No Doubt aren't having much luck with Looking Hot. First, they blunder with an insensitive video which had to be pulled almost as soon as it was released.

Now, it turns out they only managed to sell 680 copies of the record in the UK, which even in these days isn't enough to scrape into the Top 200.

What if you returned from hiatus and nobody noticed?

Gordon Smart is a man in the know. He's on the beat, he's up to date. You can read all about the new No Doubt video on Bizarre this morning:

TALK about a fitting name for a song – NO DOUBT’s new single is called Looking Hot.

GWEN STEFANI is doing exactly that in the Wild West-themed video.

Nowhere, though, in a piece published on Sunday, does he find room to mention that the band pulled the video on Saturday.

No Doubt have, within the last 24 hours, unveiled a Western-themed video for Looking Hot, pulled it, and issued an apology:

“As a multi-racial band our foundation is built upon both diversity and consideration for other cultures. Our intention with our new video was never to offend, hurt or trivialize Native American people, their culture or their history.

Although we consulted with Native American friends and Native American studies experts at the University of California, we realize now that we have offended people. This is of great concern to us and we are removing the video immediately.

The music that inspired us when we started the band, and the community of friends, family, and fans that surrounds us was built upon respect, unity and inclusiveness. We sincerely apologize to the Native American community and anyone else offended by this video. Being hurtful to anyone is simply not who we are.”

Yes, they might have phrased it slightly differently, but the did slip "some of our friends are Native Americans into their apology.

To be fair to No Doubt, their defence is pretty solid - they've never been the sort of band you'd look at and think "well, the English Defence League would enjoy this" - which just makes the misstep even more bemusing.

Especially if they consulted Native American experts. Which academic in the field would have said "yeah, go ahead and make a pop video in which cowboys fight with 'Indians'. There won't be a problem with that'".

Courtney Love's much-tweeted threat of legal action against Activision seems to have fallen by the wayside, but Band Hero has still had a run-out in court.

No Doubt sued because they say that although they signed up to be in the game, nobody gave Activision the right to make Gwen sing in a bloke's voice, or the band dance "unnaturally".

Activision counter-sued that this was a breach of free speech (because the Founding Fathers really foresaw this question when they framed the constitution), calling for the lawsuit to be thrown out.

Billboard reports:

As usual in these sorts of disputes, the question becomes whether the speech -- in this case, the game -- amounted to a "transformative use" of the celebrity's image, in which case it falls under First Amendment protection. The California Appeals Court says that Activision's use of No Doubt isn't sufficiently transformative, finding that the images in the game were nothing "more than literal, fungible reproductions of their likenesses."

The case is now going to move to trial - but before No Doubt can level up, Activision have a right of appeal.

It doesn't feel like there's an Erin Brockovich style movie waiting to be made here, does it?

The much-ballyhooed legal intervention Courtney Love was promising over the Karaoke Kurt in Band Hero never showed up - presumably the paperwork got stolen by Ryan Adams or something - but Activision are now facing a more coherent threat: No Doubt are suing over the way they've been portrayed in the game:

Rock band No Doubt sued video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc over the use of their likeness on its new "Band Hero" product, accusing the company of turning the rockers into a virtual karaoke act.

No Doubt and Activision had a contract allowing the company to use the band members in the game, but Activision, which is based in Santa Monica, California, went beyond the agreement by allowing gamers to use avatars of the band performing songs from other rock groups, the lawsuit states.

Yes, No Doubt are not a virtual karaoke act. They're virtually a karaoke act, but that's not the same thing at all.

The long-awaited return of No Doubt (anything that stops Gwen Stefani from launching ranges of products) is nearly upon us. Sort-of.

They're doing a Gossip Girl cameo appearance. Sort-of:

"As you know, they're reuniting, they're going on tour, and they wanted to do a TV appearance and reached out to us on 'Gossip Girl,' " Schwartz said. "And then we came back and asked them, 'What about being an '80s band?' So they came on as 'Snow Doubt' and they did a cover of Adam & the Ants' 'Stand and Deliver.' It was amazing."

Why would No Doubt have been in the 1980s? And why would they be named after themselves mixed with a weak pun? Given that Gossip Girl is meant to be set in the real world, doesn't a band apparently having traveled back in time undermine its credibility somewhat?

No Doubt's Adrian Young has been talking to MTV News with the surprising announcement:

No Doubt Drummer Says New LP Won't Be Ready This Year

Really? With fourteen whole days to go? Surely you're kidding?

Actually, it turns out he means next year, which is slightly more noteworthy.

Young also speculates on how the world has changed since the last time he was on a record people were going to buy:

During No Doubt's hiatus, there have been many changes in the music industry, some brought about by the Internet. Young feels it's an interesting time for the band to release an album.

"On one level, it's scary to watch successful bands put out records and maybe they were less of a success than their past records, but it's also pretty awesome to watch any band put out a CD with all the different Internet accessibility," he said. "It's a little daunting to put out a record for a successful group. I don't know what's going to happen. We're going to see."

Why, yes, what could possibly be more awesome than, uh, all that different accessibility? I mean, seriously: you can get it on your phone and everything. Literally mind-blowing.

We all know what Gwen Stefani has been up to since slipping the confines of No Doubt and being able to get through an album without a couple of cod ska numbers. But what about the rest of the band?

Well, they, too, know what Gwen Stefani has been up to. After all, they've not really been so busy they haven't been able to keep an eye on her. Now, though, they've got the call they've been waiting for:

The Los Angeles pop group made the announcement via an instant message transcript posted on its official Web site (http://www.nodoubt.com), but did not provide specific details.

"I have cabin fever. Maybe we should play some shows or something," guitarist Tom Dumont wrote. Vocalist Gwen Stefani answered, "I think we should go out now. I don't think we should wait. Pack up the babies and get a bunch of nannies. So fun! Would be so inspiring to get out there and play all those songs again."

The group then discusses how continuing to write new music on the road would be inspiring, and vows to alert management to its plans.

It's perhaps appropriate that a band whose career has been so built on pastiche would comeback through a faux IM transcript.

Stefani's perfume business is not expected to be affected.

Why you should never regift: Gwen Stefani apparently loves Suggs, and sent him a pair of tickets for her London show last year:

Trouble is, he wasn't: he'd just passed the tickets on to his daughters. He was probably off making fish finger adverts or something.

Over the weekend, theotheronesfromnodoubt joined Gwen Steffani on stage for one of their songs, and to remake their remake of Talk Talk. It's up on YouTube; it was the first time they'd been together since 2004.

While normally we think that an iPod is the finest thing in the world, we're not sure about celebrity-autographed limited edition iPods. An extra fifty bucks just to have No Doubt's logo engraved on it? (and since engraving of anything costs USD20, that's thirty bucks for the logo.) Hint: buy an iPod, buy some stickers. Job done.