Taking Sides: Gin Blossoms vs. Toad The Wet Sprocket

But the Toad edge is rapidly lost as soon as you move away from the best song vs. best song rubric.

What it comes down to is this: the GBs have three or four songs that are almost as good as "Hey Jealousy," whereas TTWS has perhaps two or three songs that are almost as good as "Walk on the Ocean."

And the Toad songs I don't like, like "All I Want," are more annoying to me than the GB songs I don't like, which are merely background noise.

Wow. I had no idea, until this morning, that I felt this strongly about either of these bands.

Such a wrong phrase.

Not an accident.

woah, sorry this took me so long.

Anyway, yeah, it's no contest. Toad the Wet Sprocket were almost unquestionably the most poorly-named band in history (and the biggest potential slam dunk for critics ready to pan 'em), and that can't help influence my opinion on them. Still, they are clearly the inferior band--they had what, one great song? I mean yeah, I'd put "Walk on the Ocean" up against most of NME's album tracks, but aside from that this comparison is fucking ridiculous--in fact I'm a little surprised at you, Raj. The Blossoms never made a single nearly as flaccid as "All I Want" or "Fall Down". The better thread would be Gins vs. Goo Goos, Gins vs. Soul Asylum, hell, even Gins vs. Westerberg solo.

virtually the entire world of music > Gin Blossoms > Goo Goo Dolls > Toad the Wet Sprocket > Soul Asylum

This is just silliness.

Gin Blossoms wrote some great songs. That first ep prior to New Miserable Experience was Byrdsian and rather fetching.

And the Googs! I'm surprised there's so much hostility. Hold Me Up, Superstar Carwash and A Boy Named Goo all have kiler songs, in that 2nd rate Westerberg fashion. But by that point, there 2nd rate Westerberg was better than Westerberg himself.

After "Name" everything went to hell.

THIS DOESN'T MAKE MY POINT INVALID DAMMIT

I'll also stump for the earlier Goo Goo Dolls records. But Soul Asylum was once a pretty great rock band...ye olde tymers in Mpls tell me they were quite teh sight to behold live back in the day.

Toad's songwriting strengths were always far more evident in their album tracks than in their singles, although "Come Down" from the Coil album is still one of my favorite singles of '90s alt-rock radio.

---hahahahahahahaha!

STEP, YO.
(went to the ttws reunion tour)
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TS: Toad the Wet Sprocket vs. Toadies

you mean MARCHING BAND? 'cause that'd be AWESOME

Bump for 90s night...

found out about you is a tune

GBs for sure

Gin Blossoms resurfaces memories in my head of the type of music you'd hear in the mid-90s for a "Party of Five" promo (or any generic Fox drama that appealed to teens). Waiting for the Simpsons' to come on and seeing promos for Fox shows accounts for a sadly significant part of what I remember about mid-90s music and television.

yup Found Out About You is one of the prettiest Byrds rips ever.

Goo Goo Dolls > Soul Asylum > Gin Blossoms > Toad The Wet Sprocket

you've gotta be kidding me

My loud neighbor played Hey Jealousy tonight. It ruled.

gin blossoms are criminally overlooked. not kidding. maybe in a couple decades after everyone is able to jump over the mental hurdle of having lump them in with terrible shit like goo goo dolls and toad the wet sprocket, everyone will realize it. start with their first album, Dusted.

Poliopolice OTM. Poor Doug Hopkins.

i think in a lot of respects they channeled the spirit of Big Star way better than Teenage Fanclub or any of the other ersatz 'power-pop' rip-off artists who worshiped Big Star. There's actually a palpable sense of defeat, melancholy, loneliness, and failure embedded in most of GB's songs, which, mixed with jangle, is basically the Big Star template.

^^ good call imo

terrible shit like goo goo dolls and toad the wet sprocket

I prefer either one of these bands to Gin Blossoms. THE WEAKEST SHIT IN THE NINETIES.

Throw Matchbox 20 in that equation as well. STILL more listenable than Gin Blossoms.

so RONG (and I even like that one mb20 song)

Better Than Ezra is probably less enjoyable than Gin Blossoms, but then again...I like the way the singer makes a totally unnatural noise ("wanh hanh") in "Good".

Alison Road is a nice tune

that's all I'm sayin'

There's a lot of venom to go along with the "defeat, melancholy, loneliness, and failure" in Big Star's songs. Humor, too. Neither exist in GB's music.

the toad the wet sprocket song reminds me of ELP's "lucky man"

you don't hear venom in "Found Out About You"?