No Doubt

When a group plays an industry show (with label execs in attendance) a recording contract is usually forthcoming. No Doubt’s first crack at the big time came just before Christmas in ’87 at the Roxy in Hollywood.

But earlier that year, lead singer John Spence shot himself in an Anaheim park. Gwen Stefani made the move from backing to lead vocals, but the group, still trying to recover from Spence’s suicide, didn’t do so well.

They decided to break up. But a couple of days later, they reversed their decision. No Doubt – Gwen and brother Eric, Tom Dumont (guitar), Tony Kanal (bass), Adrian Young (drums) – opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ziggy Marley, among others.

They were signed by Interscope Records where they were expected to rule. However, the early ’90s were driven by Grunge and No Doubt couldn’t get any radio play. It got so bad that the music director at their hometown radio station (KROQ/Orange County) said it would take an act of God to get them
on the air.

’93 saw work begin on “Tragic Kingdom” but this project went in fits and starts without taking hold. Then Eric Stefani bailed in ’94. He decided to stick with his day job as an animator for The Simpsons TV show.

’95 was the year it all finally connected. First, No Doubt released the “Beacon Street Collection,” ten
tracks ranging from finished songs to demos. Then they played the main stage on
the first Warped Tour.

The next few years were a blur of tours, award shows, personal appearances, one-off projects (Stefani recording “You’re The Boss” with the Brian Setzer Orchestra) and magazine covers/stories (featuring Gwen). Well, all that was bound to take a toll, so the group took a break.

Recording “Tragic Kingdom” had been a two-year process. There was no indication the follow-up, begun in early ’99, would be any different. More than an album’s worth of material was recorded, then discarded. No Doubt entered the studio again with seasoned pro Glen Ballard producing.

Ex-Girlfriend” led off the ’00 release, “Return To Saturn,” as both the first track and first single. “Bathwater” and “Simple Kind Of Life” were also single releases but despite strong songs and performances “Return To Saturn” suffered from a critical backlash due to “Tragic Kingdom’s” mega success.

The dance, Hip Hop and Reggae derived “Rock Steady” hit the shelves in ’01.

“Singles: 1992-2003” covered the expected turf and added a hit cover of Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life.”

“Boom Box” contained the singles, remixes, B-sides and unreleased material. There was also a disc of the group’s videos.

With work underway on No Doubt’s comeback album slowed when Stefani became pregnant with her second child. But eventually the production got back on track.

“Push And Shove,” a ’12 release, was the group’s first album of original material in over a decade.

Young wasn’t optimistic about a follow-up.

“I think (“Push And Shove”) will remain our last album. And unfortunately, I don’t see us touring anymore either. I could be wrong, you never know, things could change. it’s quite a shame we’re not playing live.”

It took a while but circumstances did change in ’24 when No Doubt played a successful reunion show at Coachella.

Less than a year later, No Doubt joined numerous performers (Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jelly Roll, Billie Eilish. and Stevie Nicks) for FireAid, a pair of benefit concerts in L.A. to raise money for rebuilding communities devastated by area wildfires which killed at least 25 people and forced more than 150,000 residents to evacuate from their homes. 

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