No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, that formed in 1986. Since 1994, the group has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, bassist and keyboardist Tony Kanal, guitarist and keyboardist Tom Dumont, and drummer Adrian Young. The band’s diamond-certified album Tragic Kingdom (1995) helped launch the third-wave ska revival of the 1990s; and “Don’t Speak”, the third single from the album, set a record when it spent 16 weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. Rock Steady (2001), which incorporated reggae and dancehall music into their work, produced two Grammy-winning singles, “Hey Baby” and “Underneath It All”; “Hella Good” was also nominated for a Grammy award. On 22 November 2002, No Doubt received the Key to the City of Anaheim, given by the Mayor of Anaheim, Tom Daly. They have sold over 33 million records worldwide. (More from Wikipedia)
Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider worked with No Doubt on one of my favorite albums of the early 2000’s, Return of Saturn; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic notes: “No Doubt’s desire to expand the emotional template of new wave is the perfect match for [Gwen] Stefani’s themes – she may be writing about love, but she’s not writing adolescent love songs. Fragments of her teenaged romantic fantasies remain, but she’s writing as a woman in her late 20’s. She’s tired of being another ‘ex-girlfriend’ – she wants to fall in love, get married, and have a family. It’s a subject that’s surprisingly uncommon in pop music, which would alone make Return of Saturn an interesting album. What makes it a successful one is that the band delivers an aural equivalent of Stefani’s lyrical themes. . . . Surprisingly, they pull it off – it’s a far stronger record than Tragic Kingdom, even if the catchiest numbers don’t have the same swagger and punch as their previous hit singles. So be it. With Return of Saturn, No Doubt have made a terrific, layered record that exceeds any expectations set by Tragic Kingdom. Not only have they found their voice, they know what to do with it.”
Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider co-produced the No Doubt cover of the Donna Summer song “Love to Love You Baby” that was included on the Zoolander soundtrack album, Zoolander (Music From The Motion Picture) (2001).
(April 2015/2)
