Concert: No Doubt, 10 July 1997

MxPx, The Selecter

Reading the book 60 Songs That Explain The ’90s by Rob Harvilla reminded me of a concert by the group No Doubt on 10 July 1997 at the arena in downtown Albany. It used to be the Knickerbocker Arena, and now it’s the MVP Arena, but I believe that it was the Pepsi Arena at the time.

I had a friend who was widowed shortly after her first child was born, her husband dying of Agent Orange in the early ’80s. So I occasionally babysat the girl. When the teen wanted to see No Doubt, her mother suggested that I accompany her and four of her friends. I was familiar with the group. My friend dropped us off.

The first group was called MxPx. The sheer constant audio assault was unnerving to me, but the audience seemed to enjoy it.

Then came an English 2-tone ska revival band, The Selecter – I misremembered that it was The Specials, but they had similar roots. I thought they were excellent. Still, a goodly number of the audience literally turned their back on them; they did not like this music. (Here’s Too Much Pressure.)

Not only did I think it was disrespectful, but they were also oblivious to the fact that the roots of the music that No Doubt was playing came from ska. It would be like if, in the 1960s, a white Blues musician such as Eric Clapton in Cream or Keith Richards in The Rolling Stones were the headliners, with the opening act being B.B. King or Albert King, and the audience turned their backs on them. This ticked me off greatly.

Stefani and company

The main act came out, and they were entertaining enough. I remember very distinctly that Gwen Stefani, the lead singer, wanted the boys to sing the line, “I’m just a girl.” Some were uncomfortable, but most did so.

Harvilla says in his book regarding the group, “…which brings us to the sell-out adjacent song that’s only.005 ska… No Doubt is a great many things: zippy new wave monolith worthy of Cyndi Lauper, the Go-Go’s, or the B-52s. [It’s] a delivery system for lead singer Gwen Stefani, the blindingly sunny pop star and wildly out-of-pocket cultural appropriator who combines the appeal of Jessica Rabbit, Olive Oyl, Cher from Clueless…

“It’s not entirely that the band abandoned its roots on this record, but the roots are no longer a focal point. Maybe with Just A Girl, it’s best to imagine No Doubt as a space shuttle with the rocket boosters’ burnout detachment. She’s a true superstar orbit, and in this case, those abandoned rocket boosters just happen to be labeled ska, and everyone in the band, other than Gwen. “

All that said, I’ve never been all that fussy about selling out or “authenticity,” having seen the movie A Complete Unknown about Bob Dylan. The notion of selling out can be pretty darn fuzzy.

BTW, here’s the likely No Doubt playlist of the concert:

  1. Tragic Kingdom
  2. Excuse Me, Mr.
  3. Different People
  4. Happy Now?
  5. Just a Girl
  6. The Climb
  7. End It on This
  8. Total Hate ’95
  9. Hey You
  10. The Imperial March
  11. Move On / Ghost Town
  12. Don’t Speak
  13. Sunday Morning
  14. Spiderwebs
  15. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
  16. Oi to the World
Ramblin' with Roger
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial