No Doubt / Gwen Stefani singles poll

underneath it all!

yeah, that's where I put the option for "OTHER". seemed like the best place really. but which single would you pick?

I still hate the Tragic Kingdom singles. Voted for "Hella Good" over "Ex-Girlfriend."

the flops and semi-hits with them/her are almost always better than the smashes. Sunday Morning, New, Bathwater, Cool, etc.

brb, registering 500 socks to vote for Hollaback Girl.

Disappointed that this wasn't called "This POLL is bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!"

between underneath it all and bathwater

"Just a Girl" vs "What You Waiting For?"

Wow. I'm astonished "Underneath It All"'s got love. Always sounded slushy to me, in part because I can't forget it's about Gavin Rossdale.

WHERE IS YOUR ANTI-BIOGRAPHICAL CRITICISM NOW ALFRED

in any case

1. don't speak
2. hella good
3. cool
4. what you waiting for? (nb bump this up to the top if we're talking the JLC remix)
5. early winter

not counting "let me blow ya mind"

Gavin Rossdale ruptures the space-time continuum.

I wish I heard "Cool" on the radio these days.

i always think gavin rossdale's band's called "butch"

anyway i've never heard gavin rossdale's name in any non-no-doubt context so he is an abstract quality to me

you came in with the breeeeeze

1. sunday morning
2. sunday morning
3. sunday morning
4. sunday morning
5. sunday morning

Cool first, heaps of stuff duking it out for second.

i came to this post 100% ready to mount a heated defence of "cool" but i forgot that everyone here was already right-minded.

'cool' is so good at what it does that it's actually kind of hard to wave it around like a favourite tbh :/

it's kind of dumb that I own zero No Doubt/Gwen albums considering how many of these singles I like

the thing with no doubt and gwen is that there are a ton i really kinda hate as well

not even talking about "hollaback girl" which is obv great

"cool bums me out every time!" https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/common/customer-reviews/stars-5-0._V192197110_.gif

current top five chronologically (this will change and become Gwen solo-heavy the next time I think about it):

Spiderwebs
Don't Speak
Bathwater
Hey Baby
What You Waiting For?

i walked into a chain pub recently as 'hey baby' was in progress and i was really struggling for a sec like wtf is this place just bumping bounty killer

lil cool story for yall there

actually quite tempted by 'what you waiting for', still impresses me whenever i hear it

Yeah, I'm tottering WYWF and "Bathwater" at the moment

is Return to Saturn >>> Tragic Kingdom? I prefer the former's singles.

There are a lot of these I haven't heard, but I'm voting for "Spiderwebs" anyway, because i like it better and return to it more often than any other pop hit of the same era.

is Return to Saturn >>> Tragic Kingdom?

yep. much as i love "sunday morning" and "spiderwebs" tragic kingdom is super uneven

So easy: COOL

whereas return of saturn is pretty killer throughout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuMiaJX8SKI

xp

i'm not sure whether to vote for "cool" or "simple kind of life"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOQDCppovR4

whenever i remember this song exists it's the biggest nostalgia trip

also, am i the only one who will ever support "wind it up"? it's not my favorite but i sort of want to vote for it just so it doesn't end up with 0

Hella Good or Cool will get my vote. Really like It's My Life and Sweet Escape too. Shame she never put Bubble Pop Electric out as a single, that's probably my favourite songs she's been involved with.

bathwater

cmon

let's be serious here you guys

"bathwater" is my number six

i don't understand any numbers beside ONE

Love the middle eight in "Simple Kind of Life" so it gets my vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FrTpSs2ku0

also, am i the only one who will ever support "wind it up"? it's not my favorite but i sort of want to vote for it just so it doesn't end up with 0

I like it too and almost voted for it for the same reason. It's like an even more bananas "Hollaback Girl", but I like HBG a bit more (and "Hella Good").
I also had a soft spot for "4 In the Morning", which reminded me of an 80's ballad. Haven't heard it in a while though.

