Don't Speak

Updated on Jan 13, 2024

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Released April 15, 1996 Recorded 1994		Format 7" CD cassette Length 4:23
B-side "Hey You!" "Greener Pastures" Genre Alternative rock soft rock

"Don't Speak" is a song by the American rock band No Doubt. It was released in 1996 as the third single from the band's third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995). Vocalist Gwen Stefani wrote the song with her brother Eric Stefani about her bandmate and ex-boyfriend Tony Kanal shortly after he ended their seven-year relationship.

Despite the song's popularity, "Don't Speak" did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 (as rules of the times required commercial singles for charting and one was not issued for the song), but it did reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay for 16 weeks. The single also reached number one in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, being No Doubt's most successful international single. "Don't Speak" was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 1998 Grammy Awards.

The song was ranked at number 495 on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". The song is a playable track in the 2009 music video game Band Hero, and is also included as a downloadable song in 2008's Rock Band 2

The song has been sampled by multiple Hip-Hop artists, including in Rakim's song "Dedicated" and Ice Cube's "War & Peace".

Composition

The song was written by Eric Stefani and Gwen Stefani and produced by Matthew Wilder. "Don't Speak" went through several rewrites. A live version that exists from April 1994 shows off a bouncy tune that has the same skeleton as the released version, but not the same urgency. It is composed in the key of F minor. A demo version also appeared on a demo CD, which was presented to Interscope Records prior to the release of the Tragic Kingdom album. Part of the song was performed on VH1 Storytellers on August 10, 2000. The song was written via multiple rewrites about the ending of the relationship between bassist Kanal and lead vocal Gwen Stefani.

Chart performance

Upon release, the song immediately began to receive extensive airplay, and it became the most widely played song on American radio in 1996. Not surprisingly, the song reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay, and maintained that position for 16 non-consecutive weeks, a record at the time. Although the record would be broken in 1998 by the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" with 18 weeks at number one, the song remains in second place of songs with the most weeks at number one on the Hot 100 Airplay. For all its airplay though, the song was not allowed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 as no commercial single was released for it in the U.S. (a requirement for charting purposes at the time).

The song was also a hit on No Doubt's main radio format at the time, Modern Rock Tracks, where it climbed to number two for five consecutive weeks, almost hitting number one with one spot behind Stefani's future husband, Gavin Rossdale with his band Bush hitting number one for seven consecutive weeks on the chart with their hit single, "Swallowed" and "Don't Speak" stayed at number two for five consecutive weeks on the issue dated, November 30, 1996. The song also proved to be a crossover hit, reaching number one on the Adult Top 40 for 15 consecutive weeks as well as numbers six and nine on the Adult Contemporary and Rhythmic Top 40 charts, respectively. It was ultimately placed at number one on the Hot 100 Airplay year-end chart of 1997.

Internationally, the song was also very successful. In February 1997, it peaked at number one in both the United Kingdom and Ireland for three weeks. Elsewhere in Europe, "Don't Speak" reached the top position in Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, resulting in a peak position of number one on the European Hot 100 Singles for nine weeks. Australia was another major music market where the song received widespread airplay, debuting at number one and maintaining the peak position for eight weeks.

Music video

Before the music starts, at the beginning of the music video, there is a scene of Kanal picking a rotten orange from a tree (these scenes are usually cut out when VH1 airs this video). The majority of the music video for "Don't Speak" takes place on Stage 2 at Mack Sennett Studios in Silver Lake as the band plays. Other scenes tell the story of how the media mainly focused on Stefani while the band was always in the background. The second half of the video features snippets of live footage filmed during the band's performance with Dog Eat Dog and Goldfinger at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City on August 21, 1996. The video also features a short footage showing Tom Dumont playing together with Foo Fighters' guitarist Pat Smear. The video ends with Kanal replacing the orange in the tree, which is actually footage of Kanal in reverse pulling the orange off.

Tensions in the band had been running high, and they reportedly were on the verge of breaking up the day before they were scheduled to film the video. They decided to go ahead and film it as a form of "therapy".

The video won the award for Best Group Video and was nominated for Video of the Year at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards.

There is an alternate version of the video showing just the live performance part. Both versions of the video are included on the DVD The Videos 1992–2003.

Cover versions

Sinéad Quinn performed it on the UK BBC TV series Fame Academy in 2002.

Polish singer Anna Maria Jopek released a cover version in 2005 on her album Secret.

In 2012, it was covered by various members of the Glee cast for the episode "The Break Up" before subsequently being released as a single on iTunes.

On March 15, 2013, singer Fatin Shidqia performed "Don't Speak" on week 4 episode of X Factor Indonesia.

Leela James also covers "Don't Speak" on her album A Change Is Gonna Come.

In 2013, Jiordan Tolli performed the song on the fifth season of The X Factor Australia during week six. Her performance gained positive feedback from the judges.

Rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony sampled Gwen Stefani's vocals from the song on their song "U N Me (Together Alwayz)". Their song was recorded during the sessions of their 2007 album Strength & Loyalty but it did not make the album. It was later released on the compilation album, Uni5 the Prequel: The Untold Story as a digital album bonus track.

DJ Promo (1997), Hardcore version cover.

Christian Rock band Write This Down had recorded a rock version of this song as part of their 2012 album Lost Weekend.