No Doubt have a massive reunion tour this summer, but before they hit arenas full of pink-haired 17-year-olds, the group is appearing on Gossip Girl on May 11. Instead of playing one of their own songs, the band was asked to massacre Adam and the Ants' "Stand and Deliver." The original isn't exactly the greatest song ever, but No Doubt remove any reason to listen to the song; like the pounding drums, the shouting refrains, the pristine guitar solo near the middle, and the superfluous white bars across the lead singer's eyes. I'm not sure how this bodes for new No Doubt material (probably terribly), but this version is pretty rough.
Why did Gwen Stefani decided to squeal out of tune for most of the track? That's as good a question as why the band needed to reunite in the first place. [ Stereogum ]
They did a pretty good job with this one. It's what you'd expect from No Doubt. I'm just a little worried about the original material. Their albums have always have had a few iffy spots, with the exception of Return of Saturn, and I'm not sure how much longer Stefani can pretend she's not pushing 40 convincingly.