Don't Speak

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"Don't Speak"
"Don't Speak" cover
Single by No Doubt
from the album Tragic Kingdom
Released 1996 (North America), 1997 (Australia and Europe)
Format Airplay only
Genre Ska punk
Length 4:23
Label Interscope
Writer(s) Gwen Stefani
Eric Stefani
Producer(s) Matthew Wilder
Certification —
Chart positions
No Doubt singles chronology
"Spiderwebs"
(1995)		 "Don't Speak"
(1996)		 "Excuse Me Mr."
(1996)

"Don't Speak" is the third single from Tragic Kingdom, the third album by Californian third wave ska group No Doubt, released in late 1996.

Despite the song's popularity, "Don't Speak" did not chart on the 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 Billboard Hot 100 Airplay. The song also reached number one in the UK, Canada, Latvia, and Australia. The single ignited the mid-1990s ska revival, and is No Doubt's most successful international single, propelling them to superstardom. "Don't Speak" is No Doubt's biggest hit and was nominated for the Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal at the Grammy Awards of 1998.

Contents

[edit] Song information

The song was co-written by Eric Stefani and Gwen Stefani and co-produced by Matthew Wilder. The bittersweet ballad is based on a true story on the turbulent relationship between Gwen Stefani and bassist Tony Kanal. After being in a relationship for seven years, Kanal informed Stefani that his feelings about her had changed and that he did not want to be her boyfriend anymore. Not surprisingly, Stefani became depressed. To help cope with her emotional pain, she began to write music, and the final version of "Don't Speak" was born. Although the song was originally a more sugary love song, after the events as described above, the song was changed with a darker tone.

While "Don't Speak" does not draw as much from ska as many of the other songs on Tragic Kingdom do, it helped, along with "Just a Girl", to get people interested in No Doubt, contributing to the mid-1990s ska revival.

Various bands have released cover versions of the track, including dance-pop group Clueless, released a dance version of the song as their debut single. It has also been covered by The Countdown Singers, German alternative group 7th Saturn and Canadian pop group Déjà Vu. It has also been recently covered by R&B singer Leela James.

[edit] Music video

In the music video, Stefani pleads with the band.
In the music video, Stefani pleads with the band.

The majority of the music video for "Don't Speak" takes place in a garage. Other scenes tell the story of how the media mainly focused on Gwen while the band was always in the background.[1] The second half of the video features snippets of live footage filmed during the band's performance with Dog Eat Dog and Goldfinger at Roseland Ballroom in New York City on August 21, 1996.

Before the music starts, at the beginning of the video, there is a scene of Tony Kanal picking a rotten orange from a tree. The video ends with Kanal replacing the orange in the tree.

The music video won the award for Best Group Video and was nominated for the Video of the Year award at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Australian CD single

  1. "Don't Speak" – 4:27
  2. "Don't Speak" (alternative version) – 4:27
  3. "Hey You" (acoustic version) – 3:28
  4. "Greener Pastures" – 5:05

[edit] European CD single

  1. "Don't Speak" – 4:27
  2. "Greener Pastures" – 5:05

A live version of the song also appears as the B-side on the "Sunday Morning" CD single.

[edit] Chart performance

Upon release, the song immediately began to receive extensive airplay, and it became the most widely played song on American radio in 1996.[2] Not surprisingly, the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, and maintained that position for sixteen consecutive weeks, a record at the time.[3] Although the record was broken in 1998 by the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" with eighteen weeks at number one, the song remains in second place of songs on the Hot 100 Airplay with the most weeks at number one. For all its airplay though, the song was not allowed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 as no commercial single was released for it (which were required for charting purposes at the time). Not surprisingly, the song was also a hit on No Doubt's main radio format at the time, Modern Rock Tracks where it climbed to number two.[4][5] The song also proved to be a crossover smash, hitting number one on Adult Top 40 and even hitting a number six and number nine on Adult Contemporary and the Rhythmic Top 40 respectively.[4][5] It also was the number one hit single for the Hot 100 Airplay on the 1997 Year End chart.[1]

Internationally, the song was also very successful. It debuted at number one in the United Kingdom, maintaining the top position for three weeks.[6] It occupied the Canadian BDS Airplay Chart for fifteen weeks and became the most-played song of the year. Australia was another major music market where the song received widespread airplay, debuting at number one and maintaining the peak position for 8 weeks. In Switzerland, "Don't Speak" debuted at number eighteen before climbing to number one (for four weeks) six weeks later. After falling from number one, it remained in the top ten for an additional seven weeks.

[edit] Comprehensive charts

Chart (1996) Peak
position
Swedish Top 60[7] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay 1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[5] 1
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40[5] 1
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[4][5] 2
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40[5] 9
Chart (1997) Peak
position
Austrian Top 75[8] 2
Finnish Top 20[9] 4
French Top 100[10] 4
Swiss Top 100[11] 1
UK Top 40 Singles[6] 1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Adult Recurrents[5] 1
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary[4][5] 6
Preceded by
"Discothèque" by U2		 UK Singles Chart
Number 1 single
16 February 1997 – 9 March 1997		 Succeeded by
"Who Do You Think You Are" by Spice Girls

[edit] Album appearances

"Don't Speak" is featured on these No Doubt albums:

  • Tragic Kingdom as track number ten;
  • The Singles 1992-2003 as track number thirteen;
  • Twice on Boom Box:
    • As track number thirteen on disc one (same as The Singles),
    • Track number thirteen on disc four (a live DVD);
  • "Excuse Me Mr." (a very rare No Doubt bootleg) as track number nine.

According to All Music Guide, "Don't Speak" also appears on the following albums:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "It's No Doubt, Not The Gwen Stefani Experience". MTV News. January 17, 1997. Retrieved December 24, 2006.
  2. ^ No Doubt History Website
  3. ^ "No Doubt". Rock on the Net. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d "No Doubt". Billboard. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Tragic Kingdom". All Music Guide. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
  6. ^ a b "All the Number 1 Singles". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
  7. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". SwedishCharts.com. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  8. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". AustrianCharts.at. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  9. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". FinnishCharts.com. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  10. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". LesCharts.com. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  11. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". HitParade.ch. Retrieved January 9, 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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