Chords for VH1 True Spin Gin Blossoms: Doug Hopkins

_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [D] _
_ [C] _ _ _ [A#] _ _ _ _
[C#m] _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [G#m] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [E] _ It's the sugar sweet [D] sound of a broken heart.
Hey, jealousy.
_ _ In [E] 1993, Hey, Jealousy [F#] brought the gin blossoms a nationwide [E] number one.
But few know the true spin, [G#] that this sunshine smash would drive a tortured rocker to a tragic [D] end.
I [A#] think he felt he had no way out.
[E] _
Hey, jealousy.
[D] _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ _
[E] In 1987, Arizona songwriter Doug Hopkins formed the Gin Blossoms, a group that quickly [B] developed
a reputation for big [D] pop hooks and copious cocktails.
We were all always drunk in our early days.
The name, the Gin Blossoms, really [G] fit what we were about.
It [D] got to an absurd cartoonish [F#] level where we [A] would be ordering, I'd say, 57 shots to the stage.
And we've [B] all decided to go next door and get a rip, raw and drunk after [E] the show, okay? _
But after five fruitless years of trying to get signed by a major label, the Blossoms
still weren't known beyond their hometown of Tempe, and Doug Hopkins had developed a
very serious [Em] drinking problem.
It's really hard to watch someone you care about so [E] much going so fast downhill, _ [Bm] _ especially
when he's your creative leader.
In late [Em] 1989, Doug's [Am] drinking cost him [Bm] the love of longtime [Em] girlfriend Kathy Swafford.
[E] But from that breakup emerged a perfect pop song, Hey, [Bm] Jealousy.
Doug had dated Kathy [G] for a number of years, and [Em] they had broken up.
And _ the song was inspired by his, at least [A] _ momentary, desire to get back with her and
longing for what he'd lost.
[E] _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ [E] _ Included in the [F#] pop love letter was a promise to [E] quit drinking.
But the band had grown tired of Doug's boozy lyrics and asked him to take it out.
There's the line in the song, You Can Trust Me Not To Think.
You [D] can trust me not [E] to think.
And originally the line was, You can trust me not to drink.
_ [D] But by [E] this stage, I was so sick of [F#] singing about drinking, [E] and so I asked him if I could
change the lyric from drink to think.
Hey, Jealousy got the ear of A&M Records, who promptly stuck the Blossoms in the studio
to work on their debut album.
But Doug [F#m] himself was absent or [E] drunk for most of the recording [A] sessions, and the band quickly
realized that saving their dreams meant [D#m] firing their friend. _
_ _ [B] _ Doug would arrive in the studio late in the day _ [G] [F#] and would often [G#]
be just too out of it
to be able to really work.
They wouldn't just watch him die.
They wouldn't just let himself destruct in front of their eyes and be [D#m] party to it.
_ _ _ _ [B] _
It was the hardest decision that any of us have [G#] ever made.
It still haunts us all to this day.
With replacement Scott Johnson on board, the Gin Blossoms [D#m] released their major label debut
in August of [B] 1992, and within [D#m] two months, Hey, Jealousy [F#] was the number one song in America.
[G#] It was one of the songs that stayed [D] on the charts and on the airways forever. _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ [F#] With their star [E]
ascending, the Blossoms took off for [D] a nonstop [E] tour of the world.
But it wasn't until they rolled [F#m] back into Arizona [E] that Robin Wilson realized [D] how Doug
Hopkins felt about [E] the platinum success of Hey, Jealousy.
I was in Long Longs, which is the bar we played a million times.
I come out of the bathroom and all of a sudden, [C] _ _ pow, right across my face, and he hits me
and he grabs me and he goes, you thieving son of a bitch.
And I came up and he was gone.
His friends dragged him out the door.
_ _ _ That night would be among the last Robin or anyone in the band would see Doug Hopkins alive.
On December 5th, 1993, _ Hopkins took his own life in his Phoenix apartment.
Now, the record is an absolute monster at this point, and here's Doug in Phoenix by [Gm] himself.
I think he felt he had no way out.
It was, you [G] know, the most difficult and [D] saddest and most [C] shocking thing I've ever had to go through.
I so [D] wish that it had never [C] happened.
_ _ Ten years later, Hey, Jealousy has outlived the tragedy of [B] Doug Hopkins' self-destruction.
[E] And so have the Gin Blossoms, who play the song every night for devout fans and the memory of a dear friend. _ _ _
[D] _ You [E] can't do a single show without thinking about Doug.
You can't certainly not sing [Em] _ Hey, Jealousy without thinking about him, without reliving the entire experience.
We all miss Doug so much.
He was a brilliant [A] songwriter.
He was a great guy.
_ _ _ [N] _ _ _