"Trapped in a Box" is the debut single of American rock band

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, ...

. It was released on February 25, 1992, from their debut album ''

''. Despite failing to chart on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, it was included on their greatest hits album '' The Singles 1992–2003''.

Background

Within the booklet of ''The Singles 1992–2003'' is a blurb on each song. The short paragraph on "Trapped in a Box" states: The song is based on a poem that guitarist

Tom Dumont Thomas Martin Dumont (born January 11, 1968) is an American guitarist and producer. Dumont is a member of third wave ska band No Doubt, and during the band's hiatus, he began Invincible Overlord as a side project and produced Matt Costa's ''So ...

wrote about being addicted to television and how it can control one's way of thinking. 19.5degs described the song as "skiffling" and "the weakest track n ''The Singles 1992-2003''in the way of singing, but ithsmart lyrics". Music OMH, however, described the song as a "kooky, almost novelty single" and CD Universe described the song as a "rhythmic workout". Rhapsody, in a positive review, described it as "one of the album's highlights" and

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

called it "as exciting" as two of No Doubt's more successful singles, " Hella Good" and "

Just a Girl "Just a Girl" is a song by American band No Doubt for their third studio album, ''Tragic Kingdom'' (1995). Released as the record's lead single in the United States on September 21, 1995, it was written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont, and prod ...

Music video

After the disappointing sales of ''No Doubt'', Interscope did not wish to finance the release of a single from the record. However, the band financed the shooting of a video for the song "Trapped in a Box" out of their own pockets. Roughly $5,000 was spent on it. The video got local airplay in Orange County. It was also aired on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, but it was never aired on VH1, although it was played on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

in Canada. It failed to achieve status on any chart. In 2003 the song was released on No Doubt's

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

compilation album ''

The Singles 1992-2003 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and the video was released on the companion DVD of music videos, ''

The Videos 1992–2003 ''The Videos 1992–2003'' is a DVD featuring all of the music videos released by the American third wave ska band No Doubt, between 1992 and 2003. It was released first in 2003 as the second disc of the '' Boom Box'' box set, and was the compani ...

''. This is the only music video to feature original keyboardist

Eric Stefani Eric Matthew Stefani (born June 17, 1967) is an American musician, composer, writer and animator best known as the founder and former member of the ska punk band No Doubt. He is the older brother of former bandmate Gwen Stefani and is also a forme ...

, who left in 1994. The video was directed by Mike Zykoff.

Track listing

CD single # "Trapped in a Box" – 3:24

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 debut singles 1992 songs Interscope Records singles No Doubt songs Songs about television Songs written by Eric Stefani Songs written by Gwen Stefani Songs written by Tom Dumont Songs written by Tony Kanal