Tragic Kingdom is the third studio album by the American third wave ska band
No DoubtNo Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, founded in 1986. The ska-pop sound of their first album, No Doubt , failed to make waves...
. It was released on October 10, 1995, on
Trauma RecordsTrauma Records is Los Angeles independent record label created in 1993 by Paul Palmer and Rob Kahane. Trauma Records had a Joint Venture Agreement with Interscope Records that included financing and distribution through Interscope Records....
, a division of
Interscope RecordsInterscope Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
. The album was produced by
Matthew WilderMatthew Wilder is an American musician and record producer, best known for his 1983 Top 5 hit, "Break My Stride"....
, mixed by Paul Palmer, and recorded in 11 studios in the
Greater Los Angeles AreaThe Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is the agglomeration of urbanized area around the county of Los Angeles, California, United States. Greater Los Angeles includes the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area as well as the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario Metropolitan Area, and the...
between March 1993 and October 1995. Between 1995 and 1998, seven singles were released from it, including "
Just a Girl"Just a Girl" is a song written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont for No Doubt's third album Tragic Kingdom. The song was released in 1995 as the album's lead single and helped the band break into mainstream music, peaking at number twenty-three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.Upon release in the UK in...
", which charted on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
; and "
Don't Speak"Don't Speak" is a song by the American rock band No Doubt. It was released as the third single from the band's second album Tragic Kingdom in 1996....
", 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. At the 39th Grammy Awards, No Doubt earned nominations for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album. The album has sold over 16 million copies worldwide; and was certified diamond by the
Recording Industry Association of AmericaThe Recording Industry Association of America is a group which represents the recording industry distributors in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA say "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate sound recordings...
(RIAA) in the United States and Canada, platinum in the United Kingdom, and triple platinum in Australia. It helped to initiate the
skaSka is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
revival of the 1990s, persuading record labels to sign more ska bands and helping them to attract more mainstream attention.
No Doubt embarked on a tour to promote the album. It 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 KingdomLive in the Tragic Kingdom is a video release by the American third wave ska band No Doubt, consisting of a filmed concert at The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California on May 31, and June 1, 1997. It was one of the concerts from No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom Tour, in support of their...
on
VHSVideo Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, was a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s. It was released to the public during the latter half of the decade. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s it formed one-half of the VHS vs Betamax war, which it...
and later
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
.
Background
No Doubt released its debut album
No Doubt in 1992, a year after being signed to
InterscopeInterscope Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
. The album's
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
-oriented sound sharply contrasted with
grunge musicGrunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
, a genre which was very popular at the time in the United States. The album sold 30,000 copies; in the words of the program director of
KROQKROQ-FM is a commercial radio station located in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting on 106.7 FM to the greater Los Angeles area. KROQ-FM airs a modern rock music format branded as "106.7 K-Rock". The call sign is pronounced "kay rock." It is the flagship station of the popular, long running...
, a California 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."
No Doubt began work on its second album in 1993, but Interscope rejected most of the material and paired the band with producer
Matthew WilderMatthew Wilder is an American musician and record producer, best known for his 1983 Top 5 hit, "Break My Stride"....
. Keyboardist
Eric StefaniEric Matthew Stefani is an American pop musician, former Simpsons animator, and Grammy-nominated composer and writer.-Biography:Stefani attended Loara High School in Anaheim, California...
did not want to relinquish creative control to someone outside the band and eventually stopped recording and rehearsing. He encouraged other members of the band to write songs, but sometimes felt threatened when they did. Eric became increasingly depressed, and in September 1994, he stopped attending rehearsals, though they were usually held at his house. He soon left the band to pursue an animation career on the animated sitcom
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie...
. Bassist
Tony KanalTony Kanal is a British-born American musician, record producer and songwriter. Kanal is the bassist for the American rock band No Doubt...
then ended his seven-year relationship with
Gwen StefaniGwen Renée Stefani Rossdale is an American singer and fashion designer. Stefani serves as lead vocalist for the rock band No Doubt....
.
The band decided to produce their next album independently and recorded their second album,
The Beacon Street CollectionThe Beacon Street Collection is the second studio album by American rock band No Doubt, released in March 1995. It was released independently by the band under their own record label, Beacon Street Records...
, in a homemade studio. 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. Their independence attracted Interscope's attention and ensured that they would fund a third album.
