No Doubt "Rock Steady (Enhanced CD, USA, Interscope Records, 0694931582)"

Rock Steady is the fifth studio album by American rock band No Doubt, released on December 11, 2001, by Interscope Records. The band began writing the album with initial recording sessions in Los Angeles and San Francisco, then traveled to London and Jamaica to work with various performers, songwriters, and producers. Sly & Robbie, the Neptunes, and William Orbit were among the many artists the band collaborated with on the album.

As a result of these collaborations, Rock Steady touches on many musical styles, focusing on electropop, dancehall, and new wave. The band attempted to capture the vibe of Jamaican dancehall music, and experimented with writing songs without its standard instrumentation. Lead vocalist Gwen Stefani wrote her lyrics quickly in comparison to previous records, and dealt with topics ranging from partying to ruminations on her relationship with Gavin Rossdale.

Rock Steady received mostly positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards. The album was a commercial comeback for the band, surpassing sales of their previous album Return of Saturn (2000). Rock Steady spawned four singles, two of which won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Rolling Stone ranked Rock Steady number 316 on its 2003 list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Every night on the tour to support their 2000 album Return of Saturn, No Doubt threw after-show parties where people danced to Jamaican dancehall music. During a discussion over dinner in late 2000, the band members decided they wanted to explore dancehall-style rhythms for their next album. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Bounty Killer, Cutty Ranks, and Mr. Vegas,[2] the band began work on the album in January 2001 by creating beats on Pro Tools at guitarist Tom Dumont's apartment. The group often tried recreating beats from other song files on the computer, which resulted in modified versions of the original rhythms. They worked with producer Philip Steir at Toast Studios in San Francisco during this time, where the beginnings of "Hey Baby" emerged. When writing lyrics for previous albums, Stefani typically read works by Sylvia Plath that would make her depressed "or find different words that inspire me." In contrast, for Rock Steady she wrote the lyrics quicker and on the spot to meet the goal of writing a song a day. Many of the demos recorded during these early sessions were used in the final tracks, rather than completely reworking the songs. The band saw this as a way to preserve the "initial spark" from when the songs were conceived.

The next month, Stefani left Los Angeles for London to visit boyfriend Rossdale, and the band traveled with her to finish recording "Detective". There, they worked with Eurythmics member David A. Stewart and wrote the song "Underneath It All" in only 10 minutes. In March, No Doubt traveled to Jamaica, staying at the Blue Lagoon in Port Antonio. The band "spent most of the time swimming and getting sunburned and drinking and smoking and recording a little music", according to Dumont. The group would often have Red Stripe beers or rum and cokes with jerk food for breakfast; on one occasion, Dumont passed out from heavy drinking while recording a track. They began work in the mid-afternoon and worked into the night, with an after-party following the session. The group collaborated with Sly & Robbie, who produced "Underneath It All" and "Hey Baby" and brought in dancehall toasters Lady Saw and Bounty Killer, and Steely & Clevie, who produced "Start the Fire".

The band returned from Jamaica and resumed work in June 2001, collaborating with producers Nellee Hooper and Timbaland. The Timbaland track, titled "It's a Fight", and a Dr. Dre-produced song titled "Wicked Day" were excluded from the album because their hip hop sounds did not work well on the album. The band then worked with producer and former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek in late June. Stefani commented that No Doubt worked with so many people for the record because none were available for the time needed to make an LP, but that she would have liked to work with Ocasek longer. The band and its A&R manager Mark Williams chose collaborators based on how well they thought the person would fit the personality of the song that No Doubt had written. In late August, the band returned to London for Mark "Spike" Stent to polish off the songs with audio mixing.

The band members often did not play their standard instruments when working on the songs for Rock Steady. As a result, the album's instrumentation contains less guitar and bass guitar than the band's previous work. Many of the album's sounds come from electronic keyboard effects, which bassist Tony Kanal called "Devo-y bleeps and Star Wars noises". Dumont commented that many of the effects came from being unfamiliar with the equipment and "just twiddling knobs". Dumont created an effect similar to that of an echo chamber by placing a microphone inside a metal garbage can with the can's open end facing a drum kit. Richard B. Simon of MTV News asserted that the sound of Rock Steady was part of the decade nostalgia of the 1980s retro movement.

