Tragic Kingdom.html



Tragic Kingdom
Studio album by No Doubt
Released	October 10, 1995
Recorded	March 1993 – 1995 at various studios in the Greater Los Angeles Area
Genre	Ska punk, alternative rock
Length	59:24
Label	Trauma, Interscope
Producer	Matthew Wilder
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (C+) link Entertainment Weekly (C+) 1996 Los Angeles Times (favourable) (November 13, 1995) Rolling Stone (mixed) 1996 Village Voice (favourable) (April 16, 1996)
No Doubt chronology
The Beacon Street Collection (1995) Tragic Kingdom (1995) Return of Saturn (2000)
Singles from Tragic Kingdom
"Just a Girl" Released: 1995 "Spiderwebs" Released: September 19, 1996 "Don't Speak" Released: 1996 "Excuse Me Mr." Released: 1996 "Happy Now?" Released: 1997 "Sunday Morning" Released: May 27, 1997 "Hey You!" Released: February 23, 1998

Tragic Kingdom is the third studio album by the American third wave ska band No Doubt, released on October 10, 1995 on Trauma Records, a division of Interscope Records. The album was produced by Matthew Wilder, mixed by Paul Palmer, and was recorded in eleven different studios in the Greater Los Angeles Area between March 1993 and October 1995. Between 1995 and 1998, it spawned seven singles, including "Just a Girl", which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart; and "Don't Speak", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and peaked in the top five of many international charts.

The album received mostly positive reviews from music critics upon its release, and would later be listed in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 greatest albums of all time. At the 39th Grammy Awards, No Doubt earned nominations for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album. It sold over 16 million copies worldwide;¹ and was certified platinum by the RIAA in the United States and Canada, platinum in the United Kingdom, and triple platinum in Australia. It helped to initiate the ska revival of the 1990s, persuading record labels to sign more ska bands and helping them attract more mainstream attention.

No Doubt embarked on a tour to promote the album, which was designed by Project X and lasted two and a half years. An early 1997 performance at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim was filmed and released as Live in the Tragic Kingdom on VHS and later DVD.

Background

No Doubt released its self-titled debut album in 1992, a year after being signed to Interscope. The album's sound came at a time when most of the United States was in the thrall of grunge music, a genre which sharply contrasted with the songs on No Doubt's pop-orientated album.² The album sold 30,000 copies;³⁴ 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."⁴⁵

No Doubt started to work on its second album in 1993, but Interscope rejected most of the material⁶⁷ and paired the band with producer Matthew Wilder. Eric Stefani did not want to relinquish creative control to someone outside the band and eventually stopped recording and rehearsing.⁸ He encouraged other members of the band to write songs but sometimes felt threatened when that happened. Eric became increasingly depressed, and in September 1994, he stopped attending rehearsals, though they were usually held at his house.⁹ He soon left No Doubt to pursue an animation career on the popular TV series The Simpsons.⁸ Bassist Tony Kanal then ended his seven-year relationship with Gwen Stefani, saying that he needed "space".¹⁰ Interscope still would not let No Doubt into a studio to record their next album, which frustrated them.⁶

The band decided to produce their next album independently and recorded their second album, The Beacon Street Collection, in a homemade studio.⁴ No Doubt's first two singles were released for The Beacon Street Collection: "Squeal" and "Doghouse", under their own record label, Beacon Street Records. Despite limited availability, the album sold 100,000 copies in the year of its release, over three times as many as No Doubt.⁴ Their independence attracted Interscope's attention and ensured that they would fund a third album.⁶

Music

Most of the songs on Tragic Kingdom were written by lead vocalist Gwen Stefani, and were about her experiences in life. Those from No Doubt's previous album were written mainly by Eric Stefani, who left the group before Tragic Kingdom was recorded. Therefore, the style of music changed from what the band had previously produced. Guitarist 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.¹¹

The songs on Tragic Kingdom use dance rhythms influenced by reggae, ska, punk rock, and Tejano, among others.¹²

Production

Tragic Kingdom was recorded in eleven different studios in Los Angeles, "wherever [Interscope] could get a deal on a studio",⁶ starting in March 1993 and finally being released two-and-a-half years later in October 1995.⁴ During one of these recording sessions, the band was introduced to Paul Palmer, who had previously worked with Bush and was interested in working on No Doubt's new album. After mixing the first single, "Just a Girl", Palmer went on to do the same to the rest of the record. He wanted to release the album on his own label, Trauma Records, which was already associated with Interscope, and succeeded in getting the contract. This ensured that Tragic Kingdom got the focus that comes from a small company.⁶¹³

The album is named after the nickname Dumont's 7th grade teacher had for Disneyland, which is in Anaheim, California, where the band members grew up. It is a pun on the popular nickname for Disneyland—"The Magic Kingdom".¹⁴ The album cover features Gwen in the foreground while the rest of the band members are standing in an orange grove in the background. Although it was a source of tension for the band, Gwen pushed for Eric to be included on the album cover, reasoning that although he had left the band, he had still contributed substantially to the album. Eric is seen near the back of the picture, looking away from the camera.⁹ The pictures on the cover and in the liner notes were taken on California city streets and in orange groves. The red dress Gwen wears on the cover was loaned to the Hard Rock Cafe and was later displayed at the Fullerton Museum Center in an exhibit titled "The Orange Groove: Orange County's Rock n' Roll History".¹⁵ The dress, appraised as high as US$5,000, was stolen from the exhibit in January 2005.¹⁶

