No Doubt released Tragic Kingdom

Tragic Kingdom No Doubt

Released: October 10, 1995 Charted: January 20, 1996 Peak: 19 US, 3 UK, 18 CN, 3 AU Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 0.53 UK, 17.7 world (includes US and UK), 25.35 EAS Genre: alternative rock/ska

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Spiderwebs (Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal) [4:28] (11/19/95, 18 BA, 12 GR, 11 RR, 29 A40, 5 MR, 16 UK, 11 CN, 46 AU, 27 DF) Excuse Me Mr. (G. Stefani, Tom Dumont) [3:04] (8/21/96, 17 MR) Just a Girl (G. Stefani, Dumont) [3:28] (9/21/95, 23 BB, 17 CB, 20 GR, 22 RR, 10 MR, 3 UK, 25 CN, 3 AU, 10 DF) Happy Now? (G. Stefani, Dumont, Kanal) [3:43] (1/10/97, --) Different People (Eric Stefani, G. Stefani, Kanal) [4:34] Hey You! (G. Stefani, Kanal) [3:34] (2/23/98, --) The Climb (E. Stefani) [6:37] Sixteen (G. Stefani, Kanal) [3:21] Sunday Morning (Kanal, G. Stefani, E. Stefani) [4:33] (5/2/97, 29 GR, 37 RR, 50 UK, 33 CN, 21 AU) Don’t Speak (E. Stefani, G. Stefani) [4:23] (4/15/96, 1 BA, 1 GR, 1 RR, 6 AC, 1 A40, 12 AA, 2 MR, 1 UK, 1 CN, 1 AU, 1 DF) You Can Do It (G. Stefani, E. Stefani, Dumont, Kanal) [4:13] World Go ‘Round (Kanal, G. Stefani) [4:09] End It on This (G. Stefani, Dumont, Kanal, E. Stefani) [3:45] Tragic Kingdom (E. Stefani) [5:31] Total Running Time: 59:24 The Players: Gwen Stefani (vocals) Tom Dumont (guitar) Tony Kanal (bass) Eric Stefani (keyboards, piano) Adrian Young (drums, percussion)

Rating: 3.931 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings) Quotable: “Brought Southern California’s ska scene to a national stage while elevating the band to star status.” – Courtney Kemp, Amazon.com Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

No Doubt: The Early Years No Doubt formed in 1986 Anaheim, California. The ska-meets-alternative-rock group was started by keyboardist Eric Stefani with trumpeter Gabriel Gonzalez and others who were all gone by 1989. By the time of the group’s first album, the lineup consisted of Eric, his sister Gwen on vocals, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. This lineup was signed to Interscope Records in 1990 and released their self-titled debut in 1992. Their pop sound contrasted with the grunge music of the day and, according to the program director of California radio station KROQ, “It would take an act of God for this band to get on the radio.” WK Matthew Wilder The band was paired with producer Matthew Wilder (who’d had a top-5 pop hit with “Break My Stride” in 1983) for their next album, Tragic Kingdom. It made for “a clever mainstream co-opting of new wave quirkiness, and, as such, an ideal pairing.” AM “Wilder kept his production lean and accessible, accentuating No Doubt’s appealing mix of new wave melodicism, post-grunge rock, and West Coast sunshine. Even though the band isn’t always able to fuse its edgy energy with pop melodies, the combination worked far better than anyone could have hoped.” AM In the Interim Eric Stefani left the band when Wilder came on board as producer. Interscope had also lost faith in the band and didn’t finance what became the group’s sophomore album, The Beacon Street Collection. The band recorded the album themselves because their record company had lost faith in them. However, when it sold three times as much as their debut, Interscope financed the band’s third album, Tragic Kingdom. A Blockbuster Tragic Kingdom became a blockbuster, but not immediately. It was released in October 1995, but didn’t chart until January 1996. Then it took until December 1996 before it topped the charts for nine weeks in the United States on its way to more than 17 million sales worldwide. At the 1997 Grammy Awards, Tragic Kingdom took home the prize for Best Rock Album while No Doubt walked away with the award for Best New Artist. Ska Meets Pop The album “brought Southern California’s ska scene to a national stage while elevating the band to star status” AZ with its mix of “’90s punk, third-wave ska, and pop sensibility.” AM Rolling Stone’s David Fricke described the album as “ear candy with good beats, not just bludgeon-by-number guitars.” WK Los Angeles Times’ Mike Boehm called the band “bright, hard-hitting and kinetic” WK while The Village Voice’s Chuck Eddy said “No Doubt resurrects the exuberance new-wave guys lost when ‘80s indie labels and college radio conned them into settling for slam-pit fits and wallflower wallpaper.” WK A Breakup Kanal and Stefani severed their seven-year relationship prior to the making of the album. Luckily, that didn’t mean the tone of the album was “all doom and gloom.” TB While Tragic Kingdom does have “recurring themes of pain and regret” AZ it “manages to somehow feel sunny throughout.” AZ “When everything does click, the record is pure fun, even if some of the album makes you wish they could sustain that energy throughout the record.” AM Gwen Stefani “Stefani’s looks made the group MTV shoo-ins” AZ – Entertainment Weekly’s David Browne went so far as to attribute the album’s sales to her “leggy, bleached-blond calling card” while concluding that “sex still sells.” WK He did also concede that the music provided “a hefty chunk of new-wave party bounce and Chili Peppers-style white-boy punk.” WK Stefani was also a breath of fresh air with her “uber-cool, Madonna-light image, the antithesis of her intense, angsty, mid-1990s peers.” TB However, her “soaring voice is the real star, as evidenced by such songs as Happy Now? – a classic you’ll-regret-you-dumped-me anthem that recalls Blondie – and the bouncy Sunday Morning.” AZ The Songs Here are insights on individual songs. “Just a Girl” The album “scored several hits” AZ “led by the infectious, pseudo-new wave single Just a Girl” AM in which Stefani expressed her “exasperation with female stereotypes.” WK Browne called it “a chirpy, ska-tinged bopper.” WK “Spiderwebs” WK The second single, Spiderwebs, was written about a woman “trying to avoid the constant phone calls of a persistent man.” WK Both songs “positively ruled the airwaves, both alternative and mainstream.” AM “Don’t Speak” Then “in 1997 No Doubt cemented their cross-generational appeal” AM with Don’t Speak, which Browne called “an old-fangled power ballad.” WK The song was written about Stefani’s breakup with bandmate Tony Kanal. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard airplay chart for a then-record sixteen weeks. It was not eligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 because it was not released as a commercial single.

