Don't Speak

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“Don't Speak”
“Don't Speak” cover
Single by No Doubt
from the album Tragic Kingdom
Released 1995 (North America)
February 10, 1997 (UK)
(Australia and Europe)
Format Airplay only
Genre Rock, ballad
Length 4:23
Label Interscope
Writer(s) Gwen Stefani
Eric Stefani
Producer Matthew Wilder
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 rock 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, Netherlands and Australia. The single is No Doubt's most successful international single, propelling them to superstardom. "Don't Speak" is arguably 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.

The song was ranked at number 495 in Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".[1]

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. 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.

Don't Speak is a rock song composed in the key of C minor. written in common time and moves in a slow tempo at 80 beats per minute. The song follows a verse-chorus form and includes a bridge and a guitar solo.

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.

The song is a downloadable track for the music video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

[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.[2] 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 Christmas tree. The video ends with Kanal replacing the orange in the tree. These scenes are usually cut out when VH1 airs this video.

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] 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5][6] 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.[5][6] It also was the number one hit single for the Hot 100 Airplay on the 1997 Year End chart.[7]

Internationally, the song was also very successful. In December 1996, it reached number one in The Netherlands, [8] and two months later, it debuted at number one in the United Kingdom, maintaining the top position for three weeks.[9] 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.

The song peaked at number one on the United World Chart and stayed at number one for seven weeks.

The song was recently named one of the top Ballads of the 1990's.

[edit] Track listing

Australian CD maxi 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
British cassette single
  1. "Don't Speak" – 4:23
  2. "Greener Pastures" – 5:05
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] Comprehensive charts

Chart (1996) Peak
position
Swedish Singles Chart[10] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay 1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[6] 1
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40[6] 1
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[5][6] 2
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40[6] 9
Chart (1997) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[11] 1
New Zealand Singles Chart 1
Austrian Singles Chart[12] 2
Finnish Singles Chart[13] 4
French Singles Chart[14] 4
Latvian Airplay Top 1
Swiss Singles Chart[15] 1
UK Singles Chart[9] 1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Adult Recurrents[6] 1
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary[5][6] 6
Preceded by
"I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis		 Billboard Hot 100 Airplay number-one single
(first run)
December 7, 1996 – January 11, 1997		 Succeeded by
"Un-Break My Heart" by Toni Braxton
Preceded by
"Un-Break My Heart" by Toni Braxton		 Billboard Hot 100 Airplay number-one single
(second run)
February 1, 1997 – April 5, 1997		 Succeeded by
"You Were Meant For Me" by Jewel
Preceded by
"Thug Devotion" by Mo Thugs		 New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart number-one single
January 19, 1997 – January 26, 1997		 Succeeded by
"I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly
Preceded by
"Freak" by Silverchair		 Australian ARIA Singles Chart number-one single
February 9, 1997 – March 30, 1997		 Succeeded by
"Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden
Preceded by
"Discothèque" by U2		 UK Singles Chart number-one single
February 16, 1997 – March 9, 1997		 Succeeded by
"Who Do You Think You Are" by Spice Girls
Preceded by
"Un-Break My Heart" by Toni Braxton		 United World Chart number-one single
March 1, 1997 – April 12, 1997		 Succeeded by
"I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly

[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. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born: 451-500", Blender.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-21. 
  2. ^ "It's No Doubt, Not The Gwen Stefani Experience". MTV News. January 17, 1997. Retrieved December 24, 2006.
  3. ^ No Doubt History Website
  4. ^ "No Doubt". Rock on the Net. Retrieved January 16, 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d "No Doubt". Billboard. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Tragic Kingdom". All Music Guide. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
  7. ^ http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1997/bbyearend.htm Rockonthenet.com
  8. ^ Top 40 Hitdossier, ISBN 90-230-1144-9
  9. ^ a b "All the Number 1 Singles". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved January 8, 2007.
  10. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". SwedishCharts.com. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  11. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak". Australian-Charts.com. Retrieved April 16, 2007.
  12. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". AustrianCharts.at. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  13. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". FinnishCharts.com. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  14. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". LesCharts.com. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  15. ^ "No Doubt - Don't Speak (Song)". HitParade.ch. Retrieved January 9, 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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No Doubt
Tom Dumont · Tony Kanal · Gwen Stefani · Adrian Young
John Spence · Eric Stefani
Touring band: Stephen Bradley · Gabrial McNair
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