Chords for Gin Blossoms: Tragic Death of Guitarist Doug Hopkins Who Wrote Hey Jealousy & Found Out About You

[A] Let's face it Tempe Arizona is not exactly a thriving rock and roll mecca.
It seems more
like one of those places that a budding rock band leaves then later reminisces about for
its [E] boring but lovable qualities.
That's what the LA Times [A] had to say about the Gin [E] Blossoms
during a 1993 profile they wrote about the group.
Gin Blossoms rose to prominence in the early [C#m] 90s
thanks to their second and third records which sold quite [A] well.
But it was a miracle that the
band even released their second and breakout album New Miserable Experience.
By the end of
the recording sessions the band would lose one of their key members guitarist Doug Hopkins whose
life would end tragically just as his old band was finding fame.
Today let's talk about the life and
death of the guitarist. _ _ _ _
_ Gin _ Blossoms were born and raised on REM, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick and
The [D] Replacements which [A] offered a stark contrast to the other popular bands of the early 90s
who were fed a healthy diet of punk rock, metal and bands like the Pixies.
Gin Blossoms married
joyful sounding melodies with young adult anxieties.
Hailing from Tempe Arizona Gin Blossoms
first formed thanks to a tower record store in the city where frontman Robin Wilson and bassist Bill
Lean both worked.
The band would form in 1987 and the first solid lineup consisted of Wilson, Lean,
guitarist Jesse Valenzuela and Doug Hopkins as well as drummer Phillip Rhodes.
The band soon
started playing around Tempe and developing a name for themselves.
[B] Soon enough they put out their
self-funded debut [A] record Dusted in 1989.
The band also started playing outside of Tempe heading to
Austin and playing at the South by Southwest showcase while also playing in clubs in Los
Angeles including Raji's, Club Lingerie and the Coconut Teaser.
They would eventually attract the
AM Records in 1990, the same label [E] Soundgarden was signed to.
[A] While the band should have been
celebrating, guitarist Doug Hopkins was not.
Having suffered from severe depression from a
young age he was against signing with a major label [E] feeling pressure to deliver and also feeling like
someone [A] else's property.
[E] His drinking would only escalate once the band signed a major recording
contract and according to Rolling [A] Stone he [C#m] frequently showed up intoxicated at gigs while
[A] band practices resulted in verbal screaming matches.
The band first convened in Los Angeles
in 1991 to record their major label debut but it was a complete disaster.
The band spent close to
$100,000 and had nothing to show for it and were almost dropped by their label.
Singer Robin Wilson
would tell Rolling Stone, we were a fragile mess.
We were all just treading water trying to make the
record.
We knew this was our last chance.
It was an intense experience on every level.
During a
separate interview with Billboard magazine Wilson credited the band's [D] label with [A] helping turn things
around, letting the band release an EP instead and touring a bit revealing they gave us a chance to
succeed or fail to learn about the studio and toughen up.
The band in the meantime recorded
the EP Up and Crumbling which came out in 1991.
As the band attempted to take a second stab at
their first LP for A&M they chose a different producer and location recording New Miserable
Experience in Memphis.
That's not to say the experience was perfect because it was anything but.
The band soon started running into problems with Hopkins with Wilson telling the LA Times in 1996,
it's just a sad thing when you've [B] got somebody you love and you're just watching them destroy
themselves before your eyes.
There's nothing [A] you can do to stop it and it's all happening while
you're making the most important record you've ever made in your life he'd say.
Wilson would
remember one incident that showed how checked out Doug was saying, I came into the studio and Doug
was in there with John and I heard John say, well, someone is going to have to do these solos.
Doug said, I guess I'd rather Jesse do my solos.
I was just floored.
I could not believe that that
was something that Doug was considering.
He was giving up.
I left the room and almost threw up,
he'd remember.
But there was one [E] solo Hopkins did play on and that was one of the songs he wrote
[A] himself which was the [C#m] huge hit Hey Jealousy.
[E] Despite the fact that the band had not even hit
it big yet, they would fire Hopkins immediately following the recording of New Miserable Experience.
[A] His bandmates viewed him as too much of a liability.
While Hopkins wrote or co-wrote
half of the songs on New Miserable Experience, he didn't record a lot of his guitar parts on the
album because according to his bandmates, he would usually show up to the studio under the influence
and couldn't even stand properly.
According to a 1994 Rolling Stone piece, he would and I quote,
be doused in aftershave and mouthwash to cover the signs of his multi-day drinking binge.