i fucks with "Wind It Up"...after i got over the initial reaction of 'oh they're trying something wacky like "Hollaback Girl" again but even more over the top' i realized i actually like the beat.

it's sort of a sequel to "Rich Girl" what with the bizarre musical sample, and "Rich Girl" is probably my least favorite song of the past million years, but i fell for the WIU beat immediately.

but yeah it doesn't hold a candle to "Hollaback"

"Hollaback Girl" is both symbolically and in practice a huge source of hate for me, perhaps more than almost any song of the last 10 years

or object of hate, i guess

if Alicia Keys had sung it y'all would have had to send me to Bellevue.

man i'm cracking up picturing pharrell pitching that song to alicia and her trying her best to make it dignified and soulful

Hey Baby vs Hella Good Vs Hollaback. All the H's.

I wouldn't put it past her to arrange "Simple Kind of Life" for piano, chorus, and John Legend co-lead.

the version of "southside" posted above is the one w/o gwen, altho the one w/ gwen barely sounds any different. idk, i liked it at the time but now i'm kinda whatever about it.

i do still love "4 in the morning" actually... but i think i'm going to vote "simple kind of life"

the flops and semi-hits with them/her are almost always better than the smashes. Sunday Morning, New, Bathwater, Cool, etc.
― some dude, Wednesday, May 29, 2013 9:32 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark

"New" was a big hit in my car and on my own mixtapes. I dunno, I remember this song being a kinda big deal at the time... It was the first single after their biggest album.

I'm gonna guess that no one is repping for this because they forgot that it's not called "Don't let it go away."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtStjGHttGM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtStjGHttGM

"Rich Girl" and "Luxurious" are probably the worst songs here.

I'll take Lex's top 5 in a different order:

1. Cool
2. Hella Good
3. WYWF
4. Don't Speak
5. Early Winter

'Let Me Blow Ya Mind' would be #3.

I've completely forgotten how a lot of these songs go even though I'm sure I've heard them often enough. I had the same problem with the Britney singles poll.

the flops and semi-hits with them/her are almost always better than the smashes. Sunday Morning, New, Bathwater, Cool, etc.
― some dude, Wednesday, May 29, 2013 9:32 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark

"New" was a big hit in my car and on my own mixtapes. I dunno, I remember this song being a kinda big deal at the time... It was the first single after their biggest album.

― billstevejim, Thursday, May 30, 2013 12:00 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sure, but it missed the Hot 100, after an album with three Top 40 hits.

"underneath it all" was the first dance at my wedding!!

Damn, just realised 'Tragic Kingdom' is 18 years old.. Played it to death from 12 to 15. It's still pretty great.

This is a great singles-band.

Cool.

Hella Good vs WYWF vs Underneath It All vs Cool (esp. the Photek remix)

lol a photek mix of 'cool' is such an epic do not want that i feel compelled to seek it out

of all of the things I expected this to sound like, "Gwen covering obscure New Order" was nowhere near the list

Oh wait, I misremembered that. I've never heard the Photek remix before now. It's the Richard X remix of Cool that I love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGAqAuyuRck

Top five (with Hollaback Girl and Bathwater tied for sixth)

Just a Girl (No Doubt)
Spiderwebs (No Doubt)
Sunday Morning (No Doubt)
What You Waiting For? (Gwen Stefani)
Rich Girl (Gwen Stefani)

I never really took to most of the post-Tragic Kingdom No Doubt material - I like "Hella Good" okay but they always seemed to be working a little too hard and stopped being fun. First Stefani solo record is a killer listen though, and (mostly) sidesteps the sort of cringe-inducing lyrical and vocal tics that young Gwen carried from "Trapped In A Box" forward. "Just A Girl," for example, is a great, great song but "so don't let me have any rights" is just so teenagey on-the-nosey that it almost sinks the whole thing. I do like "Tweedledum? There's no comp-ar-i-son!" though. Ugh, this is gonna be hard.

doctor casino

sunday morning

that is all

the background "doot doot doot doot doot"s on the chorus

exquisite

brb writing a poem about "sunday morning" i will share with no one

Anyone else mishear it as " how come you're always doin' it with your ex-girlfriend"?

