“Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms, Sunday, March 10, 2024 (Trigger Warning: Suicide)

As an assiduous student in music, Aaron Marsh of Copeland, attended Harrison School of the Arts, studying trombone and music theory. By the end of the mid-‘00s, Marsh had used Copeland as a vehicle of multi-instrumental compositions, even going so far to work with an orchestra reinterpreting some of their most beloved songs on 2022’s Revolving Doors. The band gave a one-night-only concert  with the orchestra at The Caverns, a concert hall in a cave with opening act Jenny Dee. Between Dee’s and Copeland’s set, the house music played ‘90s rock—Counting Crows and Gin Blossoms, as I recall—as Copeland and the orchestra set up. Marsh has talked about Gin Blossoms influencing his music, especially when Copeland was a more straightforward rock band, but to hear the connection on the night of Copeland’s full transformation into an art rock band reminded about how important early musical influences are on a band’s career. 

 YOU CAN TRUST ME NOT TO THINK. Being a few years younger than Aaron Marsh and the early millennials in Copeland, I was a little too young to remember Gin Blossoms in the height of their popularity. Along with Counting Crows, the two early ‘90s rock bands seemed to not be influenced by grunge or the waning New Wave sound. Instead, they sounded like what would become popular in the late ‘90s with groups like Tonic, Third Eye Blind, and Matchbox Twenty. Gin Blossoms formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. After releasing their debut album Dusted in 1989 on indie label San Jacinto Records, the band gained popularity and signed to A & M Records, releasing Up and Crumbling EP in 1991 and their second album, New Miserable Experience in 1992. The band recorded 7 of the 12 songs from Dusted, releasing three on Up and Crumbling and four, including today’s song “Hey Jealousy,” on New Miserable Experience. 

YOU CAN SEE I’M IN NO SHAPE TO DRIVE. Before Gin Blossoms released New Miserable Experience, their record label, A & M, forced the band to fire lead guitarist Doug Hopkins. Along with bassist Bill Leen, Hopkins founded the band after playing with Leen in another band while attending Arizona State University. Hopkins wrote “Hey Jealousy” about his ex-girlfriend. The song’s lyrics touch on the guitarist’s alcoholism, which would lead to his firing in 1992 when the band was in the studio recording Experience. Hopkins was both chronically depressed and was said to have drank so much that he couldn’t even stand up to perform in the studio. When A & M gave the band an ultimatum: fire Hopkins or be dropped from the label, the band sent their lead guitarist on a flight back home with enough aftershave and mouthwash to cover up his intense nightly drinking. According to a Rolling Stone article, Hopkins had claimed that signing to a major label made him feel like “property.” Hopkins formed another band in Tempe called Chimeras. Hopkins received a gold record for “Hey Jealousy,” hanging it up on his wall for two weeks and then destroying it. The song that he had penned about jealousy in a relationship he lost due to drinking was now a hit in a band that had moved on without him. Alcohol had destroyed his life. Sadly, the day after going in for a consultation for checking into a detox program, Doug Hopkins ended his life. Gin Blossoms eventually broke up in 1997 after releasing their hit 1996 follow-up Congratulations, I’m Sorry. The band reformed in 2001 and released three albums between 2006 and 2018. 

Read the lyrics on Genius.