Stefani's vocals range from innocent to seductive, sometimes transitioning from one to the other within a song. Her lyrics are based on her relationship with Rossdale, whom she married less than a year after the album's release. Stefani is openhearted and unreserved as on Return of Saturn, but her approach becomes more immediate and instinctive. The lyrics are more youthful than those on Return of Saturn and detail partying and feelings of lust. An overarching theme on the album is Stefani's impatience in the couple's long-distance relationship. She discusses wanting to see Rossdale on "Making Out" and "Waiting Room", and she reveals her distrust in Rossdale on "In My Head". On "Hey Baby" she gives an innocuous account of the debauchery between her bandmates and their groupies during parties, as she observes the party. The lyrics of "Underneath It All" question whether or not Rossdale is a good match for her, an issue resolved in the chorus, which was written based on a journal entry where Stefani wrote the line "You're lovely underneath it all" about Rossdale.

"Hey Baby" was released as the lead single from Rock Steady in October 2001. The song peaked number at five on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching the top five in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and the top 10 in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Norway. The positive response to "Hey Baby" from radio stations and video channels prompted the band to push forward the release of Rock Steady from December 18 to December 11. The album's second single, "Hella Good", was released on April 13, 2002, reaching number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also charted at number eight in Australia and number 12 in the UK.

"Underneath It All" was released as the third single on August 15, 2002. It became No Doubt's highest-peaking single in the US to date, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Internationally, the single saw limited success, reaching number eight in New Zealand, number 18 in the UK and number 28 in Australia. "Running" was released as the album's fourth and final single on July 1, 2003. Peaking at number 62, "Running" became the band's lowest-peaking single on the Billboard Hot 100 to date.

Following the success of the standard edition, two reissues of Rock Steady—a limited edition and a special edition—were released in October 2002, each of which including a bonus disc. The limited edition, released in North America, features acoustic live performances of "Underneath It All" and "Just a Girl" recorded at 1LIVE in Cologne, Germany, in June 2002, as well as the music video for "Underneath It All". The special edition, released in Europe, includes a remix of "Hey Baby" featuring Outkast and Killer Mike and another remix by F.A.B.Z.; Roger Sanchez's remix of "Hella Good", which won a Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical in 2003; and a remix of Return of Saturn's lead single "Ex-Girlfriend" by Philip Steir, who helped produce "Hey Baby".The songs from the two-song bonus disc were released through North American iTunes Stores, and those from the four-song bonus disc were released in other countries. Rock Steady Live, a live DVD of No Doubt performing in 2002 in support of Rock Steady, was released in November 2003.

Rock Steady was ranked number 316 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in November 2003. Blender included the album on its April 2003 list of "500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die!". In June 2003, it was included on Slant Magazine's list of "50 Essential Pop Albums"

"Hey Baby" won the award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards, while Rock Steady and "Hella Good" received nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Dance Recording, respectively. At the following year's ceremony, "Underneath It All" earned the band their second consecutive Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Track listing

1. "Intro" 0:27
2. "Hella Good"   4:02
3. "Hey Baby" (featuring Bounty Killer) 3:26
4. "Making Out"    4:14
5. "Underneath It All" (featuring Lady Saw) 5:02
6. "Detective" 2:53
7. "Don't Let Me Down" 4:08
8. "Start the Fire" 4:08
9. "Running" 4:01
10. "In My Head"    3:25
11. "Platinum Blonde Life" 3:27
12. "Waiting Room" 4:27
13. "Rock Steady" 5:22

Video1 Hey Baby

Video2 The Making Of Rock Steady

Recording information:

Recorded at: Record Plant (Los Angeles)

Home Recordings (London)

Toast (San Francisco)

The Sideshack (Los Angeles)

Geejam (Port Antonio, Jamaica)

One Pop (Kingston, Jamaica)

Westlake Audio (Los Angeles)

Guerilla Canyon (Los Angeles)

7 Dials (London)

Rothwell Street Flat (London)

Paisley Park (Chanhassen, Minnesota)

11AD (Los Angeles)

Olympic (London)

Nellee Hooper – production (tracks 2, 6, 9, 10, 13)

No Doubt – production

Greg Collins – recording (tracks 2, 6, 9)

Simon Gogerly – additional engineering (tracks 2, 6, 9)

Anthony Kilhoffer – engineering assistance (tracks 2, 6, 9)

