Trivia / No Doubt

• Celebrity Break-Up Song: "Don't Speak", written by Gwen about her break-up with Tony. It also became their Signature Song.
• Chart Displacement: The Tragic Kingdom singles after the #23 "Just a Girl" didn't have a physical release when Billboard required it for the Hot 100 - and given "Don't Speak" topped the Airplay charts, it could have been a #1. Also, their biggest hit there, "Underneath It All" (#3), might not even be as known as their other two top tens, "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" (#5 and #10, respectively).
• Colbert Bump: Their first televised performance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Conan had recently picked up the high school/college audience left behind by Letterman.
• Creator Breakdown: Evident in Tragic Kingdom (out of a combination of Gwen and Tony's relationship ending and Eric's worsening depression and withdrawal from the band) and Return of Saturn (largely thanks to the album's protracted recording and Gwen's difficulties in maintaining a long-distance relationship).
• Dye Hard: While Gwen Stefani is a natural brunette, she's better known as a blonde, though during 1998-2000, she dyed her hair blue and later pink, the latter of which she sported during the Return of Saturn era.
• He Also Did: Eric Stefani was a TV animator before and after he was in the band. Most notably, he was an animator on the first nine seasons of The Simpsons, hence why the band has a pre-breakout background cameo in the episode "Homerpalooza". He also did a fair amount of work on A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and the pilot for Rugrats.
• The Pete Best: Anyone other than the four, so a lot of them. There were 10 initial members, of which a grand total of two were still with the group by the time they released their first album. One non-original member had also left by then, and three more would be gone by the time Tragic Kingdom made them truly big. The most notable was Eric Stefani (their former keyboard player and primary songwriter) and the most tragic was John Spence (their original frontman, who committed suicide). Gwen Stefani is, in fact, the last original member left.
  • Eric was suffering from depression and had begun to disengage himself from the band as early as September 1994, and while he sat through the Tragic Kingdom sessions, he left the band after they finished recording the album. Despite this, Gwen insisted that Eric be included in the album's cover. He's the one in the far distance, looking away from the camera.
• Reclusive Artist: One of Tom Dumont's explanations for why Eric Stefani left the band:
  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.
• Saved from Development Hell: Promised a new album in late 2010. It eventually came out in 2012.
  • They took five years to follow up Tragic Kingdom.
• Troubled Production: Return of Saturn
  • Also Push And Shove, according to Gwen. She felt burnt out and uninspired, but the band hadn't put out a record in forever so she felt obligated to step up and complete it.
• What Could Have Been: The band were originally attached to appear in and contribute music to the video game Malice, with Stefani voicing the title character. The game was supposed to be a launch title for the Xbox, and Stefani's involvement in the game was heavily publicized in early marketing material for the console, but its Troubled Production led to a stay in Development Hell. By the time Malice came out three years later, Stefani and No Doubt had long left the project.
  • Though the band had decided to make the token new recording on The Singles 1992–2003 a Cover Song because they felt it would be easier than writing a new one, they ended up going through hundreds of possible songs when trying to agree on what cover, and even considered writing a new song instead after all: Ultimately the list was narrowed down to "Don't Change" or "It's My Life", and they chose the latter.

---