Hella Good

"Hella Good" is a song by the American rock band No Doubt, taken from their fifth studio album Rock Steady (2001). The song is influenced by electro, rock, punk, and funk music. It received positive reviews from contemporary music critics, who made comparisons to the work of a diverse range of artists such as Afrika Bambaataa and Madonna.

"Hella Good" was released as the album's second single in April 2002 (see 2002 in music). It was successful, and Roger Sanchez's remix of the song topped the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play. At the 45th Grammy Awards, "Hella Good" was nominated for Best Dance Recording, and Sanchez's remix won for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical. A black-and-white music video was produced, featuring the band squatting in an abandoned ship.

Background and writing

No Doubt decided to work with hip hop production duo The Neptunes as a sort of "cultural collision". Lead singer Gwen Stefani wanted to write a high-spirited and celebratory song about the positive things in her life, so they wrote an optimistic club song. The word hella was a slang term used mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of California to mean "very". Having toured in the Bay Area, Stefani borrowed the term to describe her mood. Stefani wanted to use the word dance in a chorus, so she decided to end each line of "Hella Good"'s chorus with the phrase "keep on dancing". The song's funk sound is based on songs such as Queen's 1980 single "Another One Bites the Dust" and The Commodores' 1977 single "Brick House".