The special week will be dropping 20 weeks later, during Week 420, a.k.a. Donny Most Week, a.k.a. Ralph Malph the Virgin Week. Preliminary plans for that week are that it will be a charity week. If you write a review for Donny Most by Donny Most (and you will, it's mandatory), I'm going to ask you to donate $3 as well. If your review is more than 420 words, then I'll match your donation. I'll also ask you to pick out an RC album that you haven't reviewed yet, and it'll be the same deal, $3 plus a match if it's more than 420 words. I'll collect all the money, and donate to Mighty Writers, a really cool Philly charity that is educating the next generation of album reviewers and music critics.
If I see you in person at any time over the next 22 weeks, you will receive a slip of paper with all these details. But until then, we can enjoy a bunch of other albums. Like this one today. Let us know what you think.
"SUNNY'S" PITCH: "Have you not enjoyed the experience of driving around this town? Would you not like to take a spin down Allison Road? I don't know about the second one because I don't think it's on this album. You found about me, as it were. Anyway, listen to it."
MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: Beyond the aforementioned Goo Goo Dolls review by Nate, we have a Yearlong Song Challenge pick from Sara, when she chose "Hey Jealousy" for Day 166. And then there's my own list of the Top 100 Songs of All Time, with "Hey Jealousy" sitting pretty at #99. (This becomes the sixth song on that list that is also a Record Club song, after "Boys in the Better Land" by Fontaines D.C. at #51, "Drunk II" by Mannequin Pussy at #38, "A Certain Romance" by Arctic Monkeys at #19, "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy at #9, and "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance at #4.)
We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. During Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. The goal for Week 420 of Record Club is that it will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people.
THIS WEEK: We are 22 weeks away from Week 420.
Record Club:
WEEK 398 — September 13-19, 2026
New Miserable Experience
by Gin Blossoms
LISTEN:
~~~~~~~~~~
PICKED BY SUNNY AND THE RC ALGORITHM
ALGORITHM EXPLANATION: According to the RC Algorithm, Gin Blossoms were mentioned in Nate's review for Goo Goo Dolls' A Boy Named Goo. If you scroll over to the second group of columns on the algorithm, you can see all the other bands that Nate name-dropped in that review: Afghan Whigs, Buckcherry, Cheap Trick, Crusades, Downtown Struts, the Replacements, Skrillex, Sponge. He also mentioned KISS, but I didn't put them on the algorithm because Gene Simmons is a sex abuser.
~~~~~~~~~~
ALBUM DETAILS
GENRE: Jangle pop, power pop, alternative rock, heartland rock
RELEASED: August 4, 1992
LENGTH: 46:02
TRACKLIST:
- Lost Horizons
- Hey Jealousy
- Mrs. Rita
- Until I Fall Away
- Hold Me Down
- Cajun Song
- Hands Are Tied
- Found Out About You
- Allison Road
- 29
- Pieces of the Night
- Cheatin'
LYRICS: Genius.com
~~~~~~~~~~
ARTIST DETAILS
NAME: no "the," just "Gin Blossoms"
PRONOUNS: the members of Gin Blossoms who have individual Wikipedia pages each prefer he/him/his
PRONOUNS: the members of Gin Blossoms who have individual Wikipedia pages each prefer he/him/his
ABOUT: Gin Blossoms formed in Tempe, Arizona in 1987. For a few years, they were the best bar band in Tempe, but being voted "Best Band in Tempe" led them to SXSW, which led to a record deal, which led to hype, which led to success with the album that we are covering today. The core lineup leading up to that critical and commercial peak was Robin Wilson (vocals), Jesse Valenzuela (rhythm guitar), Bill Leen (bass), Phil Leavitt (drums), and Doug Hopkins (lead guitar). Hopkins was an alcoholic depressive, and the stress that put on the band led Gin Blossoms to replace him with Scotty Johnson, after Hopkins recorded most of his parts on the album but before the album was released. Hopkins also wrote the band's two biggest hits ("Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You"), which means he watched from the sidelines as his old band got famous on his songs (plus "Allison Road," true, which was written by Wilson). Tragically, Doug Hopkins took his own life in December 1993. Gin Blossoms released one more album, then broke up in 1997, then got back together in 2001, and have stayed together ever since, releasing a few more albums and hitting the '90s alt-rock legacy circuit. They are, as we speak, touring the country with Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors.
