When No Doubt Inadvertently Became The Nirvana of Third Wave Ska

[TMC]

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.

• 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

[Hawkee]

I remember buying Gwen Stefani's solo debut album Love Angel Music Baby and that album made me a fan of Gwen Stefani and so after I bought that album I bought her second album and loved it too. After loving Gwen Stefani's solo albums I decided to check out No Doubt's albums and got their greatest hits album and was surprised at their unique fun sound and later my mom bought me No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom album for Christmas and I saw why it was a huge album for No Doubt because the track that really stands out on it's own from Tragic Kingdom is Don't Speak because Gwen Stefani sings her heart out and you can feel her emotion in the lyrics and her voice. And it's no wonder why R&B singer Leela James covered Don't Speak on her debut album A Change Is Gonna Come because when you compare Leela's version of Don't Speak to Gwen Stefani's version they both sound identical in voices. But Tragic Kingdom I believe was the album that put No Doubt on the map to superstardom