Ian Rossiter – engineering assistance (tracks 2, 6, 9, 10)

Sly & Robbie – production (tracks 3, 5)

Mark "Spike" Stent – additional production (tracks 3, 5, 7, 11, 12); mixing (all tracks)

Dan Chase – recording (tracks 3, 5, 8)

Philip Steir – additional production (track 3)

Count – additional engineering (track 3)

Tkae Mendez – additional engineering (tracks 3, 5, 8)

Rory Baker – additional engineering (tracks 3, 5)

Toby Whalen – engineering assistance (tracks 3, 5, 8)

Tom Dumont – additional recording (tracks 3, 4, 6–9, 11, 13)

Tony Kanal – additional recording (tracks 3, 4, 6–9, 11, 13)

Brian Jobson – executive production (tracks 3, 5, 8)

Wayne Jobson – executive production (tracks 3, 5, 8)

William Orbit – production (track 4)

Clif Norrell – recording (track 4)

Jeff Kanan – engineering assistance (tracks 4, 7, 11)

Jennifer Young – engineering assistance (track 4)

Ric Ocasek – production (tracks 7, 11)

Karl Derfler – recording (tracks 7, 11)

Juan Pablo Velasco – engineering assistance (tracks 7, 11)

Steely & Clevie – production (track 8)

Prince – production (track 12)

Hans-Martin Buff – recording (track 12)

Alain Johannes – additional engineering (track 12)

Steve Mandel – engineering assistance (track 12)

Wayne Wilkins – mix programming

Paul "P Dub" Watson – mix programming

Johnny Gould – additional mix programming

Matt Fields – mix engineering assistance

David Treahearn – mix engineering assistance

Keith Uddin – mix engineering assistance

Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering

Gwen Stefani – album art concept

Jolie Clemens – album design, layout

Frank Ockenfels – collage photography

Shawn Mortensen – back cover photography

Cindy Cooper – album package coordination

Ekaterina Kenney – album package coordination

No Doubt "Don't Speak (Single & Video)"

"Don't Speak" is a song by American rock band No Doubt, featured on their third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995). Released as an album track in 1996 by Interscope Records, the song was initially written as a love song by lead singer Gwen Stefani and her brother, former band member Eric Stefani. However, after several revisions, Gwen reworked the lyrics into a breakup song, reflecting the end of her seven-year relationship with bandmate Tony Kanal.

Despite the song's substantial airplay in the United States, "Don't Speak" was not allowed to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 since a physical single was not issued for the song in the US, which was a rule at the time. Instead, "Don't Speak" topped the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart for 16 weeks. Outside the United States, it topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, becoming No Doubt's most successful international single. "Don't Speak" was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 40th Grammy Awards.

"Don't Speak" was ranked at number 495 on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". The song is a playable track in the 2009 video game Band Hero, and was also released as a downloadable song for 2008's Rock Band 2, as well as part of the No Doubt Track Pack for Guitar Hero III. The song has been sampled by multiple hip hop artists, including in Rakim's song "Dedicated" and Ice Cube's "War & Peace".

"Don't Speak" is an alternative rock power ballad written by lead singer Gwen Stefani and her brother Eric Stefani, and produced by Matthew Wilder. It was originally a love song, but Stefani rewrote the lyrics almost completely after her breakup with the band's bass player Tony Kanal. According to her, "It used to be more upbeat, more of a Seventies rock-type thing. [When] Tony and I broke up... it turned into a sad song." The opening chords are reminiscent of the intro to the 1979 pop hit "Breakfast in America" by the British rock band Supertramp. A live version that exists from April 1994 shows off a bouncy tune that has the same skeleton as the released version, but not the same urgency. The band performed part of the original song on VH1 Storytellers on August 10, 2000.

The band's lead guitarist Tom Dumont said about the song's composition:

There's a lot of stories about that song, because that one unfolded over a longer period of time. Originally, Gwen's brother wrote most of that song, and then after we got at it as a band, Gwen changed the lyrics around to fit her life. Musically, we brought it to another level, but near the end we reworded it. There's an earlier version of the song where the verses are totally different, which is a really beautiful version and it's awesome but it's way more jazzy and really different. That song had a long incubation process.