Production
Tragic Kingdom was recorded in eleven different studios in Los Angeles, starting in March 1993 and finally being released two-and-a-half years later in October 1995. During one of these recording sessions, the band was introduced to Paul Palmer, who had previously worked with
BushBush was the name of a British alternative rock band formed in London in 1992 by singer/guitarist Gavin Rossdale and guitarist Nigel Pulsford. Their debut album was Sixteen Stone . They have sold well over 10 million records in the United States...
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 RecordsTrauma Records is Los Angeles independent record label created in 1993 by Paul Palmer and Rob Kahane. Trauma Records had a Joint Venture Agreement with Interscope Records that included financing and distribution through Interscope 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.
The album is named after the nickname Dumont's 7th grade teacher had for Disneyland, which is in
Anaheim, CaliforniaAnaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of January 1, 2009, the city population was about 348,467, making it the 10th most-populated city in California and ranked 54th in the United States. The city anticipates that the population will surpass 400,000 by 2014 due to rapid development...
, where the band members grew up. It is a pun on the popular nickname for Disneyland—"The Magic Kingdom". The album photography and portraits were taken by photographer fine artist Daniel Arsenault. Gwen is featured in the foreground while the rest of the band members are standing in an orange grove in the background. Gwen pushed for Eric to be included on the album cover—a source of tension for the band—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. 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 CafeHard Rock Cafe is a chain of Theme Restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. The first location opened near Hyde Park Corner in London, England. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock 'n' roll ephemera, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In...
and was later displayed at the Fullerton Museum Center in an exhibit titled "The Orange Groove: Orange County's Rock n' Roll History". The dress, appraised as high as US$5,000, was stolen from the exhibit in January 2005.
Musical style
Tragic Kingdom uses elements of a variety of musical genres. Third-wave ska and
ska punkSka punk is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk rock. Ska punk achieved its greatest popularity in the United States in the late 1990s, although there has also been a following worldwide...
(a fusion of
skaSka is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
) are the genres most prominent on the album. The album also uses elements of
New WaveNew Wave is a genre of rock and pop music that emerged in in the middle to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, and...
and
popPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
, and dance rhythms influenced by
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based...
, ska,
flamencoFlamenco is a Spanish musical genre with origins in Andalusia. It can be both a musical form, known for its intricate rapid passages, and a dance characterized by audible footwork. The origins of the term are unclear...
, and
TejanoTejano music or Tex-Mex Music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Hispanic populations of Central and Southern Texas...
, among others. Overall, the album was described as a "perfect mixture of ska and power ballad, horn sections and deep vibrato vocals, an inclusive pop style with a touch of classic punk" by
34th Street Magazine34th Street Magazine is the weekly arts and culture magazine published by The Daily Pennsylvanian, the independent daily student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania...
. Allmusic described it as "[straddling] the line between '90s punk, third-wave ska, and pop sensibility" and as an "appealing mix of new wave melodicism, post-grunge rock, and West Coast sunshine."
Lyrical content
Many of the lyrics on
Tragic Kingdom were written by lead vocalist Gwen Stefani, and were about her experiences in life. Those from
No Doubt and
The Beacon Street Collection were written mainly by Eric Stefani, who left the band after
Tragic Kingdom was finished. Therefore, the style of music changed from what the band had previously produced. Guitarist
Tom DumontTom Dumont is an American guitarist and producer. Dumont is a member of third wave ska band No Doubt, and during the band's hiatus, he began Invincible Overlord as a side project and produced Matt Costa's Songs We Sing.-Life and career:The Dumont family lived in Irvine, California...
explained the change in sound in an interview for Backstage Online:
Singles
The first single released from
Tragic Kingdom was "
Just a Girl"Just a Girl" is a song written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont for No Doubt's third album Tragic Kingdom. The song was released in 1995 as the album's lead single and helped the band break into mainstream music, peaking at number twenty-three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.Upon release in the UK in...
", 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. It peaked at number 23 on the
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100 chart and 10 on the
Modern Rock TracksAlternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart. The song also charted on the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
, where its original release peaked at number 38 and its re-issue at number three. The second single was "
Spiderwebs"Spiderwebs" is a ska punk song written by Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal for No Doubt's third studio album Tragic Kingdom . It was released as the album's second single in 1995 . When "Spiderwebs" reached the radio airwaves in the U.S, it began a revival of the ska genre. The song is a combination...
