The band began writing the album with initial recording sessions in Los Angeles and San Francisco, then traveled to London and Jamaica to work with various performers, songwriters, and producers.

Lead vocalist Gwen Stefani wrote her lyrics quickly in comparison to previous records, and dealt with topics ranging from partying to ruminations on her relationship with Gavin Rossdale.

Every night on the tour to support their 2000 album Return of Saturn, No Doubt threw after-show parties where people danced to Jamaican dancehall music.

[1] Drawing inspiration from artists such as Bounty Killer, Cutty Ranks, and Mr. Vegas,[2] the band began work on the album in January 2001 by creating beats on Pro Tools at guitarist Tom Dumont's apartment.

[1] They worked with producer Philip Steir at Toast Studios in San Francisco during this time, where the beginnings of "Hey Baby" emerged.

[3] When writing lyrics for previous albums, Stefani typically read works by Sylvia Plath that would make her depressed "or find different words that inspire me.

[2] The next month, Stefani left Los Angeles for London to visit boyfriend Rossdale, and the band traveled with her to finish recording "Detective".

[5] The group would often have Red Stripe beers or rum and cokes with jerk food for breakfast;[1][2] on one occasion, Dumont passed out from heavy drinking while recording a track.

[11] Many of the album's sounds come from electronic keyboard effects, which bassist Tony Kanal called "Devo-y bleeps and Star Wars noises".

[12] Dumont created an effect similar to that of an echo chamber by placing a microphone inside a metal garbage can with the can's open end facing a drum kit.

[13] Richard B. Simon of MTV News asserted that the sound of Rock Steady was part of the decade nostalgia of the 1980s retro movement.

[2] William Orbit, best known for his work on Madonna's electronica-oriented 1998 album Ray of Light, incorporates trance music in the production of "Making Out".

[36] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield wrote it was "impressive to hear No Doubt summon the musical imagination to transcend the formula that used to imprison them".

[22] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly remarked that there was "something oddly flimsy" about No Doubt that prevented it from becoming a milestone in pop music, but that the band's "party-throwing skills improve with each new gathering.

Eden Miller of PopMatters, noting that Rock Steady maintains the introspection of Return of Saturn without the latter's "longing and wistfulness", stated that "it is to No Doubt's credit...that they manage to keep the album together with little more than their collective personalities.

"[15] Blender, however, called it "an intermittently engaging but overall shapeless collection...the product of happy-go-lucky musicians who once cavorted in bad track suits but now spend their days commuting between London, Jamaica and Los Angeles seeking the wisdom of expensive studio geeks.

[40] Kimberly Reyes of Time stated that Rock Steady was able to integrate ska, pop, New Wave, and dancehall "without sounding contrived or chaotic".

"[43] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine commenting that "[n]ot since Blondie [...] has a rock act so effortlessly, irreverently, and fashionably skidded across so many different genre boundaries at one time.

"[16] Lisa Oliver of LAUNCHcast said that "even with so many producers attempting to steer this bus along the superstar highway, they end up in a better-than-most parking lot".

[34][47] At the following year's ceremony, "Underneath It All" earned the band their second consecutive Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

[49] Rock Steady was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 11, 2002,[50] and by July 2012, it had sold 2,842,000 copies in the United States.

The magazine compared her use of a more restrained, throaty purr to Stefani's vocals and noted 0304's use of "jumpy bubblegum choruses and boop-boop-beeping keyboards" as descendants of No Doubt's production.