Sheet music for "Don't Speak" shows the key of E ♭ major. A demo version also appeared on a demo CD, which was presented to Interscope Records prior to the release of Tragic Kingdom.

British magazine Music Week rated the song three out of five, writing that "this Californian quartet sound more like Swedish Eurovision hopefuls on this debut UK offering but, if radio bites, it could be a smash."

Upon release, "Don't Speak" immediately began to receive extensive airplay and it eventually became the most widely played song on American radio in 1996. It reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart and maintained that position for 16 non-consecutive weeks, a record at the time. Despite its copious airplay, "Don't Speak" was not allowed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 since no commercial single was released for it in the United States (a requirement for charting purposes at the time). Slate magazine music critic Chris Molanphy has stated that if the song had been eligible to chart, it almost certainly would have claimed the number one spot. An import CD did sell in the US, but this format was not allowed to chart either.

On other Billboard charts, "Don't Speak" stayed at number two on Modern Rock Tracks chart for five consecutive weeks. The song also proved to be a crossover hit, reaching number one on the Adult Top 40 chart for 15 consecutive weeks as well as numbers six and nine on the Adult Contemporary and Rhythmic Top 40 charts, respectively. It was ultimately placed at number one on the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997.

Internationally, "Don't Speak" was also very successful. In February 1997, it peaked at number one in both the United Kingdom and Ireland for three weeks. Elsewhere in Europe, "Don't Speak" reached the top position in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Australia was another major music market where the song received widespread airplay, debuting at number one and maintaining the peak position for eight weeks.

The video was directed by Sophie Muller and it is the first of the long-time collaboration between the band and the director. Before the music starts, at the beginning of the music video, there is a scene of Kanal picking a rotten orange from a tree (these scenes are usually cut out when VH1 airs this video). The majority of the video for "Don't Speak" takes place on Stage 2 at Mack Sennett Studios in Silver Lake as the band plays. Other scenes tell the story of how the media mainly focused on Stefani while the band was always in the background. The second half of the video features snippets of live footage filmed during the band's performance with Dog Eat Dog and Goldfinger at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City on August 21, 1996. The video also features clips of Dumont playing together with Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear. The video ends with Kanal replacing the orange in the tree, which is actually footage of Kanal in reverse pulling the orange off.

Tensions in the band had been running high and they reportedly were on the verge of breaking up the day before they were scheduled to film the video. They decided to go ahead and film it as a form of "therapy".

The video won the award for Best Group Video and was nominated for Video of the Year at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. It has one billion views on YouTube as of May 2023, and 700 million of the views come from 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 alone. The video, now remastered in 4K, was uploaded on October 7, 2009.

There is an alternate version of the video showing just the live performance part. Both versions of the video are included on the DVD release The Videos 1992–2003 (2004).

Track listings

Australian, Japanese, and UK CD single

1. "Don't Speak" – 4:23
2. "Don't Speak" (alternate version) – 4:23 (*)
3. "Hey You" (acoustic version) – 3:27 (*)
4. "Greener Pastures" (from The Beacon Street Collection album) – 5:05

European CD single; UK 7-inch and cassette single

1. "Don't Speak" – 4:23
2. "Greener Pastures" (from The Beacon Street Collection album) – 5:05

(*) Recorded at York Street Studios, Auckland, New Zealand, in September 1996.

No Doubt "Tragic Kingdom (USA, Trauma/Interscope Records, INTD-92580)

Tragic Kingdom is the third studio album by American rock band No Doubt, released on October 10, 1995, by Trauma Records and Interscope Records. It was the final album to feature original keyboardist Eric Stefani, who left the band in 1994. The album was produced by Matthew Wilder and recorded in 11 studios in the Greater Los Angeles area between March 1993 and October 1995. Between 1995 and 1998, the album spawned seven singles, including "Just a Girl", which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, and "Don't Speak", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and reached the top five of many international charts.

The album received mostly positive reviews from music critics and became the band's most commercially successful album, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 as well as topping the charts in Canada and New Zealand. At the 39th Annual Grammy Awards, No Doubt earned nominations for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album. The album has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States and Canada, platinum in the United Kingdom, and triple platinum in Australia. Tragic Kingdom helped facilitate the ska revival of the 1990s, increasing the visibility and commercial success of other ska bands. The album was ranked number 441 on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

No Doubt embarked on a tour to promote the album. It was designed by Project X and lasted two and a half years. An early 1997 performance at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim was filmed and released as Live in the Tragic Kingdom on VHS and later DVD.

