In 1991, a young band from Anaheim, Calif., with a striking lead singer found itself with a major-label record deal.
The problem: No Doubt, with Gwen Stefani on vocals, played ska - and people hate ska. Some evidence:
Angry Facebook page: ' I Hate Ska.'
Reddit thread with a very sad title: 'Has anyone been afraid to tell people they like ska?'
Buzzfeed: 'You were a ska kid and everyone probably thought you were a dork.'
What's to hate about ska - the catchy, upbeat precursor to reggae with Jamacian roots? Here it is at its best - Desmond Dekker performing his 1968 hit 'The Israelites.' (Ska wizards who wish to debate whether 'The Israelites' is representative of first-wave ska: Please battle it out in the comments. Remember: Most people don't even know what ska is.)
Unfortunately, in the early 1990s, after ska revivals in England and elsewhere, the price of ska was going down. Indie-rock moping and Nirvana-sponsored malaise were in. Horn sections - even those fueling politically charged music that often challenged racism - were out.
Ska had become the Lawrence Welk of Generation X.
As one eventual ska convert wrote in 2009: 'What bugged me the most about it was it felt way too uppity and happy. I wanted my music to be dark and angry sounding. I wanted 3 chords, minor notes, and I wanted it played fast and fuming. I didn't want horns and guitars played on the up-strum.'
So No Doubt changed it up. Its 1995 record 'Tragic Kingdom' drew from ska, sure - but also drew from elsewhere. The big single: ' Don't Speak,' a power ballad not remotely ska-like.
For the band, abandoning its roots proved a lucrative move.
'If at first you don't ska-ceed, ska, ska again. That's long been the mantra of ska purists - those bands unwilling to lose their punny names and awful checkerboard wardrobes - and had No Doubt stuck to such a policy, the world beyond Southern California might never have met Gwen Stefani,' the Onion A.V. Club wrote earlier this year. ' ... Thankfully, No Doubt wasn't the typical ska group, and on its career-making third album, 1995's
Tragic Kingdom, the band tamped down the horns and hiccupping guitars of its previous records just enough to crack the mainstream.'
The mainstream gobbled up what AllMusic called the 'when certain members of the American punk underground began returning to the sounds of British ska revival and infusing it with a hardcore punk attack.' 'Tragic Kingdom' sold more than Third Wave Ska Revival': ' 16 million copies.
Stefani, however, wanted more. She went solo - as, more or less, a crossover R&B/hip-hop diva. ' Hollaback Girl,' from her 2004 debut 'Love. Angel. Music. Baby.,' is infectious - and even less remotely ska than 'Tragic Kingdom.' In fact, it was co-written by Stefani's 'Voice' compatriot Pharrell Williams of 'Happy' fame. And Stefani sports a watch cap and drives a Chevrolet Impala around Los Angeles in the 'Hollaback' video - a gangsta move if there ever was one.
But the move wasn't popular in all corners. Just look at this ungracious, mostly unprintable Urban Dictionary post that seeks to define 'Gwen Stefani': 'The biggest sellout in the history of ska music. That stupid b- went solo just for the money.'
Haters can hate, but Stefani became a star. She is a fashion icon. She appeared as Jean Harlow in Martin Scorcese's 'The Aviator.' She married a decidedly un-ska-ish spouse, Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale.
And now: reality TV.
'Let the seventh season premiere of 'The Voice' be the day we stopped pretending that the contestants are the stars of reality singing competitions,' The Washington Post's Emily Yahr wrote. 'Over the years - once the novelty of discovering a phenomenal singer on television wore off - the spotlight increasingly turned to the judges, especially as so many famous singers realized that appearing on such a show was a huge career boost. That fact was never more obvious than on Monday night's episode of 'The Voice,' as new coaches Gwen Stefani (of No Doubt) and producer Pharrell ('Happy,' 'Blurred Lines') proceeded to steal the two-hour premiere.'
Of course, after a years-long hiatus, No Doubt reunited. In fact, in a 2012 interview with the Guardian, Stefani claimed that her solo career was little more than a lark. 'It just feels so much more natural being back in this mode. The solo records allowed me to indulge my girly side but it was never meant to be taken seriously,' says Stefani, casually disowning several million record sales and a slew of Grammy nominations. 'It was just like an art project that kept going longer than I expected.'
But if the group's last record - ' Push and Shove,' released in 2012 - is representative, a return to traditional first-wave ska isn't in the offing.
Stefani still wears two-tone - ska's signature color scheme. But for No Doubt, ska has become something to namecheck and build on - not to make.
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