Gin Blossoms

About Gin Blossoms

The Gin Blossoms emerged from Tempe, Arizona in 1987, which made them something of an anomaly in the early 90s alternative rock landscape. While everyone was looking to Seattle, these guys were perfecting power pop in the desert, writing songs about heartbreak and drinking that sounded like Tom Petty fronting the Byrds.

The band's original lineup coalesced around guitarist Jesse Valenzuela and vocalist Robin Wilson, with Doug Hopkins as the other guitarist and main songwriter. Hopkins wrote most of their best-known material, which would become both a blessing and a tragedy. Their 1989 indie debut "Dusted" went mostly unnoticed outside the Southwest, but it caught enough attention to land them a major label deal with A&M.

By the time they recorded "New Miserable Experience" in 1992, the band was already falling apart internally. Hopkins, whose alcoholism had become unmanageable, was fired during the recording sessions. The cruel irony is that he'd written "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You," the two songs that would make the album a massive commercial success. Both tracks hit the top ten, and the album eventually went quadruple platinum, but Hopkins never got to experience any of it. He died by suicide in December 1993, just as the band was hitting their peak.

"New Miserable Experience" is one of those albums that defined 90s radio without really fitting into grunge or any obvious category. The songs were too well-crafted and melodic, full of jangly guitars and hooks that wormed into your brain. "Allison Road" and "Until I Fall Away" were equally strong, making it clear this wasn't a fluke.

The follow-up "Congratulations I'm Sorry" came out in 1996 and did respectably well. "Follow You Down" and "As Long as It Matters" got solid airplay, and the album went platinum, but that moment when power pop could dominate mainstream rock radio was already closing. The band sounded like themselves, which was the problem—tastes had shifted.

They released "Major Lodge Victory" in 1999 to diminishing returns, then went on hiatus. The 2000s saw them in that purgatory reserved for 90s alternative bands: state fairs, casinos, nostalgia tours. But unlike some of their peers, they never fully stopped. Wilson and Valenzuela kept the band going with various lineup changes, releasing "No Chocolate Cake" in 2010 and "Mixed Reality" in 2018.

These days they're still touring, playing festivals alongside other 90s survivors, and their songs still show up in movies and TV shows about that era. "Hey Jealousy" remains one of the most perfect distillations of 90s alternative rock—bittersweet, melodic, and more complicated than it initially sounds. Which pretty much describes the Gin Blossoms themselves.

Gin Blossoms shows are solid hits machines. Crowds are mixed ages, lots of people who grew up with MTV and people discovering them second-hand. Hey Jealousy gets the whole room singing. There's nostalgia but also genuine affection for the songs. They play tight, no drama.

Known for Hey Jealousy, Found Out About You, Till I Hear It from You, Follow You Down, Allison Road

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