#316: Rock Steady- No Doubt

Listened to: MP3

After a great harmonic intro, we charge into “Hella Good”, not only one of No Doubt’s best songs, but one of Mark Romanek’s best videos. It’s techno/punk/ska and a thousand other labels applied by music magazines, but more importantly, it’s just good. Really good. You can’t help but just fucking dance every time this track comes back to the chorus. This of course leads into “Hey Baby”, where Stefani trades in her Tragic Kingdom yelps for groaning, whispering croons, and god damn if it isn’t just sexy. You can feel her breath on your ear like she’s whispering right to you. Normally I don’t go for the heavily electronic music, but I’ll be god damned if No Doubt’s work with Bounty Killer doesn’t just slay every inch of disdain I have for dance tracks.

“Making Out” keeps the theme of electronic dance track, though not as good as the last two. It’s kind of generic, but still a lot of fun to listen to. Plus, today’s hit “Tik Tok”seems to have been lifted almost directly from this track. Which brings us to the best reggae track ever recorded by a white girl, “Underneath It All”. Come on, who doesn’t know this track. It’s on every compilation of “Now That’s What I Call Another Compilation of Songs That Were On The Radio In The Late 90’s and Early 00’s”, and deservedly so. It’s a good, nice, mellow track. Plus, when Lady Saw kicks in, it just sooooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome. Sorry, Gwen, but she kicked your ass on this one.

I’ll be honest, it’s a little bit Early Brittany Spears, but I really like “Detective”. It’ a lot of fun, and I’m a little glad to see they got away from Jamaican vibe for at least a track. Now, what’s interesting about “Don’t Bring Me Down” is how much it sounds like a Cars song.

Surprise!

It’s co-written by Ric Ocasek. Yes, that Ric Ocasek. Oh, you meant you didn’t know who Ric Ocasek was. He’s from the Cars…The Cars…you know, “I guess you’re just what I needed”? Fuck it, whatever. He’s Ric Ocasek. Look him up. Anyway, this is also a really fun track. Now, from the beginning, you either love or hate “Start The Fire”. For once in my life, I’m going to spare you my opinion. It’s a polarizing track, and I’m interested to know your opinion on it (there’s a “Post A Comment” box for just that reason), but I won’t tell you which end of the spectrum I stand on.

However, I will tell you that I HATE “Running”. It’s drawn comparisons to Depeche Mode, and if that’s true, I’m going to kill myself during my review for Violator. It reminds me of “Fallen From The Sky” off of the soundtrack to the movie Once, except at least that had the redeeming factor of Glen and Marketa’s always amazing harmonies. This just has…eh. Seriously, kill me. Though, I know some people who love it, so maybe it’s just a matter of taste.

“In My Head” has a bass part oompapa that feels like Tom Waits meets Kraftwerk (I referenced him two days in a row. Damn you Nick Young!!!!!!!!!) and it’s a pretty fun track. “Platinum Blonde Life” marks the return of co-writer Ric Ocasek, though this time less obvious. Though, to be honest, I barely care about this track since I’m so looking forward to the next one.

After some techno intro, you hear a guitar play that sounds oddly familiar. Could it be…yes, that voice doing the harmonies. It can’t be, but it is! It is! Ladies and gentlemen, Prince! Motherfucking Prince! Yes, even though it’s just a recording, I still feel the need to introduce him. It’s Prince! This track kicks as solely for the presence of Prince.

The album closes on “Rock Steady”, which starts off sounding like an old Gameboy soundtrack, and moves into techno-reggae. God, I really hate applying labels to shit, but there it is. Techno-reggea. It’s an ok track, but I wish they’d closed the album on the Prince track.

So, I gotta be honest, I really enjoyed this album, even though this ain’t my kind of music. It truly does deserve a place on this list, even if it doesn’t get the mainstream recognition in memory that it should.

-Mike

So, tomorrow is Pet Sounds, which I’m excited for, as our guest writer Carrie Ferrante has told me hers is 4 pages. Mine’s gonna be brief, I promise. See you tomorrow