Resources and Related Links: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon.com review by Courtney Kemp TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 279. WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Pages: First posted 10/10/2011; last updated 12/4/2024.

Bonnie Raitt’s Nick of Time wins Grammy for Album of the Year

Nick of Time Bonnie Raitt

Released: March 21, 1989 Charted: April 15, 1989 Peak: 13 US, 51 UK, -- CN, 58 AU, 4 DF Sales (in millions): 5.6 US, -- UK, 5.9 world (includes US and UK) Genre: blues-rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Nick of Time (9/16/89, 92 BB, 10 AC, 82 UK, 1 DF) Thing Called Love (3/18/89, 11 AR, 15 DF) Love Letter (6/24/89, 49 AR, 35 AC, 73 CN, 16 DF) Cry on My Shoulder (37 DF) Real Man (19 DF) Nobody’s Girl (34 DF) Have a Heart (2/3/90, 49 BB, 3 AC, 16 CN, 19 DF)) Too Soon to Tell (38 DF) I Will Not Be Denied (37 DF) I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again The Road’s My Middle Name (32 DF) Total Running Time: 42:31

Rating: 4.113 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About Bonnie Raitt Blues-rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bonnie Raitt was born in 1949 in Burbank, California. She got her start playing with Mississippi Fred McDowell at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and as an opening act for John Hammond at the Gaslight Café in New York. Word spread about her performance after she was seen by a reporter from Newsweek. She signed a record deal with Warner Bros. and released her debut album in 1971. Raitt established herself as “an exquisite interpretive singer and formidable guitarist who’d long ago honed her bluesy chops.” AZ She became “a reliable cult artist, delivering a string of solid records that were moderate successes and usually musically satisfying.” AM They were “generally superb, commercially underachieving recordings.” AZ No Overnight Sensation However, in the mid-‘80s her career “looked to be heading for the graveyard.” RD when her ninth album, Nine Lives, failed to reach the top 100 on the Billboard album chart and Warner Bros. dropped her. She signed with Capitol Records and made one of the greatest comebacks in music history. Tenth album Nick of Time, was “the watershed moment in Bonnie Raitt’s recording career, the sound of a survivor finding new focus and purpose in her art after nearly 20 years.” AZ She combined her “usual gourmet spread of smart cover choices with her own candid songs.” AZ They “resonated with her persona as a tough, smart, but ultimately tender woman.” AZ Don Was Most telling, however, was her decision to collaborate with producer Don Was. “The pairing seemed a little odd, since he was primarily known for the weird hipster funk of Was (Not Was) and the B-52’s’ quirky eponymous debut, but the match turned out to be inspired. Was used Raitt’s classic early-‘70s records as a blueprint, choosing to update the sound with a smooth, professional production and a batch of excellent contemporary songs.” AM “In this context, Raitt flourishes; she never rocks too hard, but there is grit to her singing and playing, even when the surfaces are clean and inviting.” AM It “catapulted a feisty rock tomboy into a new station that made her as admired by female fans as the stage door johnnies who’d long loved her rock technique.” AZ Grammy Surprise Raitt shocked the music industry when Nick of Time won the Grammy for Album of the Year in February 1990. She also picked up Grammys for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (for the album) and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for the title cut). That propelled the album up the charts, where it reached #1 more than a year after its release and went on to sell more than 5 million copies. It was a great comeback album that made for a great story, but the record never would have been a blockbuster success if it wasn’t for the music, which is among the finest Raitt ever made. She must have realized this, since Nick of Time served as the blueprint for the majority of her ‘90s albums.” AM “Nick of Time” “She knocked one over the fence with the opening track,” AZ, “the album’s title track” RD “which smoothly sets heartache to a toe-tapping beat.” RD It is “a moving confession of a boomer’s anxieties about age, death, and the impermanence of love.” AZ Other Songs “While she only has two original songs here, Nick of Time plays like autobiography, which is a testament to the power of the songs, performances, and productions.” AM Her cover of John Hiatt’s Thing Called Love is “a rowdy tune that would fit easily on modern ‘new country radio.” RD “Raitt honky-tonks her way through the powerful Love Letter,” RD one of two songs originally written and performed by Bonnie Hayes. The other was Have a Heart. All three songs reached one or more Billboard charts.

Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon review by Sam Sutherland RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 627. Related DMDB Links: Last updated 12/3/2024.