How For the Briefest Moment No Doubt & Ska Took Over Everything

In 1995, rock radio needed a change after four years of Grunge. And that change came in the form of Ska. Invented in Kingston, Jamaica in the late 1950s, before being repackaged with punk and soul elements as Two Tone in the UK in the late 70s, it was an upbeat dance music characterised by its walking basslines, accented rhythms and blasts of horns. Third wave ska originated in California in the late 80s and Anaheim’s No Doubt were instrumental in breaking it into the mainstream.

Their 1995 third album was a fizzy cocktail of two tone, punk, hair metal, disco and new wave, frontwoman Gwen Stefani combating her heartbreak, stalkers and societal condescension to shape generational anthems and permanent radio ballads. Sobbing and skanking in equal measure, this is the story of how No Doubt and Tragic Kingdom sold Ska to the world.

#nodoubt #gwenstefani #musicdocumentary

Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.

00:00 Introduction
01:03 The Early Days of No Doubt
05:33 Recording Album Two & Three
12:17 “Just A Girl” – I’ve Had It Up To Here
17:17 “Don’t Speak” – Hush Hush Darling
24:09 Third Wave Ska & Lasting Influence

Bibliography
Gwen Stefani & No Doubt: A Simple Kind of Life by Jeff Apter, 2007, Omnibus Press
No Doubt – The Complete History – VH1 (2004) dir. Michael Kochman
No Doubt – on the road to the kingdom 1992-1997 (1997) dir. uncredited
“No Doubt – Just a Girl” by Rob Harvilla, 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s, Feb 2021
“JUST A GIRL… ANAHEIM’S NO DOUBT SETS THE “ROCK FEMINIST” LABEL ON ITS HEAD” by Wendy Hermanson, BAM Magazine, Nov 1995
“Ms Doubtfire” by Kennedy, Spin Magazine, Jun 1996
“No Doubt: Supervixen! by Paul Elliott, Kerrang!, Jul 1996
“Tragic Kingdom” by David Browne, Entertainment Weekly, Aug 1996
“Get Happy!” by Jonathan Bernstein, Spin Magazine, 1996
“Tragic Kingdom – Review” by David Fricke, Rolling Stone, Dec 1996
“No Doubt: Ska Defaced” by Stephen Dalton, NME, Feb 1997
“No Doubt: Who’s That Girl?” by Susan Corrigan, i-D, March 1997
“No Doubt: Snap! Crackle! Pop!” by Chris Heath, Rolling Stone, May 1997
“No Doubt: Ska-Spangled Banter!” by Johnny Cigarettes, NME, Jul 1997
“Over And No Doubt?” by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, Sep 1997
“Ska’s Latest Revival Brings Music Stateside” by Carrie Bell, Oct 1997
“TUNES AND ‘TOONS” BY OC Weekly – Staff, OC Weekly, Feb 1998
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“Navel Gazing: Looking Back at No Doubt’s ‘Tragic Kingdom’ 20 Years Later” by Nick Levine, Noisey, Oct 2015
“No Doubt’s ‘Tragic Kingdom’ at 20: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review” by Kenneth Partridge, Billboard, Oct 2015
“Does No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom still matter?” by Marah Eakin, Alex McLevy, Annie Zaleski & Evan Rytlewski, AV Club, Oct 2015
“Gwen Stefani Talks How No Doubt’s Hit ‘Just A Girl’ Came to Be” by Karen Mizoguchi, People, Mar 2017
“Tragic Kingdom No Doubt – Review” by Jill Mapes, Pitchfork, Mar 2020
“25 Years Later, Gwen Stefani Looks Back at the Music Video That Defined Her ’90s Style” by Liam Hess, Vogue, Sep 2020
“No Doubt talks ‘Tragic Kingdom’ at 25: The tears, tours and triumphs behind the classic album” by Kelli Skye Fadroski, The Orange County Register, Oct 2020
“Welcome To The Tragic Kingdom: No Doubt’s Masterpiece Turns 25” by Yasmine Shemesh, Grammys, Oct 2020
“As ‘Don’t Speak’ Turns 25, Gwen Stefani Looks Back at the No Doubt Hit and Ahead to Her Next Musical Chapter” by Ellise Shafer, Variety, Apr 2021
“No Doubt: How a scrappy suburban ska band took over the world” by Mark Sutherland, Kerrang!, Mar 2022
“No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom revisited as a grown up girl” by Phoebe Loomes, Tone Deaf, June 2021

Soundtrack
Luar – Citrine (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Jesse Gallagher – The Golden Present
Luar – Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)

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Written by Trash Theory