"Don't Speak" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by No Doubt | ||||
from the album Tragic Kingdom | ||||
B-side |
| |||
Released | 1996 [1] | |||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 4:24 | |||
Label | Interscope | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Matthew Wilder | |||
No Doubt singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Don't Speak" on YouTube |
"Don't Speak" is a song by American rock band No Doubt from their third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995). It was released in 1996 as the third single from Tragic Kingdom in the United States by Interscope Records. Lead singer Gwen Stefani and her brother Eric Stefani, former No Doubt member, wrote the song originally as a love song. The song went through several rewrites and new versions. Gwen modified it into a breakup song about her bandmate and ex-boyfriend Tony Kanal, shortly after he ended their seven-year relationship. [2] [3]
Despite the song's popularity and substantial airplay, "Don't Speak" did not chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 (as rules of the times required commercial singles for charting and one was not issued for the song), but it did reach number one on the Hot 100 Airplay chart for 16 weeks. [4] Outside the United States, it topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, becoming No Doubt's most successful international single. "Don't Speak" was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 40th Grammy Awards. [5] [6]
"Don't Speak" was ranked at number 495 on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". [7] The song is a playable track in the 2009 video game Band Hero , [8] and is also included as a downloadable song in 2008's Rock Band 2 , [9] as well as part of the No Doubt Track Pack for Guitar Hero III . [10] The song has been sampled by multiple hip hop artists, including in Rakim's song "Dedicated" [11] and Ice Cube's "War & Peace". [12]
"Don't Speak" is an alternative rock [13] [14] [15] [16] power ballad [17] written by lead singer Gwen Stefani and her brother Eric Stefani, and produced by Matthew Wilder. It was originally a love song, but Stefani rewrote the lyrics almost completely after her breakup with the band's bass player Tony Kanal. According to her, "It used to be more upbeat, more of a Seventies rock-type thing. [When] Tony and I broke up... it turned into a sad song." [18] A live version that exists from April 1994 shows off a bouncy tune that has the same skeleton as the released version, but not the same urgency. [19] The band performed part of the original song on VH1 Storytellers on August 10, 2000. [20]
The band's lead guitarist Tom Dumont said about the song's composition:
There's a lot of stories about that song, because that one unfolded over a longer period of time. Originally, Gwen's brother wrote most of that song, and then after we got at it as a band, Gwen changed the lyrics around to fit her life. Musically, we brought it to another level, but near the end we reworded it. There's an earlier version of the song where the verses are totally different, which is a really beautiful version and it's awesome but it's way more jazzy and really different. That song had a long incubation process. [2]
Sheet music for "Don't Speak" shows the key of C minor [21] with the chorus in F minor. A demo version also appeared on a demo CD, which was presented to Interscope Records prior to the release of Tragic Kingdom. [22]
British magazine Music Week rated the song three out of five, writing that "this Californian quartet sound more like Swedish Eurovision hopefuls on this debut UK offering but, if radio bites, it could be a smash." [23]
Upon release, "Don't Speak" immediately began to receive extensive airplay and it eventually became the most widely played song on American radio in 1996. [24] It reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart and maintained that position for 16 non-consecutive weeks, a record at the time. [25] Despite its copious airplay, "Don't Speak" was not allowed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 since no commercial single was released for it in the United States (a requirement for charting purposes at the time). Slate magazine music critic Chris Molanphy has stated that if the song had been eligible to chart, it almost certainly would have claimed the number one spot. [26] An import CD did sell in the US, but this format was not allowed to chart either. [27]
On other Billboard charts, "Don't Speak" stayed at number two on Modern Rock Tracks chart for five consecutive weeks. [28] The song also proved to be a crossover hit, reaching number one on the Adult Top 40 chart for 15 consecutive weeks as well as numbers six and nine on the Adult Contemporary and Rhythmic charts, respectively. [28] It was ultimately placed at number one on the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997. [29]
Internationally, "Don't Speak" was also very successful. In February 1997, it peaked at number one in both the United Kingdom and Ireland for three weeks. Elsewhere in Europe, "Don't Speak" reached the top position in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Australia was another major music market where the song received widespread airplay, debuting at number one and maintaining the peak position for eight weeks.
The video was directed by Sophie Muller and it is the first of the long-time collaboration between the band and the director. Before the music starts, at the beginning of the music video, there is a scene of Kanal picking a rotten orange from a tree (these scenes are usually cut out when VH1 airs this video). The majority of the video for "Don't Speak" takes place on Stage 2 at Mack Sennett Studios in Silver Lake as the band plays. Other scenes tell the story of how the media mainly focused on Stefani while the band was always in the background. [30] The second half of the video features snippets of live footage filmed during the band's performance with Dog Eat Dog and Goldfinger at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City on August 21, 1996. The video also features a short footage showing Dumont playing together with Foo Fighters's guitarist Pat Smear. The video ends with Kanal replacing the orange in the tree, which is actually footage of Kanal in reverse pulling the orange off.
Tensions in the band had been running high and they reportedly were on the verge of breaking up the day before they were scheduled to film the video. They decided to go ahead and film it as a form of "therapy".
