“I was just learning to play – I started strumming the chords and ran upstairs and said, ‘Guys, I think I just wrote a song!’” Gwen Stefani on the only No Doubt song she's ever written on guitar
The Stefani-penned Simple Kind of Life proved to be the standout track of No Doubt's fourth album, Return of Saturn
Gwen Stefani emerged onto the scene – and into the public's consciousness – as the larger-than-life vocalist, founding member, and frontperson of No Doubt.
With charisma and on-stage presence in abundance, Stefani helped propel the band to dizzying heights at their peak, with their ska-punk, pop-rock, and alt-rock sensibilities carrying over, to some degree, into Stefani's pop solo career.
No Doubt's fourth album, 2000's Return of Saturn, stands as a testament to her songwriting capabilities, with the Stefani-penned Simple Kind of Life being the only single from that era to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, amidst a tumultuous period for the band.
“That song is a gift from God because I just received it,” Stefani recalled in a recent interview with The Guardian. “I was just learning to play guitar, started strumming the chords and ran upstairs and said: ‘Guys, I think I just wrote a song!’ It’s the only song I’ve ever written on my own or on guitar, but I love it.
“I can’t listen to the Return of Saturn album now because there’s too much PTSD and too much truth for me. I was revealing everything, yet at the time I couldn’t even see it, but I’m so happy that that song resonates with somebody.”
As the album's standout track, it helped secure Return of Saturn a nomination for Best Rock Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards, and contributed to its debut at number two on the US Billboard 200.
Stefani and No Doubt reunited for the first time since 2015 at this year’s Coachella festival, an outing that guitarist Tom Dumont described as absolutely nerve-wracking in his recent Guitar World interview.
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Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.
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