In 1984, when Prince & The Revolution performed at the LA Forum on the Purple Rain tour, a 14 year-old kid named Tony Kanal was in the audience. This was the first concert that Kanal ever attended – and in the late ’90s, as bassist in No Doubt, he got to play and record with his hero.
No Doubt’s big breakthrough came in 1996 with the hit singles Don’t Speak and Just A Girl from their third album Tragic Kingdom.
On tour in 1997, they played a show in Prince’s hometown, after which he hosted them at his Paisley Park estate.
In a 2001 interview with Q magazine, Tony Kanal recalled: “Prince saw us play in Minneapolis in 1997. And afterwards he invited us back to Paisley Park studios to jam.”
He added with a shrug: “We couldn’t loosen up and he’s playing guitar and piano at the same time! You can’t compete with that.”
This was followed by two collaborations.
First, in 1999, No Doubt’s singer Gwen Stefani made a guest appearance on the track So Far, So Pleased from Prince’s album Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.
Then, in 2001, No Doubt’s album Rock Steady featured the song Waiting Room, co-written and co-produced by Prince, who also contributed keyboards and backing vocals.
This song was originally recorded for No Doubt’s 2000 album Return Of Saturn but was held over for Rock Steady.
Commenting on the song’s lyrics, Gwen Stefani told Q: “It’s wild to read my words about my boyfriend rewritten by Prince. He’s a genius! You don’t walk away going, he’s a normal guy – not Prince. Damn!”
The Rock Steady album restored No Doubt’s popularity after disappointing sales for Return Of Saturn.
Tony Kanal described Rock Steady as “a party record – with songs you can dance to in a club”. He also said that Stefani’s collaborations on Moby’s 2000 single South Side and Eve’s smash hit Let Me Blow Ya Mind had brought No Doubt to “a new audience”.
Prince was not the only big-name collaborator on Rock Steady.
Featured producers included Nellee Hooper (Massive Attack), William Orbit, reggae titans Sly & Robbie and The Cars’ singer Ric Ocasek.
In addition, the album’s opening track and second single, Hella Good, was co-written by Stefani and Kanal with The Neptunes duo Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams.
No Doubt’s drummer Adrian Young told Q that Hella Good was inspired by Michael Jackson’s Beat It and Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust.
“I would be lying if I said that it didn’t matter if Rock Steady was a hit record,” Young confessed. “We all hoped for that. But I didn’t feel any pressure. Our band has always been about making fun records.”
