A Gwen Stefani Moment #5

This week is officially Gwen Stefani week here at Posh&Bex. I'm seeing her Sweet Escape concert on Friday and I shall spend the next five days celebrating that I finally get to see her perform live.

I've seen No Doubt in concert twice before, but this is different. This is MY IDOL on her own tour. I was in Australia during her last tour (damn, Australia, 7,488 miles away from everything!) and I've been bitching the last year about missing it. But finally, on Friday, I'll be heading down to Irvine to see her in concert, by myself. Naturally it's always more fun to go to concerts with somebody (there's a lot of down time in between acts where a whole lot of nothing is goes on) but at the time same time, my affinity for Gwen is best appreciated without the scrutiny of others.

Really? You like her THAT much?

Yes. Yes I do.

I bought Tragic Kingdom like everyone else who was alive in 1995. Along with Jagged Little Pill and Nevermind, everyone owned that album. The songs were fun and catchy, Gwen was attractive, the Tomboy Next Door, and their music videos were light and colorful. What's not to like?

This was during my initial songwriting and poetry writing phase, where I would read the song lyrics in every CD's liner notes and see what my favorite bands/musicians were actually talking about. I realized that songs like "Hey You" and "The Climb" were actually really well-written, with themes and opinions and more than two-syllable words! This was surprising and inspiring to me, since most songs I listened to at the time were less than subtle in their meanings. And I also discovered that Gwen wrote all the lyrics. The girl can write AND sing! I immediately loved her.

(Of course there is also the fact that the boy I was in love with at the time had a huge Gwen Stefani obsession, which effectively bearded his homosexuality I soon discovered at my 15th birthday party when I found him making out with another male invitee. But that's another life-damaging story for another post!)

Gwen, you and your music has been in my life for over a decade. Thank you.

And the countown begins! I'll start at Gwen's own beginnings, No Doubt's Trapped in a Box video.



Look how cute and innocent and unplatinum she is in the video! Not like she's an uncute, corrupt blonde ho-bag now, naturally, but she's so grundgy ska it's adorable. I wish flannel shirts would hurry up and come back into style. They were soft, easy to sinch with a scrunchie, and when worn around your waist, it could mask one's huge ass like an invisible cloak. Flannel was magic.