Killīs 50 greatest albums ever - #49 (with a hook-up that SHOULD work)

[Kill]

N o          D o u b t

TRAGIC KINGDOM
(1995)

No Doubt popped up at a weird time. In 1995, grunge was on the verge of dying, gangsta rap was huge and bubblegum pop bands were becoming as abundant as fish in the sea, taking over the airwaves. Somewhere in between of all this, a Californian ska group climbed up the billboard charts rapidly with a tune that has remained part of every radio DJīs standard repertoire up to this day.

"Donīt Speak" was the one hit single that brought the band national and, quite soon, worldwide attention almost overnight. "Tragic Kingdom" was the album that gave the new American ska scene a tremendous boost and popularized a whole genre. Hailed by critics and fans equally, the LP that is in hindsight arguably one of the most important records of the 90īs scored an impressive number of hits - the aforementioned no. 1 single "Donīt Speak", its single release follow-up "Just A Girl", "Spiderwebs", "Sunday Morning" and "Different People" - and sold 21 million copies in its first two years.

"Tragic Kingdom" is the best one-hour introduction to 3rd wave ska you could possibly get; The opening tune "Spiderwebs" is a comparatively slow reggae song that puts up the pace as its catchy chorus kicks in, "Excuse Me Mister" and "Just A Girl", under the undeniable influence of punk rock, take it up another level, the you-shouldnīt-have-dumped-me anthem "Happy Now?" merges ska with a beautiful Blondie riff and after you have heard Gwen Stefani extolling the virtues of diversity on "Different People" youīre probably sold. The album continues on an equally high level; the growing-pains lyrics of "Sixteen" being as convincing as the sing-along chorus on "World Go Round" or the disdainful words of rebuke of "Sunday Morning".

The title track finally puts a cease to all this by hyping up the listener with ferocious riffs, dissonant trumpets and almost apolyptical background vocals at a punkrock high-speed level right before its end. It looked like No Doubt were quite hungry for more. Yet, after their huge success, they took a certain amount of time to come back with albums number 4 and 5, "Return Of Saturn" and "Rock Steady". While both records were successful, the group could never live up to their third, ground-breaking album anymore. It was just too much. Or, like Gwen Stefani said shortly after "Tragic Kingdom" came out: "I never thought this could happen to this loser band."

[Kill]

...now. I know what I just did. You can easily call my No-Doubt-fan ass prejudiced and belittle my intelligence for ranking something you consider comparatively trifling like this album right here among the greats. Since I know itīs probably hard to stomach for certain people that No Doubt pop up in a list they consider to be reserved to the Dylans, Pink Floyds and Princes, hereīs some shit Iīll say prophylactically :

- this album made an entire genre popular
- this album sold 21 million copies in its first two years
- this album has songs being played on air regularly 10 years after its release
- this album was praised by all critics...unlike, eg, "Never Mind The Bollocks" which received a lot of bad criticism coming from punk circles
- this album is the holy bible of an entire generation of ska fans
- this album is the most important release of its genre, which is a quite popular one overall

...but you may express your feelings of course, thatīs just my point...peace

FOR THE HOOK-UP CLICK ON THE ALBUM COVER OR THE HOOK-UP LINK IN MY OVERVIEW THREAD

[white Boy]

hey i love this album, and for anyone to hate would be stupid, cause uve said time and time again , how your gonna mix it up, so great album, great spot, im wondering, is the list all done already, or u making it up as you go?

[Kill]

hey i love this album, and for anyone to hate would be stupid, cause uve said time and time again , how your gonna mix it up, so great album, great spot, im wondering, is the list all done already, or u making it up as you go?

thank you. Itīs not all done, but Iīve got a word document in which I have the top 10, top 20, top 30 and top 40, ten albums each in no order yet and about 15 albums that can still get the eight remaining spots in the top 50...cause from about 44-50 to 50 it doesnīt matter that much how the exact constellation is. There were just like 5-6 albums that popped into my head after I put up Mezzanine. But basically, I got the albums ready and know more or less what theyīre gonna be ranked like, but Iīll do the exact ranking continuously

[WeSTSidE_Don]

great cd thanks for the hook up too

[eS El Duque]

the songs aint working on my comp

[Javier]

the songs aint working on my comp

lol yeah tahts what happent o me too, but i thought it was on my PC

[eS El Duque]

^^so is it working for you now?

[Javier]

Nope.  I downloaded #50 as well and nada

[eS El Duque]

DAMN YOU KILL

[Kill]

 

the converted files donīt even work for me GODFUCKINDAMMIT. Iīll try to fix it in a few hours, right now i gotta go

[TheDeli]

Solid album, forgot how good it was, agree that its got a big impact on it's own genre & music in general, no 49 suprises though personally wouldn't have it that high, good list though

Cheers

[Kill]

Oughkaigh

You better show me some love (if this shit works lol)...I d/līd the whole shit so I had MP3īs ready and didnīt have to convert nothing with my somehow-not-working-ass Audiocatalyst program. I tried it, and for me it DOES work this time

[W-Side]

^^but you don't wanna download the other 49 albums do you ? plus it's annoying when they in different quality n shit since you gettin them of programs like kazaa.. I already got this one but I bet there's many I don't have, including #50. It would be alot better to get that shit working or use a different program.

[DAYUM]

wtf? no doubt?

i can already tell ur list is gonna be bullshit
but its all good its your opinion i like to see who makes the list tho