No Doubt

Rock Steady

True fans should love this album.

Review Score:

(10/10)
I will not dwell much on "Rock Steady," simply because such a throw-away piece of trash does not merit too much of my consideration or time. I loved No Doubt ever since I heard "Don't Speak," a beautiful song which I still fondly play. "Tragic Kingdom" was a unique album that I likewise love, and I have a better opinion of "Return of Saturn" than most - Gwen's solo songwriting effort ("Simple Kind Of Life") is one of the best songs the band ever put out. No Doubt will always be for me the talented and raw ska band who once made it big with a great album.
Fast-forward to the present. Unlike most negative reviewers here, I still love Gwen Stefani, and didn't mind her collaborations with Moby and Eve in the summer of 2001. They were insignificant side projects, not too bad for what they are.
But "Rock Steady" is a disaster. I will give a pass to "Running" and "Underneath It All," they're quite nice slow songs, I might even say I like them a lot.
But the title track and the abysmally named "Hella Good" (more aptly titled "The Death Of Songwriting"), to pick on the easiest targets in terms of airplay, are musical crimes. The lot of it is mindless, repetitive, and unforgiveably bland garbage, which will be dumped soon enough in favor of the next easily consumable and nicely packaged mass entertainment (I would not dare call it music or art).
While some may be tempted to get up and dance by "Rock Steady," I am tempted to lie down and cry.

P.S. No Doubt's new single "It's My Life" is surprisingly good (I still like this band, I cannot help it), and will hopefully foreshadow a departure far, far away from the dark, gaping hole that is "Rock Steady."

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