No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom

[Jark]

25 years young today. Certified Diamond in the US with 9.5m sold, plus another 6m+ globally. Spawned countless singles including the ubiquitous global smash hits Just a Girl and Don't Speak, as well as lesser-known but almost equally fantastic tunes like the sunny ska-pop of Sunday Morning and the delightful new wave jam Spiderweb with its endless chorus roll.





Released a year after Gwen Stefani's breakup with bassist (and total dish) Tony Kanal, and of course Don't Speak was all about the devastation she felt after that - with that blowing up and the band touring the album across the world for two and a half years, I'd say it's a minor miracle they STAYED TOGETHER and KEPT MAKING MUSIC because I can imagine everyone was WELL SICK OF IT by '97!

Anyway, that didn't break them but something since has apparently - Tom Dumont hinted at it in his anniversary IG post for the album:



if he is to be believed, they want to do one last tour and Gwen isn't interested. I suppose it's always "one last tour" until the demand is there and then it can go on and on. I would like it to happen though - their last album wasn't so great that more new music is needed but I'd certainly be at a tour in a FLASH.

Anyway, Tragic Kingdom - go.

 

[Jark]

Gwen's style throughout '95-'97 and the promotion of this record was simply DIVINE. A true '90s style icon.

xx Spiderwebs
xx Excuse Me Mr.
xx Just a Girl
xx Happy Now?
xx Different People
xx Hey You!
xx The Climb
xx Sixteen
xx Sunday Morning
xx Don't Speak
xx You Can Do It
xx World Go Round
xx End It On This
xx Tragic Kingdom

 

[Peekaboo]

I've been following this BAND DRAMA too This is one of my favourite records growing up, I think it still stands the test of time today. But then I love ska!

I'm addicted to bands like this and the Mac who produce some GREAT MUSIC out of HEARTBREAK and then it all inevitably goes DOWNHILL!

 

[Peekaboo]

Oh and I put 100% of the blame for this fallout on MS STEFANI in this case. Tom, Adrian and Tony have been VERY PATIENT with her while she pretended to be MADONNA for about a DECADE and then descended into REALITY TV HELL and a TACKY TV ROMANCE with some country numpty

 

[straightorbroken]

I was just obsessed with Sunday Morning and Spiderwebs and couldn't understand why they weren't massive hits. Not to mention that 2-10 drop for Just A Girl. Excuse Me Mr and End It On This also big favourites for me. Actually, Hey You and Happy also just as good. I think they went on to make better, but this is fully packed if not with hits that they should have been. What an icon Gwen was. Did the era have good b-sides?

 

[SDF]

I actually really liked the last album.

I might give this a full spin through later, though. So watch this space @Jark

 

[Peekaboo]

Oh and how GORGEOUS was Tony in the 90s?

 

[straightorbroken]

The last album was amazing, but here we go with TK max tracks:

11 Spiderwebs
08 Excuse Me Mr.
10 Just a Girl
08 Happy Now?
07 Different People
08 Hey You!
07 The Climb
07 Sixteen
10 Sunday Morning
10 Don't Speak
08 You Can Do It
08 World Go Round
09 End It On This
08 Tragic Kingdom

 

[Jark]

Oh and I put 100% of the blame for this fallout on MS STEFANI in this case. Tom, Adrian and Tony have been VERY PATIENT with her while she pretended to be MADONNA for about a DECADE and then descended into REALITY TV HELL and a TACKY TV ROMANCE with some country numpty

she has no obligation to go back she's HAPPY NOW! let the girl prance around on the RANCH living her SOUTHERN DAME FANTASY

 

[GNL]

This was one of my favourite albums growing up, and I am still fully obsessed with Gwen's entire THING during this era. Spiderwebs was my TINNY POLYPHONIC RINGTONE as a teenager.

Over time, I've come to prefer Return of Saturn as an entire album, but the highs on this record are still TREMENDOUS.

 

[Jark]

Spiderwebs was my TINNY POLYPHONIC RINGTONE as a teenager.

THE LAYERS!

I should probably listen again to Return of Saturn. It's been a very long time but I remember feeling quite strongly it was very MOROSE and certainly nothing on either this or Rock Steady...

 

[Iguana]

I love No Doubt but find this one a bit hit and miss. My favourite has always been Return To Saturn, but obviously commercially this is THE one

 

[GNL]

I should probably listen again to Return of Saturn. It's been a very long time but I remember feeling quite strongly it was very MOROSE

Oh, it is definitely THAT.

 

[Loufoque]

Even I stanned this album in 97.

Gwen's career trajectory is really quite odd. Massive band album, semi-flop follow-up, becomes rap hook girl, band releases comeback album, goes solo and is temporarily the biggest female popstar in the world while Britney was falling apart, Christina was squandering her momentum, and Madonna and Mariah weren't quite back to full throttle yet, then farts out her own "Rarities" collection, which is largely obnoxious except for a few wonderful ballads, and then becomes a reality star.

 

[Jark]

! well when you put it like THAT...

I think she's never really been CONCERNED with being the biggest star in the world. She seems like someone who likes to live her little fantasy for a year or two, whether it's being the girl next door, the frontwoman in the band, the red-lipped 1930s old Hollywood siren, or doing Harajuku schoolgirl cosplay, and then moves on and retreats toward some privacy. Her charisma is quite something and people do seem to gravitate towards that but having periods of being a HUGE STAR often feels a bit like an accident.

 

[Loufoque]

Yes, she feels very much like an accidental pop star. Maybe that's why people like her. She never seemed to have the steely-eyed ambition of Madonna, or the relentless over-achiever competitiveness of Mariah.

I was recently reminded of just how good Let Me Blow Ya Mind was. That was really a rebirth for her.

 

[GNL]

Even I stanned this album in 97.

Gwen's career trajectory is really quite odd. Massive band album, semi-flop follow-up, becomes rap hook girl, band releases comeback album, goes solo and is temporarily the biggest female popstar in the world while Britney was falling apart, Christina was squandering her momentum, and Madonna and Mariah weren't quite back to full throttle yet, then farts out her own "Rarities" collection, which is largely obnoxious except for a few wonderful ballads, and then becomes a reality star.

She's always been quite small-c conservative, and I think being settled and raising a family was much higher on her list of ambitions than being the biggest pop star and/or frontwoman in the world. She's also spoken about writer's block a lot, and I think that ties in with not having a lot to say when she's happy and thriving. It's telling that she came back with an album of original material when her marriage broke down.

I also get the feeling the solo career was an opportunity for her to do the things she couldn't do as a frontwoman of No Doubt (indulging her love of fashion, classic musicals etc) and once she had that out of her system there wasn't a real drive to carry on.

 

[Cerro de Casa]

She's always been quite small-c conservative,

Bingo.

 

[Cerro de Casa]

11 Spiderwebs
09 Excuse Me Mr.
10 Just a Girl
08 Happy Now?
07 Different People
07 Hey You!
05 The Climb
06 Sixteen
10 Sunday Morning
10 Don't Speak
07 You Can Do It
07 World Go Round
09 End It On This
07 Tragic Kingdom

 

[Jark]

10 Spiderwebs
08 Excuse Me Mr.
11 Just a Girl
07 Happy Now?
09 Different People
08 Hey You!
07 The Climb
08 Sixteen
10 Sunday Morning
11 Don't Speak
08 You Can Do It
09 World Go Round
08 End It On This
08 Tragic Kingdom

 

[GNL]

I forgot how much I love End It On This.

 

[wildchild]

Oh and I put 100% of the blame for this fallout on MS STEFANI in this case. Tom, Adrian and Tony have been VERY PATIENT with her while she pretended to be MADONNA for about a DECADE and then descended into REALITY TV HELL and a TACKY TV ROMANCE with some country numpty

I blame Gavin - Gwen just hasn't been the same after the divorce and I can't help but wonder if she was lacking support from the band or something at the time. Or maybe just wanted to copletly forget her old life. She even dumped all the songs she had written (including the Sia collaboration Start a War ) and started writing from the sratch.