No Doubt released their self-titled debut album in 1992, a year after being signed to Interscope. The album's pop-oriented sound contrasted with grunge music, which was popular in the United States when No Doubt was released. The album sold 30,000 copies; the program director of KROQ radio station, on which the band aspired to be played, said, "It would take an act of God for this band to get on the radio." The band began work on the album in 1993, but Interscope rejected most of their material and paired the band with producer Matthew Wilder. Keyboardist Eric Stefani eventually stopped recording with the band because he disliked having to relinquish creative control. He encouraged other members of the band to write songs but sometimes felt threatened when they did. Eric became increasingly depressed, and in September 1994, he stopped attending rehearsals, though they were usually held at his house. Bassist Tony Kanal then ended his seven-year relationship with Gwen Stefani.

The band decided to produce their next album independently and recorded their second album, The Beacon Street Collection, in a homemade studio. No Doubt's first two singles were released for The Beacon Street Collection: "Squeal" and "Doghouse", under their own record label, Beacon Street Records. Despite limited availability, the album sold 100,000 copies in the year of its release. Their independence attracted Interscope's attention and ensured that the label would fund a third album.

Tragic Kingdom was recorded in 11 studios in Los Angeles, starting in March 1993 and released in October 1995. During one of these recording sessions, the band was introduced to Paul Palmer, who had previously worked with Bush and was interested in working on No Doubt's new album. After mixing the first single with David J. Holman, "Just a Girl", Palmer and Holman went on to do the same to the rest of the record. He wanted to release the album on his own label, Trauma Records, which was already associated with Interscope, and succeeded in getting the contract.

The album is named after the nickname guitarist Tom Dumont's seventh-grade teacher had for Disneyland, which is in Anaheim, California, where the band members grew up. The album photography and portraits were taken by photographer fine artist Daniel Arsenault. Gwen is featured in the foreground while the rest of the band members are standing in an orange grove in the background. Gwen pushed for Eric to be included on the album cover—a source of tension for the band—reasoning that although he had left the band, he had still contributed substantially to the album. Eric is seen near the back of the picture, looking away from the camera. The pictures on the cover and in the liner notes were taken on city streets in their native Orange County (namely Anaheim and the City of Orange) and in orange groves. The red dress Gwen wears on the cover was loaned to the Hard Rock Cafe and was later displayed at the Fullerton Museum Center in an exhibit titled "The Orange Groove: Orange County's Rock n' Roll History". The dress, appraised as high as US$5,000, was stolen from the exhibit in January 2005.

Tragic Kingdom has been described as pop rock, alternative rock, ska punk, new wave, and pop-punk. The album also uses elements of pop, funk, punk, dancehall, disco, third-wave ska, post-grunge, ska,

 reggae, flamenco, and Tejano, among others.

Many of the lyrics on Tragic Kingdom were written by lead vocalist Gwen Stefani and were about her experiences in life. Those from No Doubt and The Beacon Street Collection were written mainly by Eric Stefani, who left the band after Tragic Kingdom was finished. Therefore, the style of music changed from what the band had previously produced. Dumont explained the change in sound in an interview for Backstage Online:

Well, there is a reason that the sound of our music has changed, and it's not because we've sold out—easy for me to say. Eric, our keyboard player, used to write most of our songs. He was the main creative force in the band for many years. And at a certain point after that first album came out, he had this personal thing, like he didn't like touring, he didn't like all that stuff. He just liked to sit down and write songs. That's him. He's the artistic side, the total Mr. Creative...[w]ell what happened is when Eric decided to leave the band it left the song writing to us, me, Gwen, Tony, the rest of us and it's a really natural thing for our song writing style to be different than Eric's. Just we're different people. I mean we've learned a lot from him and he taught us a lot of things about song writing, but we write simpler music. We have a simpler style. We're not quite genius like him, I think. This album was our first attempt. It was Gwen's first time really writing all the lyrics herself, so to me, it went the opposite from selling out—we have done something that is even more personal. In the past, Eric was writing songs about his life and having Gwen sing them. Now we have Gwen singing and writing about her own experiences. It makes it more natural. She's a singer, she should sing about herself or sing what she wants to sing. I think that is the main reason why our musical style has changed.