", written about an uninterested woman who is trying to avoid the constant phone calls of a persistent man. It peaked at number 5 on the
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, at number eleven on the
Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart, and at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart.
The third single was "
Don't Speak"Don't Speak" is a song by the American rock band No Doubt. It was released as the third single from the band's second album Tragic Kingdom in 1996....
", a ballad about the breakup of Stefani and Kanal's relationship. It peaked at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, and maintained that position for sixteen consecutive weeks, a record at the time, although it was broken in 1998 by the
Goo Goo DollsThe Goo Goo Dolls is a rock band that formed in 1987 in Buffalo, New York by John Rzeznik and Robby Takac.As of 2009, the band has sold more than nine million records in the United States alone.-Origins and early music :...
' "
Iris"Iris" is a song by American alternative rock band the Goo Goo Dolls. Originally written for the soundtrack of 1998 film City of Angels, the song was later included on the band's sixth album Dizzy Up the Girl. The acoustic guitar in the song gives a distinctive sound as it is in an odd tuning, with...
" with eighteen weeks. 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. The song also peaked on Modern Rock Tracks at number two, the Adult Contemporary chart, where it peaked at number six, the Adult Top 40, where it hit number one and the Rhythmic Top 40, where it hit number nine. The song also appeared on many international charts. In February 1997, it reached number one in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
and
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
. It also reached number four in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
.
"Excuse Me Mr." and "Happy Now?" were released as the album's fourth and fifth singles, respectively. "Excuse Me Mr." reached number 17 on the
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 11 in New Zealand, but "Happy Now?" failed to chart anywhere. "
Sunday Morning"Sunday Morning" is a song written by Tony Kanal, Gwen Stefani, and Eric Stefani for No Doubt's third album Tragic Kingdom . It was released as the album's sixth single in 1997 .-Song information:...
" was released as the album's sixth single. It peaked at number 35 on the
Billboard Top 40 Mainstream chart, number 55 in Sweden, number 21 in Australia, and number 42 in New Zealand. Composing the song began when Kanal was having a fight with Stefani, then his girlfriend, through the bathroom door of his parents' house in
Yorba Linda, CaliforniaYorba Linda is an affluent suburban community in northeastern Orange County, California, approximately northeast of Downtown Santa Ana, and southeast of Downtown Los Angeles....
. Stefani later changed the lyrics to discuss dealing with her breakup with Kanal. Finally, "Hey You!" was released as the seventh and final single from
Tragic Kingdom; it peaked at number 51 on the New Zealand charts.
Release and impact
Tragic Kingdom was first released by Trauma/Interscope on October 10, 1995. The album did not appear on the
Billboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling new music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart until the first week of January 1996. To promote the album, Trauma launched a street campaign that targeted high school students and the skateboarding community. No Doubt performed on the
Warped TourThe Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...
, which was sponsored by several
skateboardingSkateboarding is the act of riding and performing tricks using a skateboard. A person who skateboards is most often referred to as a skateboarder, or just skater....
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 NewsChannel One News is a 12 minute news program for teens broadcast via satellite to middle schools and high schools across the United States.Channel One is owned by Alloy Media + Marketing and based in New York City.-Program History:...
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, CaliforniaFresno is a city in California, USA, the county seat of Fresno County. As of February 27, 2009, the population was estimated at 500,017, making it the fifth largest city in California and the 36th largest in the nation...
.
In May 1996, the band worked with
HMVHis Master's Voice is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
,
MuchMusicMuchMusic is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned by CTVglobemedia. MuchMusic is dedicated to music, music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
, and the
Universal Music GroupUniversal Music Group is the largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. It is the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
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 RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognised...
to create a category for the largest virtual in-store promotion to recognize the event.
Tragic Kingdom eventually reached the top of the
Billboard 200 album chart in December 1996, and it remained there for eight weeks. It was listed second on the 1997 year-end
Billboard 200, behind the
Spice GirlsThe Spice Girls were an English pop girl group formed in 1994. They consist of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They are the most successful girl group of all time....
'
SpiceSpice is the debut album by British pop group Spice Girls, released on 4th November 1996 by Virgin Records.The album was recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London between 1995 and 1996, by producers Matt Rowe, Richard Stannard, Eliot Kennedy and the production duo Absolute...
. In February 1999, the
Recording Industry Association of AmericaThe Recording Industry Association of America is a group which represents the recording industry distributors in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA say "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate sound recordings...
certified the album diamond for shipping ten million copies. It eventually sold a total of sixteen million copies worldwide. The commercial success of
Tragic Kingdom prompted record labels to sign ska bands, and more independent labels released ska records and compilations.
