Songfacts®:

• When Gwen Stefani says "trapped in a box," the box she is talking about television. The song is about how people get really wrapped up in TV, and are very much influenced by actors, actresses, commercials, etc. The video has a really great representation of what the song is about. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Katie - Savannah, GA
• "Trapped In A Box" was No Doubt's first single, released in 1992 six years after the band formed. The song got a promotional push from their label, Interscope, but couldn't find many takers for their California ska-pop sound. The No Doubt album sold about 30,000 copies, mostly due to airplay on the Los Angeles radio station KROQ.
  
  The group fared a lot better with their 1995 album Tragic Kingdom, which went on to sell over 10 million copies in America. About 300,000 more copies of the album were sold when fans looked into their back catalog.
• The video for this song was the first that the band had done, and it only cost them $5,000. MTV never played it, but MTV2 did.
• Gwen Stefani's brother, Eric, was still with the band at this time - he wrote the song along with Gwen, guitarist Tom Dumont, and bass player Tony Kanal. Eric left in 1994 to become an animator on The Simpsons.