I have a friend that's into JA big time. When I look at big time bands I always look at the head, and Nowell in my mind just kicks the shit out of Perry Farrell. I did buy STRAYS a few years ago for the hell of it, even though I'm not a big fan of JA. I still go Sublime.
In my eyes, Janes Addiction/Perry Ferrell killed Metal, not Nirvana. JA opened the doors for bands to play heavy music and melodic music and art music and not conform to the "scene". Ferrell far from a great singer, but he is a zen master...a pigs in zen master I should say. The guys from Pearl Jam opened for JA in the 80's when they were green river...They say JA changed everything for them in terms of music
Brad Nowell died far too young but hard to compare the two considering the different genres, although both are great surfers.
Sublime hit it big 10 years after Janes Addiction, shoot, by 1996 Porno for Pyros was on the outs, Nowell was overdosing, and he probably had no clue he was about to sell a few million records.