Ska Punk Isn't Dead: Lana Del Rey Debuts Sublime Cover

Cancer season has just started up, and patron saint Lana Del Rey is more powerful than ever. She celebrated her 34th birthday this past Friday in Dublin before performing the next day. Having recently released a new cover of 90s ska-punk band Sublime’s “Doin’ Time,” she debuted the live version Saturday at Malahide Castle.

Sublime formed in 1988 in Long Beach, California, reaching their peak in the mid-90s. Like Del Rey, Sublime experimented with many genres outside of the traditional ska or punk, even entering hip-hop territory (a genre with significantly less crossover over 20 years ago). After lead vocalist Bradley Nowell’s death in 1996, the band broke up, releasing several posthumous tracks (including “Doin’ Time”) the following year. Del Rey’s cover offers a smoother, more characteristically ghost-pop rendition of the fan favorite, to some hardcore fans’ chagrin.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t listen to at least one Sublime song”, Del Rey told the crowd. “They epitomized the SoCal vibe and made a genre and sound totally their own.”

Although her music is decidedly pop, much of Del Rey’s lyricism and style follows in punk’s footsteps, as the starlet croons about heavy drug use, dysfunctional relationships, and general rebellion. However, she tempers her “bad girl” image with vintage Americana, posturing like Old Hollywood royalty. Her upcoming album Norman Fucking Rockwell plays with the same midcentury images of cultural domesticity, and although it’s been confirmed as finished at the end of last year, there are no hints yet as to its release date. Some fans see this cover as but a tease for long-awaited new music. Honeymoon came out almost four years ago, Lana. We need something to cry to this summer. Whenever new music does come out, you can catch us poolside, red wine in hand, ready for whatever sugar daddy comes our way.