DISCOGRAPHY: Gin Blossoms have six albums, and this is the second one, but I'm told their first one (1989's Dusted) is not available on streaming. 1996's Congratulations I'm Sorry was commercially successful as well, I'd probably recognize the hit from that if I heard it. Their most recent is 2018's Mixed Reality.
~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL INFO
READING SOME SHIT: the story of Doug Hopkins, according to a 2018 blog post
WATCHING SOME SHIT: "Hey Jealousy" on Jon Stewart's show in 1993
RECORD CLUB CONNECTIONS: We already mentioned Goo Goo Dolls, and they are probably the closest peers that Gin Blossoms have in Record Club. You can add Fastball and Sugar Ray in there, if we're talking about '90s alt-rock-pop bands.
Kelly Clarkson covered "Found Out About You" on her talk show (R.I.P.). Gin Blossoms covered Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" for SiriusXM. Gin Blossoms were part of a group singalong for "Handle with Care," originally by Traveling Wilburys, a band that featured Bob Dylan (not sure if Robin Wilson handled the Dylan part, but for the sake of this paragraph, let's assume that he did). There is documented proof that MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee have covered "Allison Road" together in concert, but I can't find a video.
Kelly Clarkson covered "Found Out About You" on her talk show (R.I.P.). Gin Blossoms covered Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" for SiriusXM. Gin Blossoms were part of a group singalong for "Handle with Care," originally by Traveling Wilburys, a band that featured Bob Dylan (not sure if Robin Wilson handled the Dylan part, but for the sake of this paragraph, let's assume that he did). There is documented proof that MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee have covered "Allison Road" together in concert, but I can't find a video.
The Phoenix Suns employed Gin Blossoms (much to Nuggets fans' dismay) to play halftime twelve years after they employed Shaquille O'Neal. Tempe, Arizona hosted a baseball-theme music festival in early 2024, and besides hometown heroes Gin Blossoms, it featured Hozier, Bully, the Beaches, Dave Matthews Band, and Noah Kahan.
Here's a comment from the Stereogum comment section in 2010, underneath a post about Band of Horses' Infinite Arms (featuring a cameo from Foals):
MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: Beyond the aforementioned Goo Goo Dolls review by Nate, we have a Yearlong Song Challenge pick from Sara, when she chose "Hey Jealousy" for Day 166. And then there's my own list of the Top 100 Songs of All Time, with "Hey Jealousy" sitting pretty at #99. (This becomes the sixth song on that list that is also a Record Club song, after "Boys in the Better Land" by Fontaines D.C. at #51, "Drunk II" by Mannequin Pussy at #38, "A Certain Romance" by Arctic Monkeys at #19, "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy at #9, and "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance at #4.)
~~~~~~~~~~
RECORD CLUB ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
This week's discography dive album: The Satellite Years by Hopesfall
This week's follow-up album: Kammerkonzert by Squarepusher, The World Is to Dig by They Might Be Giants, and Superbloom by Jessie Ware at the very least
This week's keeping up album (probably): Nothing this week, things are slowing down in 2026 with RC alumni, hopefully giving me a chance to catch up
Listen with us! Keep your favorite Record Club artists in the rotation!
~~~~~~~~~~
COUNTDOWN:
69 Weeks Until Week 420
 |
| providing a new miserable experience for happy days fans |
We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. During Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. The goal for Week 420 of Record Club is that it will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people.
THIS WEEK: We are 22 weeks away from Week 420.
~~~~~~~~~~
Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!
Have a great week!
5 comments:
Outside the initial pitch, which stands, too many people in my life have been seeing the Gin Blossoms play live for me not to want to be part of the bizarre conversation
Are the people in your life seeing Gin Blossoms on purpose, or are they more into Blues Traveler and/or Spin Doctors?
For the record, I think my personal ranking is
1. Blues Traveler
2. Gin Blossoms
3. Spin Doctors
but I love them all.
It's predominately a Blues Traveler led cohort, but there is always the rare Spin Doctors megafan
I mention pretty sweet bands, don't I?
You and Tom both had a lot of the "mention a bunch of relevant bands" reviews, which helped build up the RC Algorithm a lot, so thank you.
Post a Comment