Nowell is not quite the godhead Cobain is, true, but he's held in almost as high regard in enough circles as Cobain.
But, as I said, I can understand with Cobain. I'm not even a Nirvana fan, but I can see that they changed the face and direction of popular music, wrote angsty and alienated songs about angst and alienation (which, in turn, spoke to the teenagers then and will continue to speak to teenagers for generations to come), etc. etc. etc.
Sumblime, on the other hand...I don't get it. I'm asking for the Sublime fans to answer.
EDIT: This would probably make a decent thread on its own, but I've come this far, so why bother.