Sublime - Santeria

What this video is

Released posthumously following the May 1996 heroin overdose death of frontman Bradley Nowell, 'Santeria' became one of the defining artifacts of mid-90s alternative rock grief culture. The video's Western staging literalizes the song's Chicano-inflected revenge ballad narrative, drawing on Southern California's multicultural street vernacular — specifically the use of 'Heina' and 'Sancho' from Chicano slang —…

Why it matters

A landmark of the third-wave ska and SoCal reggae-rock crossover, 'Santeria' reached the Top 5 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks in 1997. The video is among the earliest prominent posthumous music video productions in the MTV era to integrate archival performance footage as a memorial device,…

The director

Joseph McGinty Nichol, known as McG, is an American director and producer born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, raised in Newport Beach, California. He holds a BA in psychology from UC Irvine. He began as a still photographer in the music industry before founding G…