No Doubt, It’s About Feminism

Being a sixteen-year-old in 1995 meant I was a child of the 1980s. A decade where moms were just starting to leave the home for the workforce. Where a home cooked dinner was served at 6:30pm every single night and it was only takeout on special occasions. Where most people's parents were still married. At my house it was a bit different, my mom always worked. She was a waitress and made very little money. My dad worked too, construction but he did whatever he wanted with his money. My four siblings and I had home cooked dinners, many nights made by me, which usually consisted of pork chops because it was the cheapest meat you could buy in bulk. My parents stayed married until 1995, but my mom should have left years before. The sad fact is she probably wouldn’t have left then if she hadn’t met my stepdad. The man who encouraged her to leave the unhealthy relationship with my mentally unstable dad, and hop right into one with him, an alcoholic Vietnam veteran. This is where sixteen-year-old me discovered the album, Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. You see, I had not quite hit that angry Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple stage yet. Oh, that stage would come soon enough, but at this point I was thrilled to be listening to someone sing about standing up for herself. Lord knows I had not had a role model for that. Not only were the songs about this girl standing up for herself, but she was also the lead singer of an all-male band and unlike any other woman singer I had encountered. Gwen Stefani was beautiful, but not in the same way Vanessa Williams was beautiful or Mariah Carey. She was gritty. She didn’t care. She was unapologetically herself, but not out of control on drugs like Courtney Love. I was desperately lacking someone “Gwen” in my life. She and No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom filled that void for me.

When listening to the lyrics of songs like, “Spiderwebs”, “Just a girl”, “Don’t Speak”, and “The Climb” from the Tragic Kingdom album you would be hard pressed not to feel empowered. The energy Gwen Stefani brings to every song is transferred to the listener. For me, the lyrics of those songs were like finding my voice. In the 2015 MIC article, 20 years ago, No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom, by Tom Barnes he states, “Stefani found a way to deliver powerfully feminist messages through mainstream channels without having to flash the bright, flawless feminine sparkle of chart-toppers like Mariah Carey or without having to rely on the defiant snarl of the Riot Grrrl movement.” Through Gwen Stefani and the Tragic Kingdom album a whole new generation was exposed to the idea of feminism. An idea they may not have ventured to seek out on their own. To be sixteen and beginning to realize what the world has to offer is an exciting time, but to realize that as a girl it could mean doing just as much as the boy sitting next to you is a thrill. To realize I didn’t have to get married and shoot out babies like everyone expected was magical.

Tragic Kingdom was the third album released by No Doubt. When it was released in October of 1995 and quickly became their most popular album. Earlier in the year, Gwen’s brother Eric, who had been the original lead singer and primary songwriter, left the band leaving space for Gwen to spread her wings. Armed with ammunition from her recent break from her eight-year relationship with bassist Tony Kanal, Gwen wrote/co-wrote every song on the Tragic Kingdom album. As talented as Gwen proved to be, she was still “just a girl” to many. Including members of her own band who had issues with her stepping into the forefront as the leader. It poses the question; would this have been an issue had one of the male members stepped up to fill that role? I think we all know the answer. The grace with which Gwen maneuvered being the leader of the all-male band that included her ex of eight years proves what a strong feminine role model she was.

You could pick any one of the 14 songs off Tragic Kingdom and easily relate it to the feminist inside. For example, in the song “Excuse Me Mr.,” one particular verse goes:

“What should I do? I'm about to crack

And there's a force that comes over me

It's almost as if I'm tied to the tracks

I'm waiting for him to rescue me

The funny thing is, he's not going to come

He's not going to find me

This is a matter of a fact, the desire you lack

This is the way I guess it has to be.”

In this verse we know Gwen is most likely singing about Tony because of the breakup. However, to a sixteen-year-old who has witnessed her mom hop from one bad relationship to another, this screamed, “I can rescue my damn self!” It’s saying that women no longer need to wait for help from or for the acceptance of men. We are very capable of getting up, untying and helping ourselves. In the opening lyrics to “Just A Girl”, Gwen sings:

“Take this pink ribbon off my eyes

I'm exposed and it's no big surprise

Don't you think I know exactly where I stand?

This world is forcing me to hold your hand

'Cause I'm just a girl, oh, little old me

Well, don't let me out of your sight

Oh, I'm just a girl, all pretty and petite

So don't let me have any rights

Oh, I've had it up to here.”

For a generation like mine who still had moms at home that didn’t know the family's finances and had dad’s that expected dinner on the table every night at 6:30pm with no excuses, this song was everything. The whole verse explains how women are wrapped up like pretty little presents for the pleasure of men. Objects, with no rights. We aren’t smart enough to know what to do if we had rights anyway, correct men? In his article, Tom Barnes goes on to describe Gwen, “On the surface, she came off like the quirky girl on the cheerleader squad — girly, effortlessly summary, yet more interested in sitting in the bleachers coloring on her shoes than actually cheering. She had an undeniable tough streak. One misplaced comment about how cute she looked, or a misguided catcall and you'd get a Doc Marten to your jaw.” Doesn’t much sound like a girl that is just going to sit back and be forced to “hold your hand” and now she is the role model of millions, spreading positive feminism energy.

“You're intruding on what's mine and you're taking up my time,” this line from the song “Spiderweb'' perfectly sums up the feminist message of this album. For too long it’s been men dominating the world and it’s time for a change. Stop talking and wasting our time, either make room or get out of the way, women have a place in this world, and we are about to take it. My mom may not have gotten the opportunity to discover her feminist side, but luckily due to this album I learned the worth I have as a woman.