 

[wildchild]

By the way, Gwen is writing new music - she's been in the studio with the lead singer of Magic! (going for reggae? ) and Ryan Tedder who previously helped write her smash hit "Baby Don't Lie"

 

[Tisch]

10 Spiderwebs
08 Excuse Me Mr.
10 Just a Girl
07 Happy Now?
09 Different People
06 Hey You!
08 The Climb
08 Sixteen
10 Sunday Morning
13 Don't Speak
05 You Can Do It
09 World Go Round
08 End It On This
10 Tragic Kingdom

Absolutely smacker of an album

 

[wildchild]

10 Spiderwebs
08 Excuse Me Mr.
10 Just a Girl
09 Happy Now?
08 Different People
06 Hey You!
07 The Climb
05 Sixteen
10 Sunday Morning
08 Don't Speak
05 You Can Do It
06 World Go Round
07 End It On This
07 Tragic Kingdom

 

[straightorbroken]

Cornfields of popcorn have yet to spring open

What a pop lyric.

 

[POP!]

I really enjoyed the last album. They didn't seem to fully commit once "Looking Hot" was scrapped. I'm convinced that "One More Summer" could have been a genuine comeback hit for them had they pushed it.

Tragic Kingdom is a classic and juggernaut, but I don't think the sound has aged well AT ALL. "Don't Speak", "Spiderwebs", and "Sunday Morning" are undeniable though. Had I been a little bit older at the time to appreciate it, I would have a nostalgia for it perhaps. I re-visit Rock Steady loads more, which is probably in my all time top 50 albums...

10 Spiderwebs
06 Excuse Me Mr.
08 Just a Girl
07 Happy Now?
05 Different People
05 Hey You!
07 The Climb
04 Sixteen
09 Sunday Morning
10 Don't Speak
05 You Can Do It
06 World Go Round
06 End It On This
06 Tragic Kingdom

 

[straightorbroken]

Looking Hot was a juggernaut and it's not as if cultural appropriation had stopped her before.

 

[Cerro de Casa]

Tragic Kingdom is very uneven as an album.

 

[POP!]

Looking Hot was a juggernaut and it's not as if cultural appropriation had stopped her before.

Agreed. She should have just pressed forward with it and donated proceeds of sales (all $47.00) to a charitable organization. It was 2012 - the same year Lana wore a NATIVE AMERICAN HEADDRESS WITH A GUN TO HER HEAD.

 

[straightorbroken]

Or be seen buying a Pocahontas DVD from the Disney store and tweeted out a youtube of Cher doing Half Breed. I mean, if you're going to be tone deaf at least go all out.

 

[Beverley]

Rock Steady is definitely the one

 

[Cerro de Casa]

It's their best album for sure.

 

[straightorbroken]

I think Push & Shove refined it all and is a long player dream sequence, only without the hits or big budget cinematics to secure its icon status.

 

[straightorbroken]

Hella Good remains the most amazing single and video though.

 

[POP!]

I love "Hella Good". "Underneath it All" and "Running" have aged like fine wine[/Kylie]. I even quite like "Hey Baby" now even though it objectively gets worse and worse with time And of course the album tracks are generally just as phenomenal.

Sorry to derail your Tragic Kingdom thread, @Jark !

 

[Jark]

oh beb I thought this thread would get max three responses so do carry on

 

[Jark]

I think Push & Shove refined it all and is a long player dream sequence, only without the hits or big budget cinematics to secure its icon status.

yes, it's a very solid record overall but the only towering highs for me are the title track (which is BALLS to the WALL AMAZING) and Easy. Settle Down is quite good too. Looking Hot was a bore though.

 

[straightorbroken]

This calls for one thing..

 

[straightorbroken]

09 Settle Down
10 Looking Hot
08 One More Summer
10 Push and Shove
10 Easy
10 Gravity
10 Undercover
08 Undone
10 Sparkle
10 Heaven
06 Dreaming the Same Dream

I mean, until they manage a whole album of New's or Hella's this will stay on the throne.