Tragic Kingdom
 | This article or section is in a state of significant expansion or restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well. If this article or section has not been edited in several days, please remove this template. If you are the editor who added this template and you are actively editing, please be sure to replace this template with {{in use}} during the active editing session. Click on the link for template parameters to use.
This article was last edited by Escape Artist Swyer (talk | contribs) 15 years ago. (Update timer) |
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Tragic Kingdom is the third album by the American rock band No Doubt. It was released by Trauma Records in 1995. Tragic Kingdom helped to initiate the ska revival of the 1990s, and it became one of the best-selling albums of the decade.
Background
No Doubt released its debut album No Doubt in 1992, a year after being signed to Interscope. The group's commercial sound came at a time when most of the United States was in the thrall of grunge music, a genre which could not have contrasted more with the songs on No Doubt's pop-orientated album.[1] Not surprisingly, the album was a commercial failure, with only 30,000 copies sold[2][3]. In the words of the program director of KROQ, a Californian radio station on which it was one of the band's driving ambitions to be played: "It would take an act of God for this band to get on the radio."[3][4]
The band started to work on its second album in 1993 but Interscope, having lost faith in the band, rejected most of its material and so it was paired with producer Matthew Wilder. Eric Stefani did not like to relinquish creative control to someone outside the band and eventually stopped recording or rehearsing. He left No Doubt in 1994 to pursue an animation career on the popular TV series The Simpsons.[5] Kanal then ended his seven-year relationship with Gwen, saying that he needed "space".[6] Interscope still would not let No Doubt into a studio to record their next album, frustrating the band.[7]
The group decided to produce their next album independently and recorded their second album, The Beacon Street Collection in a homemade studio[3], releasing it and two singles, "Squeal" and "Doghouse"[8], under their own record label, Beacon Street Records.[9] Despite limited availabilty, the album was a success, selling 100,000 copies in the year of its release, over three times as many as the previous album.[3] Their independence and success attracted Interscope's attention and ensured that they would fund a third album.[7]
Music
A large number of songs on Tragic Kingdom were written by lead vocalist Gwen Stefani, and were about her experiences in life. This contrasted with the music on No Doubt's previous album, The Beacon Street Collection, which was written mainly by Eric Stefani, who left the group before Tragic Kingdom was recorded. Because the songs in Tragic Kingdom were written by a different person, the style of music changed from what No Doubt had previously produced. Tom 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. Well 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 opposie 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.[10]
Production
Singles
"Just a Girl" was the first single from the album and and peaked at 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and 10 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song also gave the group another hit on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at number three. "Just a Girl" is written in the key of D major and common time at a moderate 110 beats per minute. The opening riff that Dumont uses was taken from an earlier effort by keyboardist Eric Stefani. The song is heavily influenced by New Wave music, using synth noise from a Roland Jupiter-8, '80s keyboards and effects, and retro sounds. The opening riff that Dumont uses was taken from an earlier effort by keyboardist Eric Stefani.
The second single was "Spiderwebs" which debuted number 10 on the Billboard charts and peaked at number 5 after three weeks of its release. The song's lyrics are about a man who had been calling Gwen at all hours to recite bad poetry to her. Musically, the song uses a drum for the beat and various brass instruments, such as a trombone to build up the crescendos in the chorus.
The third single and their most famous song "Don't Speak", reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, and maintained that position for sixteen consecutive weeks, a record at the time. Although the record was broken in 1998 by the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" with eighteen weeks at number one, the song remains in second place of songs on the Hot 100 Airplay with the most weeks at number one.
For all its airplay though, the song was not allowed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 as no commercial single was released for it (which were required for charting purposes at the time). Not surprisingly, the song was also a hit on No Doubt's main radio format at the time, Modern Rock Tracks where it climbed to number two. The song also proved to be a crossover smash, hitting number one on Adult Top 40 and even hitting a number six and number nine on Adult Contemporary and the Rhythmic Top 40 respectively. It also was the number one hit single for the Hot 100 Airplay on the 1997 Year End chart.
Internationally, the song was also very successful. In December 1996, it reached number one in The Netherlands, and two months later, it debuted at number one in the United Kingdom, maintaining the top position for three weeks. Australia was another major music market where the song received widespread airplay, debuting at number one and maintaining the peak position for 8 weeks. In Switzerland, "Don't Speak" debuted at number eighteen before climbing to number one (for four weeks) six weeks later. After falling from number one, it remained in the top ten for an additional seven weeks.