wow, early winter is great

i had never heard it before

I hate to be unexciting but it really is "Don't Speak". "Early Winter" and all the Return of Saturn singles are really good too.

wow I can't believe I am tempted to vote for "Saw Red"

actual top 5 unranked--pretty standard tbh:

Hella Good
Underneath It All
It's My Life
What You Waiting For
Cool

a lot in here I don't know. I probably should give Return to Saturn some spins...

i love 'sunday morning' but all that wasted marinara sauce in the video upsets me

culinary appropriation

I don't know when I would have gotten into No Doubt if not for Saw Red. I had trouble squaring the weird funky, synthy stuff on Tragic Kingdom with the rest of the relatively straightforward ska-punk I listened to back then, but guesting on a Sublime album earned them a pass, in my opinion.

xxp

actually swap out the Talk Talk cover for Early Winter

xp well it WAS their cool dubby 'experimental' second album.

I do think "Saw Red" >>>>>>>>>>>> 90% of the TK singles

I didn't know Tragic Kingdom had 7 singles. I guess I'm not surprised. (I would have guessed 6.)

Damn, just realised 'Tragic Kingdom' is 18 years old

Ouch - I'm always reflecting on 'x years since y', but for some reason this is really shocking.

Great singles artist nonetheless, there're at least five here that crush most peaks. It's Don't Speak though, for being a new standard (I assume, yet I don't actually think I've ever heard it covered) and a work of genius, and for the gargantuan snare sound.

jesus. now to tragic kingdom = tragic kingdom to rumours and my aim is true.

= rumours to 'Beatles haven't formed yet', if you want to take it back another step

fans of "cool" and "early winter" would like "the real thing", a l.a.m.b. deep cut along similar lines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCxXmyeVPho

it's even more new ordery

actually does it have that new order dude on it or am i misremembering?

i believe it does!

oh wikipedia says no :(

nah if you look at the big list of credits after the tracklisting on wiki it mentions sumner on vocals (lol)

no, wait, i can't read: both bernard sumner and peter hook. (and... ewan pearson?)

(and... ewan pearson?)

!!!!!!

did we KNOW all this at the time? did we FORGET?

I'm not sure I knew enough about Pearson at the time to care?

(he also did programming on the super-forgettable 'Danger Zone')

"the real thing" is v nice. what else has ewan pearson done other than the basically-life-changing cortney tidwell remix? i need to be englightened

He did the even-more-life-changing "Manila".

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Glad to see a few mentions of "Simple Kind of Life" Got my vote.

My favourite Ewan Pearson tracks (excluding Cortney Tidwell):

Freeform Five - Perspex Sex (Ewan Pearson's Hi-NRG Remix)
Feist - Inside And Out (Pearson and Usher Elektronischer Dub)
Partial Arts - Telescope
Partial Arts - Trauermusik
Seelenluft - Manila (Ewan Pearson Remix)
Goldfrapp - Train (Ewan Pearson Dub)
Chemical Brothers - The Golden Path (Ewan Pearson Rave Hell Dub)
Goldfrapp - Ride A White House (Ewan Pearson Disco Odyssey 1+2)
Mugwump - Boutade (Miseridub)

Although I do wonder about the potential greatness of the following tracks I have not heard (based on the remix titles alone):

Martin Dawson & Glimpse - No One Belongs Here More Than You (Ewan's Balearos Maximos Remix)
Kelly Polar - Entropy Reigns (Pearson and Usher's Closed System Dub)
Moon Unit - Connections (Ewan Pearson's Slo NRG Dub)
Jon Hopkins - Light Through The Veins (Ewan Pearson's Downtown Lights Remix)

some of the intense lyrical moments of "simple kind of life" really make it for me.

i'll have to check out all those ewan pearson remixes! i just heard the seelenluft and it is really great.

