Absolutely No Doubt!! The group called “No Doubt” was one of my many classic bands! I’m not prepared to say they’re forgotten about; but we’re just not hearing their music on mainstream media. You know, I used to confuse them a lot with a Swedish group called “The Cardigans.” By the way, The Cardigans had only one hit I liked, and it was called “LoveFool (1996).” Their lead singer, Nina Perssons sounds EXACTLY like Gwen Stefani.

I Used To Confuse Them With The Cardigans!

No Doubt is an American group from California, and they got together around the mid 80s. They’re uniquely stylish and eccentric in many ways. I think it’s safe to say that Gwen is one of the many female performers, who have decided to channel that Marilyn Monroe persona, which eventually became part of her trademark for awhile.

I can’t believe it’s been about 25 years already. It seemed as tho it was only yesterday since I first fell in love with their music. One of the things I really like about this group back then, was you can immediately tell how comfortable they are with each other. In other words, despite the change in band members over the course of their careers, you can tell they have that magic that creates close friendships. Friends in a band makes great music! Well, most of the time ?

Now, as I’ve said before, No Doubt is an eccentric band, and it took me awhile to warm up to their music. I’m sorry but, on their first couple of albums (no disrespect) Gwen sounded like she was having seizures or something. I didn’t start liking  their music until after about their third album I think called “Tragic Kingdom (1995).” On this album, they released an awesome song called “Don’t Speak,” which shot up to #1 on the Top 40 Charts! I was really diggin’ this song. Yeah, the lyrics are sad as hell, but it’s a great song that we can relate to, and we can listen to it without getting depressed ? Another great song from this same album is called “Just A Girl.”

Now, They Were Cookin’

From the album “Tragic Kingdom” on, they were cookin’. If I were forced to pick a favorite all-time No Doubt song, it would have to be “Underneath It All,” (clean version) featuring Lady Saw. I also think that “Hey Baby,” is a cute song too; it has a mixture of pop with dancehall beats. Today, No Doubt has got together with a group called AFI to form Dreamcar! But, I have to be honest, they’ve definitely lost that “No Doubt” sound. Now, the band’s music sounds like an upgrade to a dated 80s rock sound. Clearly you can hear they’re trying to rekindle the old parts of the band, and it’s not working for me. However, maybe you guys like it! Check out the new group Dreamcar on Spotify.