Singles

The first single released from Tragic Kingdom was "Just a Girl", which details Gwen Stefani's exasperation with female stereotypes and her father's concerned reaction to her driving home late from her boyfriend's house.⁶ It peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and 10 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.¹⁷ The song also charted on the UK Singles Chart, where peaked at number three.¹⁸ The second single, "Spiderwebs", was written by Stefani about an uninterested woman trying to avoid the phone calls of a persistent man. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart,¹⁷ at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay chart,¹⁹ and at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart.¹⁸

The third single was "Don't Speak", a ballad about the breakup of Stefani and Kanal's relationship. The song was not eligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 because no commercial single was released, which was a requirement at the time.²⁰ However, the song performed well on other Billboard charts,¹⁷²¹²² such as peaking atop the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay.²³ It also reached number one on many international charts.^1824252627

"Excuse Me Mr." and "Happy Now?" were released as the album's fourth and fifth singles, respectively. "Excuse Me Mr." charted in the top twenty on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and in New Zealand¹⁷²⁸ while "Happy Now?" failed to chart anywhere.¹⁷²⁹ "Sunday Morning" was released as the album's sixth single. It peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart,³⁰ number 55 in Sweden, number 21 in Australia, and number 42 in New Zealand.³¹ The song's composition. began when Kanal was having a fight with 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.³² "Hey You!" was released as the seventh and final single from Tragic Kingdom, but it only charted in New Zealand.³³

Reception

Release and impact

Tragic Kingdom was first released by Trauma/Interscope on October 10, 1995. The album did not appear on the Billboard 200 chart until the first week of January 1996.³⁴ To promote the album, Trauma launched a street campaign that targeted high school students and the skateboarding community. No Doubt performed on the Warped Tour, which was sponsored by several skateboarding companies, and at several skateboarding festivals. The album remained low on the Billboard 200 and did not enter the top hundred until February 1996, when it jumped twenty-seven positions to number 89. Palmer attributed the jump to a Channel One News program that Stefani hosted in January 1996, which was broadcast in twelve thousand classrooms, and the band's subsequent performance at a Blockbuster store in Fresno, California.³⁵

In May 1996, the band worked with HMV, MuchMusic, and the Universal Music Group to put on a global in-store promotion. The band performed and answered questions in MuchMusic's studios in Toronto, Ontario. The session was broadcast live to HMV stores worldwide and on a webcast so that fans could watch and ask the band questions through MuchMusic's VJs. Sales of Tragic Kingdom doubled the week after the event. The event's sponsors lobbied Guinness World Records to create a category for the largest virtual in-store promotion to recognize the event.³⁶

Tragic Kingdom eventually reached the top of the chart in December 1996, and it remained there for eight weeks.³⁴ It was listed second on the 1997 year-end Billboard 200, behind the Spice Girls' Spice.³⁷ In February 1999, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album diamond for shipping ten million copies.³⁸ It eventually sold a total of sixteen million copies worldwide.¹ The commercial success of Tragic Kingdom prompted record labels to sign ska bands, and more independent labels released ska records and compilations. Save Ferris' guitarist and vocalist Brian Mashburn stated that No Doubt helped allow bands like his receive attention from the mainstream.³⁹

Tragic Kingdom topped the Canadian Albums Chart in 1996,⁴⁰ and it was certified diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association in August 1997.⁴¹ In Europe, the album topped the albums chart in Belgium, Finland, and Norway; reached the top five in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; and placed in the top twenty in France.⁴²¹⁸⁴³

Critical reception

The album received mostly positive reviews from critics. David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine 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.⁴⁴ In 2003, the album was ranked number 441 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.⁴⁵ Entertainment Weekly magazine gave the album a C+ rating. Reviewer David Browne attributed the album's sales 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", "Sixteen" as a "song of solidarity with misunderstood teenage girls", and "Spiderwebs" and "End It on This" as "[Stefani] acknowledg[ing] obsessions with losers and tr[ying] to break free."⁴⁶

Calling the album a marked improvement over "the diffuse, rambling songwriting of [No Doubt's] two previous CDs", Los Angeles Times critic Mike Boehm felt that on Tragic Kingdom, "The band is bright, hard-hitting and kinetic, as sharp production captures the core, four-man instrumental team and adjunct horn section at their best".⁴⁷ In a favourable review for The Village Voice, critic Chuck Eddy felt that although "[the album] turns pretentious ... 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".¹² 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 "positively [ruling] the airwaves".⁴⁸ Yahoo! Music reviewer Bill Holdship called the album a "phenomenon" containing "hit after hit", and describing "Spiderwebs" as "a terrific opener".⁴⁹ At the 1997 Grammy Awards, No Doubt were nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album.⁵⁰

Tour

No Doubt embarked on the Tragic Kingdom Tour after the release of the album. It chose Project X, headed by Luc Lafortune and Michael Keeling, to design the stage. No Doubt suggested decorating the stage as a clearing in a forest. Project X created three anthropomorphic trees with glowing oranges. The show included clear and mylar confetti designed to look like rain. Lighting design was difficult because there were only four rehearsals, so the show was arranged to be flexible to allow for what Lafortune referred to as "a very kinetic performance".⁵¹ The band expected to tour for two months, but the tour ended up lasting two and a half years.¹

An early 1997 performance at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim was filmed and was released as Live in the Tragic Kingdom on video cassette on November 11, 1997. It was re-released on November 25, 2003 as a DVD as part of the box set Boom Box, which also contained The Singles 1992–2003, Everything in Time and The Videos 1992–2003; and again on June 13, 2006 as a single DVD, containing bonus material of extra songs, a photo gallery and an alternate version of "Don't Speak". Directed by Sophie Muller, the video is 92 minutes long and includes cover versions of Sublime's "D.J.'s", "The Imperial March" from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, The Specials' "Ghost Town", and The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", as well as performances of songs from the album.

Track listing

Credits

Chart positions

References

External links

• Official No Doubt website