Save FerrisSave Ferris was a ska punk band formed circa 1995 in Orange County, California. They are believed to be named after the reference in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.-History:...
's guitarist and vocalist
Brian MashburnBrian Mashburn was a guitarist and vocalist in the ska band Save Ferris. He was formerly in the band Los Pantelones. He is now the guitarist for the bands Starpool, and PopBritannica....
stated that No Doubt helped allow bands like his receive attention from the mainstream.
Tragic Kingdom topped the Canadian Albums Chart in 1996, and it was certified diamond by the
Canadian Recording Industry AssociationThe Canadian Recording Industry Association is a non-profit trade organization that was founded in 1964 to represent the interests of companies that create, manufacture and market sound recordings in Canada. The organization is based in Toronto....
in August 1997. 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.
Critical reception
The album received mostly positive reviews from critics.
David FrickeDavid Fricke, is a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he writes predominantly on rock music. In the 1990s, he was Managing Editor before stepping down.-Background:...
of
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.The magazine was named after the 1948 Muddy Waters song of the same...
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
BlondieBlondie is an American rock band founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk rock scenes of the mid 1970s...
esque pop". Fricke however described "Don't Speak" as "irritating swill" with "high-pitched rippling" from Gwen Stefani. In 2003, the album was ranked number 441 on
Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture. Unlike celebrity-focused publications US Weekly, People, and In Touch Weekly, EWs primary concentration is on entertainment...
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 PeppersRed Hot Chili Peppers is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1983. For most of the band's existence, the members have been vocalist Anthony Kiedis, guitarist John Frusciante, bassist Michael "Flea" Balzary, and drummer Chad Smith...
-style white-boy funk, with dashes of
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based...
, squealing
hair-metalGlam metal is a term used to describe the visual style or fashion of certain heavy metal music bands that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene...
guitar,
discoDisco is a genre of dance music that that had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, psychedelic and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
, 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."
Calling the album a marked improvement over "the diffuse, rambling songwriting of [No Doubt's] two previous CDs",
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. It is distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States...
critic Mike Boehm felt that on the album, "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". In a favourable review for
The Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper in New York City, United States featuring investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts reviews and events listings for New York City...
, critic
Chuck EddyChuck Eddy is an American music journalist.He was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with The Village Voice and Creem, where he published one of the first national interviews with the Beastie Boys in the mid-1980s, Eddy then wrote for Rolling Stone, Spin,...
felt that although "[the album] turns pretentious ... No Doubt resurrects the exuberance
new-waveNew Wave is a genre of rock and pop music that emerged in in the middle to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, and...
guys lost when '80s indie labels and college radio conned them into settling for slam-pit fits and wallflower wallpaper". 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-grungePost-grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged in the early 1990s as a derivative of grunge. Generally, bands labeled as such are rock bands that are influenced by grunge. Their music may often incorporate the distorted guitar, angst-filled lyrics and "loud-quiet" dynamics of grunge,...
rock, and West Coast sunshine", indicating the songs "Spiderwebs", "Just a Girl", and "Don't Speak" as "positively [ruling] the airwaves".
Yahoo! MusicYahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...
reviewer Bill Holdship called the album a "phenomenon" containing "hit after hit", and describing "Spiderwebs" as "a terrific opener". Reviewer
Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-professed "Dean of American Rock Critics". In print, he often abbreviates his name as Xgau....
gave the album a C+ rating, calling Stefani "hebephrenic" and the album "hyped up" and not "as songful as its fun-besotted partisans [claim]". At the 1997 Grammy Awards, No Doubt were nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rock Album.
In a retrospective review in April 2009, Adrienne Warrell of
34th Street Magazine34th Street Magazine is the weekly arts and culture magazine published by The Daily Pennsylvanian, the independent daily student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania...
called
Tragic Kingdom a "perfect mixture of ska and power ballad, horn sections and deep vibrato vocals, an inclusive pop style with a touch of classic punk" and described its appeal to young teenagers.
Tour
No Doubt embarked on the
Tragic Kingdom Tour after the release of the album. It chose Project X, headed by
Luc LafortuneLuc Lafortune is an award winning lighting designer for the entertainment industry as well as one of the original designers of the world renowned Cirque Du Soleil...