The video won the award for Best Group Video and was nominated for Video of the Year at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. It has one billion views on YouTube as of May 2023, and 700 million of the views come from 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 alone. The video, now remastered in 4K, was uploaded on October 7, 2009.
There is an alternate version of the video showing just the live performance part. Both versions of the video are included on the DVD release The Videos 1992–2003 (2004).
Australian, Japanese, and UK CD single [31] [32]
European CD single; UK 7-inch and cassette single [33] [34] [35]
(*) Recorded at York Street Studios, Auckland, New Zealand, in September 1996.
Weekly charts | Year-end charts
All-time chart
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [94] | 2× Platinum | 140,000^ |
Austria (IFPI Austria) [95] | Gold | 25,000* |
Belgium (BEA) [96] | Platinum | 50,000* |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [97] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
France (SNEP) [98] | Gold | 250,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [99] | Platinum | 500,000^ |
Italy (FIMI) [100] | Gold | 25,000‡ |
Netherlands (NVPI) [101] | Gold | 50,000^ |
Norway (IFPI Norway) [102] | 2× Platinum | |
Sweden (GLF) [103] | Gold | 25,000^ |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [104] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [105] | 2× Platinum | 1,200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [106] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | April 15, 1996 | Radio | [ citation needed ] | |
United Kingdom | February 10, 1997 |
|
| [107] |
Japan | February 21, 1997 | CD |
| [108] |
However, a CD single import of 'Don't Speak' has found its way stateside. Import sales are not counted toward the Hot 100.
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(help)No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboardist Eric Stefani, Gwen's brother, was also a former member when the band started to release albums in 1992. Since the mid-1990s, trombonist Gabrial McNair and trumpeter Stephen Bradley have performed with the band as session and touring musicians.
Tragic Kingdom is the third studio album by American rock band No Doubt, released on October 10, 1995, by Trauma Records and Interscope Records. It was the final album to feature original keyboardist Eric Stefani, who left the band in 1994. The album was produced by Matthew Wilder and recorded in 11 studios in the Greater Los Angeles area between March 1993 and October 1995. Between 1995 and 1998, seven singles were released from it, including "Just a Girl", which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart; and "Don't Speak", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and reached the top five of many international charts.
Return of Saturn is the fourth studio album by American rock band No Doubt, released on April 11, 2000, by Trauma Records and Interscope Records. It marked the band's first album as a quartet, following the departure of original keyboardist Eric Stefani in 1994. After touring for two and a half years to promote their breakthrough third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995), No Doubt wrote several dozen songs for its follow-up and eventually settled on working with producer Glen Ballard. Creating the album became a tumultuous process lasting two years, during which there was dissension among band members and between the band and its label. The album was completed after the band returned to the studio and recorded what became two of its singles.
"Spiderwebs" is a song by American band No Doubt for their third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995). It was written by Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal, produced by Matthew Wilder, and released as the album's second single on November 19, 1995. "Spiderwebs" appears on their 2003 greatest hits album, The Singles 1992–2003. Stefani was inspired to write the song after an admirer recited bad poetry to her. "Spiderwebs" is a ska punk song with angsty lyrics responding to Stefani's potential suitors.
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"Hollaback Girl" is a song by American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). It is a hip-hop song that draws influence from 1980s hip-hop and dance music. The song was written by Stefani, Pharrell Williams, and Chad Hugo, with the latter two handling production as the Neptunes. The song was released as the album's third single on March 22, 2005, and was one of the year's most popular songs, peaking inside the top 10 of the majority of the charts it entered. It reached number one in Australia and the United States, where it became the first digital download to sell one million copies.
"Just a Girl" is a song by American band No Doubt from their third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995). Released as the record's lead single in the United States on September 21, 1995, it was written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont, and produced by Matthew Wilder. It has also made an appearance on their 2003 greatest hits album, The Singles 1992–2003. Lyrically, "Just a Girl" is about Stefani's perspective of life as a woman and her struggles with having strict parents. "Just a Girl" was the first song Stefani wrote without the assistance of her brother Eric.
"Cool" is a song by American singer Gwen Stefani from her debut solo studio album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (2004). Written by Stefani and Dallas Austin, the song was released as the fourth single from the album on July 5, 2005. The song's musical style and production were inspired by synth-pop and new wave arrangements from the 1980s, and its lyrics chronicle a relationship in which two lovers have separated, but remain "cool" with each other as good friends.
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"Hey Baby" is a song by American rock band No Doubt from their fifth studio album Rock Steady (2001). Written by band members Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal and Tom Dumont, "Hey Baby" was released as the album's lead single in October 2001 by Interscope Records. "Hey Baby" is heavily influenced by the Jamaican dancehall music present at No Doubt's post-show parties and tour bus lounges of their Return of Saturn tour. Its lyrics describe the debauchery with groupies at these parties.
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"Excuse Me Mr." is a song by American band No Doubt for their third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995). The song was written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont, while produced by Matthew Wilder. It was released as the fourth single from the album on August 21, 1996. The song has also been included on the band's 2003 greatest hits album, The Singles 1992–2003. Musically, the former is a rock-influenced ska track with lyrics describing a woman trying to get the attention of a man. A country version of the song was also created but never released. The single received positive reviews from music critics who labelled it a successful breakup song and as one of the best tracks on Tragic Kingdom.
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