Can't let this pill close without a little

No Doubt's Hey Hey Baby as paen to anal sex?
it IS isn't it? the way she slaps her arse and wiggles her eyebrows suggestively at every mention of 'the boys get the girls in the *back*'. and that mock-horrified look at the end of the video..

i actually find gwen stefani to be the unfathomable woman in the universe. i just don't fucking understand her at all, can't work it out. from that coy ultra ultra girliness to those REALLY ODD gestures and facial expressions she makes in her videos.

it's like trying to talk to Lassie. WHAT IS SHE TRYING TO COMMUNICATE?

it's like the woman in the red dress in Fire Walk With Me. whatthefuck??!?

― Wyndham Earl, Wednesday, January 30, 2002 8:00 PM (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha one of my alltime favorite posts

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow haha only on ILM

Zero votes for "What You Waiting For" is a bit sad, but the correct tune won.

"Cool" is a song where the clip changed the meaning for me forever. I think when I first heard it forever I took Gwen at her word, whereas the video totally upends that and makes the entire song a bittersweet unreliable narrator epic.

I think I've said it before but her character really reminds me of the Baroness in The Sound of Music giving up on the Captain and pushing him towards Maria.

how is "Hella Good" No. 2? I mean, I voted for it but I was thinking I'd be the contrarian

which means I redirect my vote to "What You Waiting For" because my god it does not deserve to languish amid shitpiles like "Running." (Rock Steady was such an uneven album. you had those, and then you had amazing album tracks like "Detective" and "Waiting Room" with FUCKING PRINCE.)

terrific Prince vocals

and "The Real Thing"!

i like "platinum blonde life" a bunch

wow good choice ilm.

Great top two.

Rock Steady is probably the most consistent album I've heard of hers that I've heard, I like almost every song on there.

yes! "platinum blonde life," the most ebullient song about crippling malaise.

and Ric Ocasek produced that one

I didn't know that

hella lame

"cool" is a terrific song, deserving winner

surprised "let me blow ya mind" didn't get more votes!

Wow! Even three votes for "Saw Red"!

Voted for Hella Good which is still awesome

it's crazy. i just bumped it today for the first time in years. top poll results are actually p on point.

it's my life sadly underrepresented

Cool" is a song where the clip changed the meaning for me forever. I think when I first heard it forever I took Gwen at her word, whereas the video totally upends that and makes the entire song a bittersweet unreliable narrator epic.

I think I've said it before but her character really reminds me of the Baroness in The Sound of Music giving up on the Captain and pushing him towards Maria.

― Tim F, Wednesday, June 5, 2013 1:07 AM (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3

& RIP baroness :(

it's my life sadly underrepresented

― surm, Thursday, March 13, 2014 7:10 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the pathos of posts about songs where the title is not capitalized or put in quotation marks

Early Winter a bit robbed here

as the single best song of ol' girl's entire career? nah

That Tim F post was v otm

Underneath It All was the "first dance" song at my wedding.

My kids know nothing about Gwen Stefani, let alone sampling, but I did take them to see "Fiddler on the Roof," and the next day when I played "Rich Girl" it blew their little minds.

I didn't even know cool was a single, just an album track a friend made me download. But would've voted for simple kind of life. Not sure how many other pop hits are about wanting to get pregnant before getting too old.

it's my life sadly underrepresented

― surm, Thursday, March 13, 2014 7:10 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the pathos of posts about songs where the title is not capitalized or put in quotation marks

― some dude, Thursday, 13 March 2014 23:28 (Yesterday) Permalink

lol, yeah double meanings abound

Underneath It All was the "first dance" song at my wedding.

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, March 14, 2014 11:37 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

awwww

for some reason eve's opening line to rich girl, "come together all over the world / from the hoods of japan, harajuku girls," is repeating over and over in my brain.

surprised what you waiting for didn't get a single vote

"New" is inarguably my #1. The band pretty much dried up creatively after that high point, and her solo career is completely forgettable.
Great production by Jerry Harrison on that track

her new song is insanely good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kn8Z7jmi30

oh EVERY DAY with you is rock bottom
leaving you saved me, MY GOD