"Sunday Morning" was released as the album's fifth single. It managed to do fairly well on the rock charts. Composing the song began when Tony Kanal was having a fight with Gwen 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.[11]
Reception
The album recieved mixed reviews from critics. Allmusic called it "pure fun" and described the music as something "between '90s punk, third-wave ska, and pop sensibility" and a mix of "new wave melodicism, post-grunge rock, and West Coast sunshine", indicating the songs "Spiderwebs", "Just a Girl" and "Don't Speak" as "postively [ruling] the airwaves"."[12] Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C+ rating. Reviewer David Browne attributed No Doubt's success to Gwen Stefani's "leggy, bleached-blond calling card" and concluded that "sex still sells". Browne however described the music as "a hefty chunk of new-wave party bounce and Chili Peppers-style white-boy funk, with dashes of reggae, squealing hair-metal guitar, disco, ska-band horns" and the band as sounding like "savvy, lounge-bred pros". Individual songs were singled out and commented on: "Just a Girl" was described as "a chirpy, ska-tinged bopper", "Don't Speak" as "an old-fangled power ballad" and "Sixteen" as a "song of solidarity with misunderstood teenage girls".[13] In a review that also covered an album by 311, David Fricke of Rolling Stone gave a mostly positive review, describing Tragic Kingdom as "ear candy with good beats, not just bludgeon-by-numbers guitars" and its music as "a spry, white-suburban take on ska and Blondieesque pop". Fricke however described "Don't Speak" as "irritating swill" with "high-pitched rippling" from Gwen Stefani.[14]
Tragic Kingdom Tour
No Doubt went on a "Tragic Kingdom" tour after the release of the album. One concert from the tour was filmed and later released as Live in the Tragic Kingdom on VHS and later, DVD.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 3:29 |
| 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 |
Credits
Personnel
- Gwen Stefani – Vocals
- Tom Dumont – guitar
- Tony Kanal – bass
- Adrian Young – percussion, drums
- Phil Jordan – trumpet
- Gabrial McNair – keyboard, trombone
- Stephen Bradley – keyboard, trumpet
- Bill Bergman – saxophone
- Aloke Dasgupta – sitar
- Melissa "Missy" Hasin – cello
- Nick Lane – trombone
- Les Lovitt – trumpet
- Stephen Perkins – steel drums
- Greg Smith – baritone saxophone
- Matthew Wilder – keyboard
Production
- Producer: Matthew Wilder
- Engineers: Ray Blair, Matt Hyde, Phil Kaffel, George Landress, Johnny Potoker
- Mixing: David J. Holman, Paul Palmer
- Mixing Studio: Cactus Studio
- Mastering: Robert Vosgien
- Director: Albhy Galuten
- Photography: Dan Arsenault, Shelly Robertson
Chart positions
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Heatseekers | 1 |
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 1 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 1 |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
| United States | 1995 | Trauma/Interscope | CS | 92580 |
| 1995 | Trauma/Interscope | CD | 92580 | |
| 1996 | Trauma/Interscope | LP | 2580 | |
| 1996 | Interscope | CD | 90003 | |
| 2007 | Interscope | LP | 00031797 |
All information taken from the Allmusic page on the album's original release and on its limited edition vinyl release.
References
- ^ No Doubt (album) at AllMusic
- ^ Vineyard, Jennifer. "Tunes and 'Toons". OC Weekly. February 26, 1998. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Timeline of the band's history from their official website.
- ^ Tyrangiel, Josh. "Two-Hit Wonders". Time. April 2, 2000. Retrieved May 3, 2007.
- ^ "No Doubt". Behind the Music. VH1. April 9, 2000.
- ^ Born to Be. MuchMusic programming. Original airdate: March 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006.
- ^ a b Interview with the band, conducted by Wendy Hermanson for BAM magazine on November 17, 1995, archived on No Doubt's official website. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
- ^ Squeal and Doghouse at No Doubt's official website.
- ^ No Doubt's discography from their official website.
- ^ Interview with Tom Dumont by Evan Zelig for Backstage Online on October 31, [[1996.
- ^ Montoya, Paris and Lanham, Tom. "Sunday Morning". 2003. The Singles 1992-2003 (liner notes). Retrieved December 15, 2006.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Tragic Kingdom review. Allmusic.com. Retrieved on September 13, 2008.
- ^ Browne, David. Tragic Kingdom review. Entertainment Weekly. August 2, 1996. Retrieved on September 13, 2008
- ^ Fricke, David. Tragic Kingdom review. Rolling Stone. December 9, 1996. Retrieved on September 13, 2008.