The first single released from Tragic Kingdom was "Just a Girl", which details Gwen Stefani's exasperation with female stereotypes and her father's concerned reaction to her driving home late from her boyfriend's house. It peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 10 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song also charted on the UK Singles Chart, where its original release peaked at number 38 and its reissue at number three. The second single was "Spiderwebs", written about an uninterested woman who is trying to avoid the constant phone calls of a persistent man. It reached number five on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, number 11 on the Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart, and number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, but not until it was released after Don't Speak hit number one.

The third single was "Don't Speak", a ballad about the breakup of Stefani and Kanal's relationship. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and maintained that position for 16 consecutive weeks, a record at the time, although it was broken in 1998 by the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" with 18 weeks. The song was not eligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 because no commercial single was released, which was a requirement at the time. The song also peaked at number two on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, at number six on the Adult Contemporary chart, at number one on the Adult Top 40 chart, and at number nine on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart. The song also appeared on several international charts, reaching number one in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; number two in Austria, Germany, and Spain; and number four in Finland and France.

"Excuse Me Mr." and "Sunday Morning" were released as the album's fourth and fifth singles, respectively. "Excuse Me Mr." reached number 17 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 11 in New Zealand. "Sunday Morning" peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart, number 21 in Australia, number 42 in New Zealand, and number 55 in Sweden. Composing the song began when Kanal was having a fight with Stefani, then his girlfriend, through the bathroom door of his parents' house in Yorba Linda, California. Stefani later changed the lyrics to discuss dealing with her breakup with Kanal. "Happy Now?" was released as the album's sixth single on September 23, 1997, but failed to chart anywhere. "Hey You!" was released as the seventh and final single from Tragic Kingdom; it peaked at number 51 on the Dutch Single Top 100. Despite being a Dutch-only single, a Sophie Muller-directed music video was filmed to promote the single.

Tragic Kingdom was first released by Trauma and Interscope on October 10, 1995. To promote the album, Trauma launched a street campaign that targeted high school students and the skateboarding community. No Doubt performed on the Warped Tour, which was sponsored by several skateboarding companies, and at several skateboarding festivals. The album entered the Billboard 200 on January 20, 1996 at No. 175 and did not enter the top 100 until February 3, 1996, when it jumped to number 89. Palmer attributed the jump to a Channel One News program that Stefani hosted in January 1996, which was broadcast in 12,000 classrooms, and the band's subsequent performance at a Blockbuster store in Fresno, California.

In May 1996, the band worked with HMV, MuchMusic, and the Universal Music Group to put on a global in-store promotion. The band performed and answered questions in MuchMusic's studios in Toronto, Ontario. The session was broadcast live to HMV stores worldwide and on a webcast so that fans could watch and ask the band questions through MuchMusic's VJs. Sales of Tragic Kingdom doubled the week after the event. The event's sponsors lobbied Guinness World Records to create a category for the largest virtual in-store promotion to recognize the event.

No Doubt embarked on the Tragic Kingdom Tour after the release of the album. It chose Project X, headed by Luc Lafortune and Michael Keeling, to design the stage. No Doubt suggested decorating the stage as a clearing in a forest. Project X created three anthropomorphic trees with glowing oranges. The show included clear and mylar confetti designed to look like rain. Lighting design was difficult because there were only four rehearsals, so the show was arranged to be flexible to allow for what Lafortune referred to as "a very kinetic performance". The band expected to tour for two months, but the tour ended up lasting two and a half years.

An early 1997 performance at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim was filmed and was released as Live in the Tragic Kingdom on VHS on November 11, 1997. It was re-released on November 25, 2003, on DVD as part of the box set Boom Box, which also contained The Singles 1992–2003, Everything in Time, and The Videos 1992–2003; and again on June 13, 2006, as a stand-alone DVD, containing bonus material of extra songs, a photo gallery, and an alternative version of "Don't Speak".

Track listing

All tracks produced by Matthew Wilder.

