Mark this on your calendar. September 25th marks the sort of inevitable but wildly welcomed return of rock group ‘No Doubt.’ Their sixth studio effort, ‘Push and Shove,’ will mark their first album in 11 years. There is a perfect storm of 90’s bands coming back into the fray, not that ‘No Doubt’ are exclusively 90’s. Regardless, the band’s greatest success occurred in the 90’s, primarily due to the 1995 release of ‘Tragic Kingdom’ which featured a long-list of 7 chart-topping singles (Yes that is 7). Some of these include:
- Spiderwebs
- Just a Girl
- Sunday Morning
- Don’t Speak
This is Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ level. The band had moderate success in the early 2000’s with ‘Rock Steady’ and the abysmally underwhelming ‘Return of Saturn.’
‘Push and Shove’ went through many delays during production. The album title is perhaps a call to this- just push and shove through getting the album done. Or perhaps it’s a remark to front woman Gwen Stefani’s sassy demeanor.
‘Push and Shove’ was already pushed with last July’s single ‘Settle Down.’ Maybe there’s a theme here? Yet if their new album gets anywhere close to the quality of their older material, there is no reason to settle down.
We can only hope the band learned to escape their 90’s heyday. Many of those songs are classics of the era, and it is notoriously difficult for a band to really move away from those songs creatively and stir intrigue for newer material. Tell this to The Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Garbage, etc…
