Only Gonna Die" had samples removed. "Thanx" was also a couple of minutes longer as well. This version is long out of print, making way for the new print. The original press of this album is extremely rare, with copies of it being nearly impossible to find.

Chart positions

Album

External links

• lyrics

Sublime albums | 1992 albums | Debut albums | Albums with hidden tracks | MCA Records albums