No Doubt/Gwen Stefani

It’s hard to believe now that Gwen Stefani’s a full-blown fashion icon/pop star, but No Doubt got their start as just another ska band, yet another SoCal sensation with a sun-baked horn section and second-hand Madness hooks. That didn’t last long though. While “Simple Kind of Life” and the record-setting “Don’t Speak” — it spent 16 weeks at #1 — dabbled in flamenco flourishes and minor-key melodies, Stefani’s solo career has been as unpredictable as her hair color, from the disco-and-doo-wop hooks of “The Sweet Escape” to the ragga breaks (delivered by Dr. Dre!) of “Rich Girl.” The singles and B-sides in our Next Steps are just as twisted.

Leave it to Gwen Stefani to make yodeling and The Sound of Music hipper than a herd of Harajuku Girls. “Wind It Up” isn’t the wildest song in her back catalog either. On the solo side of things, “What You Waiting For?” is a seize-the-day anthem bursting with electro-pop beats, and “Luxurious” features a familiar Isley Brothers sample (see also: the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa”) and the French guest vocals of her husband Gavin Rossdale. As for No Doubt itself, “Trapped in a Box” sounds like it was beamed from the wild, wild West, and “Running” keeps things simple with lean synth lines and a simple slice of elevator music.

When Courtney Love called Gwen Stefani a “cheerleader” in a Seventeen interview, the No Doubt singer didn’t run for the hills. She delivered the industry’s first platinum-coated digital single, “Hollaback Girl,” a biting blend of heated horns, battle-ready rhymes, and stomped bleacher breaks. Not that any of this was surprising. Whether she’s flying solo, teaming up with Moby (“South Side”), passing the mic to Eve (“Let Me Blow Ya Mind”), or topping the charts with No Doubt, Stefani’s been a serious Top 40 contender since the mid-’90s. Tragic Kingdom tapped right into the ska revival at the time, setting the stage for just how timely all of the band’s songs would be, including Return of Saturn’s new-wave nods and the effortless, genre-jumping pop of Rock Steady.