Veteran 90’s pop-rockers No Doubt unleashed their first new single single “Settle Down.” The band has a new album coming out (their first since 2001’s ROCKSTEADY). If that shocks you (like it did me) it means that you are getting very, very old. I won’t pretend to be the world’s biggest fan of No Doubt, but I won’t deny that some of their music is pretty good. While no one can deny that TRAGIC KINGDOM is a seminal ’90s record, the band (in my opinion) devolved into what essentially became Gwen Stefani’s solo career (her actual solo career no doubt contributed to the “2001? What the hell?” moment I had upon looking up when No Doubt actually last put out an album).
Clocking in at over six minutes, “Settle Down” is bland and kinda boring as a lead-single from a band we haven’t heard from in over a decade. It’s got a funk, Caribbean-feel to it (which is interesting) but it’s a little too light. Me, I would have gone with a heavier-sounding song, that way we could tell the difference between this song and Stefani’s solo work. Because quite frankly, “Settle Down” sounds like it could be on either the last No Doubt record or the last Stefani solo-record.
Not that that’s a bad thing, per say…I just think a the band should have done something risker right out of the gate. Anyway, if “Settle Down” is any indication, we have a paint-by-numbers “we all want to get paid again” album waiting for us when PUSH AND SHOVE comes out in September. Am I totally off-base? Give the song a listen and tell me what you think?
Defending Axl Rose 
Only kind of sucks? It’s pretty horrible, but then again I love Ska and was expecting something different. The worst part is the video clip has all this Jamaican/Ska imagery in it, the horn section even shows up and they’re all “HEY I remember you, yeah from the 90s, remember Tragic Kingdom!” And then not a single horn is played!