No Doubt was nominated for the 1997 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. TRAGIC KINGDOM was nominated for a 1997 Grammy for Best Rock Album. "Don't Speak" was nominated for 1998 Grammys for Song Of The Year and Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
No Doubt's members cite a strange variety of musical influences: Kiss, Prince and Madness, to name a few. And it's easy to imagine that their hometown itself, Anaheim, California (home to Disneyland), may have played a part in forming the band's schizophrenic, high-energy sound, which took TRAGIC KINGDOM, the band's second album, on a slow, steady ride up the pop charts. It finally hit No. 1 in December 1996, 14 months after it was released.
This is ska-punk-new wave-dance music, with instrumentation ranging from hardcore guitar to mellow, reggae-style horns. Singer Gwen Stefani's voice is by turns peppy, almost adolescent ("Spiderwebs") and emotionally wailing; she can sound a lot like Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano ("Just A Girl"). When Stefani sings, "I'm just a girl, little ol' me/Don't let me out of your sight," she does so without a hint of girlishness; her voice is all attitude, with a warbling edge of melodrama. For the most part, these are happy songs, though No Doubt do get philosophical on "Different People": "Once in a while I sit back/And think about the planet/Most of the time I trip on it/To kick back and think of how massive it all is/And how many others are on it."
No Doubt: Gwen Stefani (vocals); Tom Dumont (guitar); Eric Stefani (piano, keyboards); Tony Kanal (bass); Adrian Young (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Aloke DasGupta (sitar); Melissa Hasin (cello); Gerard Boisse, Bill Bergman (saxophone); Greg Smith (baritone saxophone); Phil Jordan, Les Lovitt (trumpet); Nick Lane (trombone); Gabe McNair (trombone, percussion); Matthew Wilder (keyboards); Stephen Perkins (steel drums).
- Format: Vinyl
- Genre: Rock
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Tracklist
| A1 | Spiderwebs | 4:28 |
| A2 | Excuse Me Mr | 3:04 |
| A3 | Just A Girl | 3:29 |
| A4 | Happy Now? | 3:43 |
| A5 | Different People | 4:34 |
| A6 | Hey You | 3:34 |
| A7 | The Climb | 6:37 |
| B1 | Sixteen | 3:21 |
| B2 | Sunday Morning | 4:33 |
| B3 | Don't Speak | 4:23 |
| B4 | You Can Do It | 4:13 |
| B5 | World Go 'Round | 4:09 |
| B6 | End It On This | 3:45 |
| B7 | Tragic Kingdom | 5:31 |
