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miaiiiniimi

In Southern California, and especially in Orange County, a burgeoning ska scene bubbled under for more than a decade before it finally burst through as part of the punk revival in the mid-nineties. Not until mid-1996, when No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom hit the Top 10, did any of them break through onto the mainstream charts.
The album was a pleasant enough collection of ska-pop, but the public wasn't ready for such things. Although No Doubt opened some substantial gigs for bands such as the Chili Peppers and Fishbone, the album failed to garner much attention. Having lost confidence in the band's record-selling potential, Interscope refused to fund a tour or even any further recordings. Despite their name, the group's future was very much in doubt.
But No Doubt refused to say die, entering the studio on their own dime, and recording a more punkish follow-up called The Beacon Street Collection, a favorite among hard-core fans of the group. Eventually, Interscope regained interest in the band, and in late 1994, No Doubt returned to the studio to record Tragic Kingdom. Although Eric Stefani had been the group's primary songwriter, he left the band before the album was released, deciding he'd had enough of the rock-star life. Interestingly, he went on to became an animator for The Simpsons.
As for the rest of No Doubt, they charged out of the gate at full speed, promoting Tragic Kingdom with bubbly videos for the first two singles, which were quickly snapped up by MTV's "Buzz Bin," guaranteeing the band massive exposure on the network. Led by the ever effervescent Gwen, the band scored its breakthrough hit with the slightly punkish "Just a Girl," a tongue-in-cheek rant from a teenage girl's perspective that was apparently taken quite seriously by many young female fans. The ska-new wave hybrid "Spiderwebs" followed it up the charts, and by late 1996, the album had captured Billboard's No. 1 slot. Two Grammy nominations, including one for Best New Artist, added some icing to the cake.
For the moment, at least, the world is No Doubt's toy. Whether the band's campy, even circusy, music will remain commercially viable for long is debatable, but they're undoubtedly one of the hottest groups around right now.