1. "Spiderwebs" Gwen Stefani/Tony Kanal   4:28
2. "Excuse Me Mr."   G. Stefani/Tom Dumont   3:04
3. "Just a Girl"  G. Stefani/Dumont  3:28
4. "Happy Now?"  G. Stefani/Dumont/Kanal   3:43
5. "Different People"  Eric Stefani/G. Stefani/Kanal 4:34
6. "Hey You!"  G. Stefani/Kanal  3:34
7. "The Climb" E. Stefani 6:37
8. "Sixteen"    G. Stefani/Kanal   3:21
9. "Sunday Morning"    Kanal/G. Stefani/E. Stefani  4:33
10. "Don't Speak"   E. Stefani/G. Stefani  4:23
11. "You Can Do It"   G. Stefani/E. Stefani/Dumont/Kanal  4:13
12. "World Go 'Round"    Kanal/G. Stefani   4:09
13. "End It on This"  G. Stefani/Dumont/Kanal/E. Stefani   3:45
14. "Tragic Kingdom" E. Stefani 5:31

Total length: 59:35

 

Recording information:

Recorded at: Total Access (Redondo Beach)The Record Plant (Hollywood)Santa Monica Sound (Santa Monica)NRG (Los Angeles)Rumbo Recorders (Los Angeles)Mars (Burbank)Studio 4 (Santa Monica)Grandmaster (Hollywood)Clear Lake Audio (North Hollywood), Red Zone (Burbank)North Vine (Hollywood)

Matthew Wilder – production

Phil Kaffel – recording (tracks 3–10, 14)

George Landress – recording (tracks 3, 6, 7)

Matt Hyde – recording (tracks 1, 2, 13)

John "Tokes" Potoker – recording (tracks 11–13)

Ray Blair – recording (track 5)

David J. Holman – mixing at Cactus Studios (Hollywood)

Paul Palmer – mixing at Cactus Studios (Hollywood)

Robert Vosgien – mastering at CMS Digital (Pasadena)

Morbido / Bizarrio – creative direction, design, digital imaging

Dan Arsenault – photography

Shelly Robertson – photography

Patrick Miller – photography

Nik Kershaw "Wouldn't It Be Good (Germany 12'' Single & Video)"

"Wouldn't It Be Good" is a song by the English singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw, released on 20 January 1984 as the second single from his debut studio album, Human Racing (1984). The release was Kershaw's second single, with the non-album track "Monkey Business" as its B-side; it was a bonus track on the 2012 re-release of the album. The music video was directed by Storm Thorgerson.

"Wouldn't It Be Good" was the second single from Kershaw's debut studio album Human Racing (1984). It spent three weeks at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart and was successful throughout Europe, as well as a top-10 entry in Canada and Australia. Kershaw is also most closely associated with this song in the United States, where it narrowly missed the top 40. Kershaw performed it at Live Aid in London's Wembley Stadium in July 1985.

Kershaw's first single from this album had failed to be a major hit, and it was on the strength of this recording's success that the earlier single, "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", was promoted for a re-release. This time the single went all the way to No. 2 in the UK, becoming his highest-charting single there to date.

Kershaw remembers that this was one of the last songs he wrote for the Human Racing album, mapping out the chords first on a keyboard. However, the aggressive guitar sound he wanted led to a clash in harmonics and therefore the result sounded rather unpleasant. Thus he decided to create a kind of "guitar orchestra", inspired by work of Queen's Brian May, where the notes were separated into single lines and harmonies. Kershaw elaborates on the layering of the guitar lines:

I think I'm playing fifths in one go. But some of the more subtle notes just didn't work, so I think I did about four takes of each note, so there were a lot of takes, and this was all on analogue tape, obviously. We then bounced them all together to make that one sound.

According to Kershaw, there were about 20 guitars on this song alone, and there was a bit of trouble in trying to get the other instruments being overdubbed (such as bass and keyboards) in tune with the guitars.

The main synthesizer riff was produced using a combination of PPG Wave 2.2 and a Yamaha DX7.

"Wouldn't It Be Good" was released in a single version and an extended 12" version. A remix by Simon Boswell, clocking in at 7:20, appears on the album Retro:Active 4: Rare & Remixed.

In 1985, "Wouldn't It Be Good" appeared on the soundtrack to the film Gotcha!

In the music video for "Wouldn't It Be Good", Kershaw is an extraterrestrial visitor who observes the characteristics of the people around him. It was directed by graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, was released in 1984 and received heavy rotation on MTV, which helped the song reach No. 46 on the US charts. It used chroma key technology to achieve the alien suit's special effects. The music video was filmed in mid-January 1984 over a period of three days, primarily in and around St. James' Court Hotel, London. The closing scenes were recorded at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, near Cambridge.

