Synopsis
Sublime's "Doin' Time" video captures the band's loose, sun-soaked Long Beach identity through a collage of live performance footage, beach scenes, and fast-moving shots of people enjoying summer. A record player introduces the clip before the visuals shift between the band onstage, Bradley Nowell singing, women at Junipero Beach, and assorted images of carefree outdoor life. The grainy, blurred editing gives the video a homemade, heat-hazed feel that matches the song's relaxed reggae groove and restless attitude.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was released in September 1997 in the United States, several months after Bradley Nowell's death and more than a year after the band's self-titled album was issued.
- Beach footage was filmed at Junipero Beach in Long Beach, California, linking the clip directly to Sublime's hometown setting.
- Bradley Nowell appears through archive footage, while Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson are represented in performance material.
- Lou Dog, Nowell's Dalmatian and a recurring part of Sublime's identity, appears in the video. It is considered the dog's final appearance in an official Sublime music video before his death in 2001.
- The clip was featured on MTV's 120 Minutes episode broadcast on September 28, 1997.
- "Doin' Time" was the fourth and final single from Sublime's self-titled album. The video was later included on the 1998 home video release "Stories, Tales, Lies & Exaggerations" and on the deluxe edition of the album issued in 2006.
- The song itself combines a reggae and hip-hop production with the melody of George Gershwin's "Summertime." Its layered sampling approach helps explain the video's collage-like structure and relaxed, cut-and-paste visual style.