After a long break, the band had prepared a more mellow, and powerfully dramatic album entitled Return Of Saturn. It emphasized Gwen’s encounters with men, her biological clock, and miscellaneous topics. Although the album had a completely different approach to it, the band was making rock music with less of a punk/ska flare. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts in early April of 2000, and then declined to a flop. The public never did justice to the album, and it serves as a favorite for many die-hard fans. While touring in Jamaica for Return of Saturn, the band wanted to try adding reggae to their music, and making more of a dance rock record. 20 months after Return of Saturn debuted, the band was quick to jump on the creation of Rock Steady, relased in December of ‘01. The singles Underneath It All and Hey Baby became international dance club symbols as top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. This album proved that No Doubt had not lost their potential with the public, and that they could appeal to various groups of people. In 2004, No Doubt announced they would be going on hiatus after the release of the singles compilation The Singles 1992–2003, which contained one new song, a cover of experimental rock band Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life”. Tony Kanal did several projects with Gwen and other artists. Adrian Young married and had a child; Tom Dumont formed a new band, Invincible Overlord, often plays with Matt Costa’s band. Gwen embarked on a sucessful solo career which consisted of two albums - “Love. Angel. Music. Baby.” and “The Sweet Escape”. The first of these albums contains the single “Hollaback Girl”, a song which was inescapable for most of 2005 and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won her a Billboard Award for first track to reach 1 Million legal downloads ever. The self titled track off “The Sweet Escape” went on to become her most notorious calling card. With the hiatus officially over in late 2008, No Doubt have announced tour plans for 2009, kicking it off on May 2nd in Atlantic City and will wrap it up with four dates in Irvine, CA, on July 31 and August 1, 2, & 4. They will be taking a studio on the road with them to continue recording music for their next album and will be looking to the fans coming out to the tour for inspiration. The album is expected in late 2009/early 2010. They will be featured as fictional 80’s band “Snowed Out” on Gossip Girl on May 11th performing their cover of Adam and the Ants ‘Stand and Deliver.’ Fans who purchase top tier tickets for the upcoming tour will receive a code for a digital download including this recording and all of No Doubt’s studio albums - Self-Titled, The Beacon Street Collection, Tragic Kingdom, Return of Saturn, Rock Steady, The Singles 1992-2003, and Everything in Time. |
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