According to Kershaw, the song was about "always wanting it better than everyone else", a concept which the director of the video further developed and integrated into the video plot of Kershaw being the alien who steps into other people's shoes. But in the end the alien realises that it was not such a good idea at all, and decides to return to his home planet.

In a review of the single's 1991 reissue, Stephen Dalton of NME praised it as "a deeply felt ennui at the hopeless dreams and aspirations of idealistic youth" and a "welcome re-release from a much underrated innovator of early synth-pop".

Track listings

7-inch single

       A. "Wouldn't It Be Good" – 4:35

       B. "Monkey Business" – 3:28

12-inch single

        A. "Wouldn't It Be Good" (special extended mix) – 6:50

        B. "Monkey Business" – 3:28

Nik Kershaw "The Works (Japan, MCA Records, 22P2-2393)"

The Works is the fourth studio album by the English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nik Kershaw. It was released in 1989 and was the last album he created for MCA Records. Kershaw chose the album's title as he felt the album represented "the collected works of Nik Kershaw". He did not release any new solo material until 15 Minutes, 10 years later.

The album was not commercially successful, though the lead single "One Step Ahead" reached No. #55 in the UK. "Elisabeth's Eyes", the second and final single, failed to chart altogether.

Although the album was produced by Peter Wolf and co-produced by Brian Malouf, both singles were written shortly after Kershaw became unhappy with Wolf's production and his direction for the album. They were produced by Kershaw and Julian Mendelsohn, with the two also re-working the production of the entire album, earning them an additional production credit.

After its original release, the album remained out of print on any format for years. However, in November 2006, the album became available via online MP3 download on major sites such as Amazon and iTunes.

In an interview of the time, Kershaw spoke of the album's creation and production:

"In April 1987 I finished touring, after that I wrote songs for the new album. In August of that year I went to Los Angeles to record The Works album in four months with producer Peter Wolf. Back home in England I listened to the album and discovered that I hated it. I could never have promoted that album. How could I tell the people: it's a great product, buy it!, if I wouldn't have bought it myself. So I quickly wrote two more songs, among which was "One Step Ahead", and I did a lot all over again with Julian Mendelsohn in London. Eventually the record was only finished last year in October. But I must say that I'm a whole lot happier about it now."

Speaking of working with Wolf, Kershaw said:

"American producers are used to having total control over their production. But I wanted to have a say about my own songs myself. Americans want predictable songs and sounds whereas I chose the opposite. We have been fighting like cats and dogs in that studio, we were constantly clashing. In the end we decided to make a compromise, but with the result that neither of us was happy with the final result. It was all very annoying, but I also learned from it."

The track "One World" was later included on Kershaw's 1991 compilation album The Collection, while the German vinyl and Japanese CD editions of the compilation featured a re-recorded version of the track instead. In recent years, Kershaw stated via his Q&A sessions "Drum Talk" that the re-recorded version was to be a single after the release of "Elisabeth's Eyes", however this never materialised as he and the record label MCA parted company. In 1991, English pop singer Chesney Hawkes covered the song for his debut studio album Buddy's Song and it also appeared as the B-side to his third single "Secrets of the Heart". In the same year, Hawkes had scored a number one hit in the UK with the Nik Kershaw-penned song "The One and Only".

Track listing

All songs are written by Nik Kershaw, except where noted.

1. "One Step Ahead" – 3:53
2. "Elisabeth's Eyes" – 4:40
3. "Take My Place" – 4:04
4. "Wounded Knee" – 3:53
5. "Cowboys & Indians" – 3:52
6. "One World" (Nik Kershaw, Peter Wolf) – 4:39
7. "Don't Ask Me" – 4:02
8. "Burning at Both Ends" – 4:05
9. "Lady on the Phone" (Kershaw, Wolf) – 4:09
10. "Walkabout" – 4:56

Made by Warner-Pioneer Corporation, Japan.

Recording information:

Recorded at: Can-Am Recorders (Tarzana, California)

Sarm West Studios (London)

Sarm East Studios (London)

Rumbo Recorders (Canoga Park, California)

Ground Control (Santa Monica, California)

Secret Sound (Woodland Hills, California)