YMMV / No Doubt

• Ensemble Dark Horse: John Spence, the original vocalist. He was considered very energetic and wild onstage, but a few days before their first big performance, John committed suicide. The band later on learned from his suicide note that he was nervous about the pressures of being on stage, leading to his suicide. Despite little to no recording existing of John's time in the band, many consider him a huge influence on the band.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Return of Saturn and Rock Steady to fans who prefer the band's earlier sound as a ska punk/alternative rock band.
• Harsher in Hindsight: "Ex-Girlfriend", written by Gwen during a break with eventual husband Gavin Rossdale, after she finally called it quits with him for good in 2015.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: One version of the "Spiderwebs" music video features exploding telephones - this was before "blowing up your phone" became slang for incessantly calling or texting someone (which is what the song's about).
  • The Star Wars theme popping up as a horn riff at the end of "Tragic Kingdom" became this once Disney, the song's target of mockery, bought the Star Wars franchise.
• Heartwarming Moments: Gwen in "A Simple Kind of Life" when she says "You seem like you'd be a good dad".
• Signature Song: "Don't Speak" and "Just a Girl" for No Doubt, "Hollaback Girl" for Gwen's solo career.
• Smurfette Breakout: Gwen Stefani. There's a reason why she has her own page. The video for "Don't Speak" might as well have been a three-minute shot of a lamp shade.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "You Can Do It" sounds similar to the Mr.T Animated Series theme
• Supergroup / The Band Minus the Face: Side project Dreamcar is No Doubt fronted by Davey Havok of AFI instead of Gwen Stefani.
• Tear Jerker: "I always thought/I'd be a mom" from "Simple Kind Of Life," written at a point in time in her relationship with Bush singer Gavin Rossdale. While they eventually married and had three children before subsequently divorcing, this line can still bring out the waterworks.
  • "Don't Speak" itself is a huge tear jerker. The pain is so evident in Gwen's voice, it's almost hard to listen too, god forbid you see her sing it live during the Tragic Kingdom tour, it may start the water works before she even sings.
  • Ex-Girlfriend is essentially the follow-up of Don't Speak. Even though the tone is mellower and slightly more upbeat, it's hard not to feel the anguish listening to it.
  • The demo song "Dear John", speaking about their first vocalist, John Spence, and his suicide.
  • Early Winter
  • "Cool" can be this. It's a bittersweet song about seeing someone you used to be in love with and realising you've moved on and are now both happy with other people, but it's sung in such a wistful way that it can definitely raise a few sniffles for the one who got away.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: There are four They Changed It, Now It Sucks! camps for No Doubt:
  • The largest threw up its hands after Rock Steady, which was much more pop- and dance-oriented than previous albums.
  • Another group was thoroughly disillusioned by Return of Saturn, the band's long-awaited follow-up to the absurdly popular Tragic Kingdom. Whatever ROS' appeal, it was a different sound from that heard in TK.
  • The "I-knew-them-when" camp abandoned the band as soon as it released its first (unsuccessful) album in 1992. This group prefers to think of No Doubt as the bad-ass punk/ska band that tore through a series of Southern California bars and tiny venues in the late 80's and early 90's.
  • Finally, there is a new camp that bashes their 2012 reunion Push and Shove for being WAY too poppy, electronic and less Tragic Kingdom-esque than they expected.
    • Critical Dissonance: It was well-received by critics, though.
  • As far as the music goes, the title track of Tragic Kingdom reads as a They Changed It, Now It Sucks song: "Disneyland sucks now because Walt Disney died and prices went up with inflation, and people who still like it are deluded sheep" seems to be the message here.
• Tough Act to Follow: Topping Tragic Kingdom was pretty much impossible until they developed their sound beyond the third wave ska that made them famous.

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