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". The band expected to tour for two months, but the tour ended up lasting two and a half years.
An early 1997 performance at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim was filmed and was released as
Live in the Tragic KingdomLive in the Tragic Kingdom is a video release by the American third wave ska band No Doubt, consisting of a filmed concert at The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California on May 31, and June 1, 1997. It was one of the concerts from No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom Tour, in support of their...
on
video cassetteVideo Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, was a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s. It was released to the public during the latter half of the decade. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s it formed one-half of the VHS vs Betamax war, which it...
on November 11, 1997. It was re-released on November 25, 2003 on
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
as part of the box set
Boom Box, which also contained
The Singles 1992–2003,
Everything in TimeEverything in Time is a compilation album comprising B-sides, remixes, and rare songs by the American third wave ska band No Doubt, first released on November 23, 2003 as disc three of No Doubt's box set, Boom Box, which also contained The Singles 1992–2003, The Videos 1992–2003 and Live in the...
, 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".
Track listing
Band
- Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani Rossdale is an American singer and fashion designer. Stefani serves as lead vocalist for the rock band No Doubt....
– vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
- Tom Dumont
Tom Dumont is an American guitarist and producer. Dumont is a member of third wave ska band No Doubt, and during the band's hiatus, he began Invincible Overlord as a side project and produced Matt Costa's Songs We Sing.-Life and career:The Dumont family lived in Irvine, California...
– guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
- Tony Kanal
Tony Kanal is a British-born American musician, record producer and songwriter. Kanal is the bassist for the American rock band No Doubt...
– bassThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
- Eric Stefani
Eric Matthew Stefani is an American pop musician, former Simpsons animator, and Grammy-nominated composer and writer.-Biography:Stefani attended Loara High School in Anaheim, California...
– keyboards
- Adrian Young
Adrian Samuel Young is the drummer for the rock band, No Doubt.-Biography:Young's parents were hippies. He has three brothers: Alex, Damian and Aaron...
– percussionA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration...
, drumsA drum set is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person . The term "drum kit" first became used in the 1700s in Britain...
Additional personnel
- Phil Jordan – trumpet
The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC...
- Gabrial McNair
Gabrial "Gabe" McNair is a multi-instrumentalist and composer, most famous for his work in No Doubt since 1993 as a trombonist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist. He recorded and toured with Green Day during the Nimrod and Warning tours, playing trombone and tenor saxophone...
– keyboard, tromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Stephen Bradley – keyboard
An electronic keyboard or digital keyboard is a sample-based keyboard instrument. Its sound is generated or amplified by one or more electronic devices....
, trumpet
- Bill Bergman – saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
- Aloke Dasgupta – sitar
The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
- Melissa "Missy" Hasin
Melissa "Missy" Hasin, is an American Cellist who was raised in Newport Beach, California. Although her parents wanted her to stick with Classical music, she played the electric bass in various blues and rock bands as a teenager but later concentrated mainly on the cello...
– celloThe cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra...
- Nick Lane – trombone
- Les Lovitt – trumpet
- Stephen Perkins – steel drums
- Greg Smith – baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the larger and lower pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax...
- Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder is an American musician and record producer, best known for his 1983 Top 5 hit, "Break My Stride"....
– keyboard
Production
- Producer: Matthew Wilder
- Engineers: Ray Blair, Matt Hyde, Phil Kaffel, George Landress, Johnny Potoker
- Mixing: David J. Holman, Paul Palmer
- Mixing studio: Cactus Studio
- Mastering: Robert Vosgien
- Director: Albhy Galuten
Albhy Galuten is a Grammy Award winning American record producer, composer, musician, orchestrator and technology executive.He produced 18 number 1 singles with songs and albums selling over 100,000,000 copies...
- Photography: Dan Arsenault, Shelly Robertson
Chart positions
| Chart (1995) |
Peak
position |
| U.S. Billboard Heatseekers |
1 |
| Chart (1996) |
Peak
position |
| Canadian Albums Chart |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 |
1 |
| Chart (1997) |
Peak
position |
| Australian Albums Chart |
3 |
| Austrian Albums Chart |
2 |
| Belgian Albums Chart |
1 |
| Dutch Albums Chart |
2 |
| French Albums Chart |
14 |
| German Albums Chart |
2 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart |
1 |
| Swiss Albums Chart |
3 |
| UK Albums Chart |
3 |
External links