Hopkins was
put on a plane to Arizona following his firing.
After Hopkins departure, the group shrunk to a
quartet temporarily with Robin Wilson doing vocals and rhythm guitar.
But after a few rehearsals,
the band decided they should get a fifth member and they soon enlisted Scotty Johnson,
who the members knew from a band who was also from Tempe.
To make matters worse, according to
Rolling Stone, the band withheld $15,000 of Hopkins royalties until he signed away half of
his publishing.
The guitarist reluctantly agreed since he needed the money and half of the
publishing he signed away would be transferred to his replacement.
New Miserable Experience would
be released in August of 1992 and it wasn't a big success initially.
The band toured extensively
behind the album going on the road [B] alongside Toad the Wet Sprocket and the album within its first
year of release sold [A] about 80,000 copies.
Then things would change as Wilson would tell the LA
Then the label and our manager got together and decided it was a much better record than that and
they came up with a strategy to relaunch the record with a new cover and new video.
It was
basically just a matter of the label deciding that they wanted to make it a hit.
Ok we're really
gonna do it this time.
And surprisingly Hey Jealousy wasn't a big hit when the single was
released and the label had to relaunch the single three times to get any traction.
Wilson would tell
Rolling Stone, One day we got a call from our label that they were going to try Jealousy again
and make [E] another video for it.
The budget for the first was 5 grand, the [C#m] second was 10 grand,
and the third was 40 [E] grand.
That's when I was like holy shit they're serious.
At that point we'd been
in the van for [A] 6 months just a blur of [E] college cafeterias, interviews, and [A] opening for whoever
we can he'd remember.
Then MTV did its magic and the song exploded.
At the end of the day Gin
Blossoms would sell 4 million copies of New Miserable Experience and produce two massive
hits with Hey Jealousy and Found Out About You, both of which would be top 40 hits.
The timing
seemed perfect because by the summer of 1993 music fans were inundated with an onslaught of
alternative rock artists and their label saw it as an opportunity telling the LA Times,
not all the young kids belong to that style of music or are represented by the angst of that
message.
There are other kids who see life a little bit simpler.
It's not kids who don't
see a future.
The Gin Blossoms are a little more uplifty and I think that strikes a chord with
By October of 1993 the album was a huge hit but Doug Hopkins felt betrayed.
He even attended a
Gin Blossoms gig and attacked Robin Wilson before being kicked out of the venue.
Following his
dismissal from the band Hopkins went back to Arizona and played in a new band called The
Camaras.
Once Hey Jealousy became a monster hit Hopkins received a gold record for the song,
but his former Camaras bandmate Laurence Zubia would recall to Rolling Stone,
It only stayed up for about two weeks.
When Doug destroyed [B] the gold record, it was the end.
That
was when the fear came to me.
Almost 10 [A] days later on December 4th, 1993 Hopkins would enter a Phoenix
hospital where he would do an initial consultation in an attempt to get sober.
Following the consultation
he left the hospital and he would head to a gun store to buy the very weapon that he would take
his life with the following day.
He would be [E] found in his apartment at the young age of [A] 32
and sadly when he was found he only had $500 in his pocket which was all the money he had to his
name.
The same month he died New Miserable Experience just moved into the top 25 on the
Billboard album charts.
[Am] Robin [E] Wilson would tell Forbes where he was when he heard the tragic [A] news
saying I don't [E] remember exactly when and where I was, but it was both [B] shocking [E] and also it wasn't
surprising.
Doug had been telling [A] people for months and months that he was [C#m] going to do this.
We knew there was a [A] chance.
Actually there were times back when he and I were friends that the
subject of it came up.
Doug always seemed to think he was going to die young, go out in a blaze of
glory.
And according to People magazine who published an article on the guitarist death,
they would write at his memorial service the blossoms were approached by a woman
bearing what she said was a message from Hopkins.
Did they remember when someone poured sugar into
the gas tank of their van back in 1992?
Well the woman said Hopkins had instructed her to tell them
that he was the culprit.
Hearing that at the funeral sort of made me feel good said Wilson.
Doug was always good at getting the last laugh that's for sure he'd say.
In 2006 it was rumored
that a biopic was going to be done for Hopkins life that potentially starred Ethan Hawke but
so far hasn't come to fruition.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching.
Be sure
to hit the like button and subscribe and if you guys have suggestions for future topics
use the google form in the description box below.
Take care.