The Blondie of Generation X, No Doubt came out of Orange County in
1995 wielding elements of third-wave ska, surf punk and bubblegum pop
like broadswords to decimate a music industry still mired in grunge.
Soon, lead singer and pinup gal Gwen Stefani became a style icon for a
whole generation of girls, making her trademark Hindu bindi dot as
commonplace in junior highs as lip gloss. Her band’s bubbly sound
birthed a whole scene of happy pop-punks throwing horns and keyboards
into their mix, with bands like Save Ferris sprouting up in nearly
every suburb in America. Tragic Kingdom (1996) was and is No
Doubt’s definitive statement, yielding six radio singles and launching
the band on an almost two-year world tour. Since then, the band has
only released two studio albums, the New Wave-drenched Return of
Saturn and dub-synth experiment Rock Steady. Stefani then
went solo for two massively popular albums of glittery dance-pop,
marrying the dude from Bush and birthing two boys. After getting
reacquainted on this summer shed tour, No Doubt will head into the
studio to record fresh material.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2009.