ARTIST

No Doubt

No doubt about it; the success of Anaheim, California's No Doubt is one of the more unusual success stories of the '90s. Ska music has long been a mainstay of the fertile Orange County punk scene... and No Doubt has been playing what they consider to be a pure form of the genre for nearly a decade in the OC clubs.

The group released an eponymous Interscope debut LP in 1992, but it sold little. Shortly thereafter, No Doubt's lead singer/lyricist Gwen Stefani's older brother left the band to pursue a career in film and TV, and the band carried on without him laboring in the studio (at their own expense) for the next several years, working on what would eventually become Tragic Kingdom, released through the Interscope-distributed Trauma Records label.

The irony is that neither Trauma nor Interscope were especially keen on releasing Tragic Kingdom, but now that it's gone platinum several times over, both labels are currently involved in nasty litigation trying to claim No Doubt as their own. "Just A Girl," the debut single, became an FM and MTV staple immediately, and No Doubt were suddenly a bigger sensation than all the early ska bands that influenced them (Madness, the Specials) put together. The group seems as baffled as anyone by the success, but a lot of it obviously has to do with Stefani's Deborah Harry-like teen appeal. She's created an entire nation of teen Gwen wannabes who've copied her look. The other members remain nearly faceless in the background at this point, and no one will be terribly surprised if she eventually is pushed by the powers-that-be to pursue a solo career.

Written by Bill Holdship