Taking Sides: Gin Blossoms vs. Toad The Wet Sprocket

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Chronic Town vs. Out Of Time
Westerberg vs. Stipe
"Alison Road," "Mrs. Rita," "Hey Jealousy" vs. "Something's Always Wrong," "Fall Down," "Walk On The Ocean"
Burning Out vs. Fading Away

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I am shocked, shocked, that this has not been done yet.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

And the correct answer is, of course, Gin Blossoms.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Yup.

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Out of Time, Stipe, fading away

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

No, the correct answer is, of course, blowing one's brains out and splattering one's cerebellum all over the carpet for the sheer audacious idiocy of comparing the Gin Blossoms to the Replacements.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Good Dr. Bill to thread.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

They were both John the Baptists to the Dave Matthews Band's leper messiah.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

gin blossoms has dominion over all living things

― jackie onadsauce, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Crucify me if you will, but I found the dude from the Gin Blossoms to have a pleasant, unpretentious voice. Never minded those songs when they came on the radio at work.

Toad The Wet Sprocket have always sucked swamp ass

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Gin Blossoms by a country mile. In my book, New Miserable Experience ranks among the best albums of the 90s.

― Randy Reiss (undeadsinatra), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

New Miserable Experience ranks among the best albums of the 90s.

You, sir, have taken leave of your senses.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

hey jelousy was at least one of the better singles of that year, then.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

It's the musical equivalent of plain yogurt. If that floats your boat, then bon voyage, Captain Bland!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Jesse Valenzuela of the Gin Blossoms has very recently put a very, very fine album with Craig Northey of the Odds. It's sweet pop music in the Nick Lowe or Dan Penn tradition. I don't know if it's available outside Canada, but it's really, really nice. It's called Northey/Valenzuela.

― Huk-L, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.craignorthey.com/disco/

― Huk-L, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:32 (twenty-one years ago)

GIN BLOSSOMS BY A LIGHT YEAR

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

they were closer to Westerberg, closer to lite alt redemption

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

No, the correct answer is, of course, blowing one's brains out and splattering one's cerebellum all over the carpet for the sheer audacious idiocy of comparing the Gin Blossoms to the Replacements.
-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), May 26th, 2005.

Heh. Per Miccio above, it's a relative measure. The Blossoms clearly liked and listened to Let It Be more than Toad did.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Toad's "All I Want" was nice, I guess. At the time it was either this or The Heights "How Do You Talk To An Angel" on the radio.

Gin Blossoms, fer sure. The other "Miserable Experience" singles were no pox on "Hey Jealousy."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Good one.

It's close. For me Toad had slightly artier ambitions, and fewer rock-solid catchy songs. I would have said TTWS five years ago, but I'll say GBs now (much as I'm leery of the bandwagon).

Next up: Barenaked Ladies v. Counting Crows? Or Goo Goo Dolls vs. Blues Traveler?

― The Mad Puffin, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

And that dork lead singer of Toad used to perform barefoot!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Both bands made firm, rock-solid arguments for throwing one's radio in the toilet.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hey Jealousy" is closer to Let It Be than anything on Don't Tell A Soul

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

haha or at closer to Tim

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

at least, I mean

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

No, either way.

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

"Til I Hear It From You" was co-written by Marshall Crenshaw. I want to get that hits comp eventually.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

When everone found out that Marshall Crenshaw cowrote "Til I Hear It From You," I was almost chased out of school for suggesting that the Gin Blossoms had by that point written more songs I'd want to hear again.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Best. Thread. Ever. In third grade, I made a list of my favorite things; Gin Blossoms was #2 and I'm gona stand by it. (#1 was Tetris)

― 088b, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

oh Crenshaw had at least four

(x-post)

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Who did "Until I Fall Away"? A nice one.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Gin Blossoms. Yeah, its pretty.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and burning out >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> fading away.

― The Mad Puffin, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

New Miserable Experiences one of the best discs of the '90s? huh?

― Jockey, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

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

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

The original Gin Blossoms songwriter had something, no doubt about it. He wrote these terse jangle-pop songs that weren't goopy; there was a hint of desperation about them too.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Goo Goo Dolls were "Don't Tell A Soul"-era Mats, with no "Gary's Got A Boner."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

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

LOUCHE NINETIES WUSSROCK S/D

― The Mad Puffin, Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

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

Soul Asylum don't belong in there. True, they started to suck in the same way those other bands did, but once upon a time, they were a Twin-Tone band who actually rocked (something those other bands -- Goo Goo Dolls included -- could never do).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

actually the Goo Goo Dolls were once a Metal Blade act that rocked

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost: Alex, what you're saying about Soul Asylum could very well apply to the Goo Goo Dolls as well. Not sure if you're familiar with their Metal Blade records or not.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Bob Mould produced an early Soul Asylum album!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Goo Goo Dolls > Soul Asylum > Gin Blossoms > Toad The Wet Sprocket
If you factor in Soul Asylum before they became famous, it would be...
Soul Asylum >>>~x1000~>>> Gin Blossoms > Goo Goo Dolls >>>> Toad The Wet Sprocket.
Never cared for the Goo Goo Dolls. Not sure why.

― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Gin Blossoms. They may not be the hippest band around, but the debut had a ton of great songs and has aged really well.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Thursday, 26 May 2005 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Friends of mine went to see a bill described as "Gin Blossoms, Chevelle and Guster."

They had dinner, arrived in the middle of Chevelle's set, figured that the Gin Blossoms would go on last.

Gin Blossoms had actually gone on first. Like at 5:00 PM.

That is what they've been reduced to: opening for Guster.

― The Mad Puffin, Thursday, 26 May 2005 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

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

I love you, gygax.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 May 2005 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost: Alex, what you're saying about Soul Asylum could very well apply to the Goo Goo Dolls as well. Not sure if you're familiar with their Metal Blade records or not.

Yeah, I am. I had the album whereupon they covered both "A Million Miles Away" by the Plimsouls (an amazing song they managed to make shitty) and some Prince tune.

They sucked then. They suck now. They will suck for all time.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

i can't believe this many people are pulling for the gin blossoms. toad all the way. must this really require clarification?

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 26 May 2005 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Apparently it must. Please share.

As The Mad Puffin said, Toad were rated the more serious act at the time (paceAlex in NYC - this is, again, relative), produced their share of inescapable radio hits and had the more durable career. So someone somewhere must be willing to make the case.

Sprocketheads to thread?

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 21 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

dude, "fear was so solid. it had great songs but equalled an evenly paced album as a whole, with "before you were born," "is it for me" and "all i want" (which, i think, was a gorgeous pop song). dulcinea had songs like "fly from heaven" and some nice art. coil sucked, but still had more depth than G.B. congrats... i'm sorry poo-box.

STEP, YO.
(went to the ttws reunion tour)
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v

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Friday, 27 May 2005 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, that Mutual Admiration Society record is really, really good

― jedidiah (jedidiah), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

although the new Glen Phillips album isn't anything to get excited about

― jedidiah (jedidiah), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

damn it, I was hoping this was a dave q thread

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahah, what a beautiful dream.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Toad wins for me -- they don't remind me of the Rembrandts as much as Gin Blossoms do.

TS: Toad the Wet Sprocket vs. Toadies

― Ian Riese-Moraine's Plateau Rouge! (Eastern Mantra), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, btw, I'll take Gin Blossoms if forced to choose. I still like "Found Out About You" just fine.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm irrationally prejudiced against the GB's, because I had to play 'Hey Jealousy' over and over in my band-of-sorts senior year of high school

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

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:18 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

I like random threads. Toad for me. I once wrote the lyrics to "Windmills" in a journal I was keeping for a summer class in college. I passed them off as my own and the teacher (who was pretty decent looking and probably 30 to my 19) loved it. We slept together the entire summer. She liked to fuck to Joy Division

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Monday, 11 July 2005 11:44 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to be contrary and argue for Toad the Wet Sprocket, in spite of the incredibly dorky name, just because I like "Walk on the Ocean," "Fall Down," and "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" more than "Hey Jealousy" and "Allison Road." I recognize this has more to do with my personal prefrerences -- I dig the mope -- than with actual musical merit.

― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Monday, 11 July 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

Goo Goo Dolls Worst of Bunch

― Aaron A., Monday, 11 July 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

Bump for 90s night...

― Passenger 57 (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 10 December 2008 05:13 (seventeen years ago)

found out about you is a tune

GBs for sure

― thereminimum chips (electricsound), Wednesday, 10 December 2008 05:26 (seventeen years ago)

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.

― Cunga, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 08:08 (seventeen years ago)

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

― insufferably annoying (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 17 December 2008 18:32 (seventeen years ago)

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

you've gotta be kidding me

― billstevejim, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 18:39 (seventeen years ago)

five years pass...

My loud neighbor played Hey Jealousy tonight. It ruled.

― Allen (etaeoe), Monday, 4 August 2014 05:52 (eleven years ago)

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, Monday, 4 August 2014 12:16 (eleven years ago)

Poliopolice OTM. Poor Doug Hopkins.

― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, Monday, 4 August 2014 18:16 (eleven years ago)

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.

― Poliopolice, Monday, 4 August 2014 21:26 (eleven years ago)

^^ good call imo

― resulting post (rogermexico.), Monday, 4 August 2014 23:21 (eleven years ago)

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.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 4 August 2014 23:27 (eleven years ago)

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

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 4 August 2014 23:29 (eleven years ago)

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

― resulting post (rogermexico.), Monday, 4 August 2014 23:30 (eleven years ago)

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".

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 4 August 2014 23:32 (eleven years ago)

Alison Road is a nice tune

― sinister porpoise (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 4 August 2014 23:36 (eleven years ago)

that's all I'm sayin'

― resulting post (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 00:29 (eleven years ago)

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.

― rip van wanko, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:06 (eleven years ago)

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

― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:10 (eleven years ago)

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

― Now you're messing with a (President Keyes), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:30 (eleven years ago)

no humor in gbv???????? ok....

― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:31 (eleven years ago)

jesus christ, the humor is at least half the point of the early 90s gbv stuff that is so well loved!

― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:32 (eleven years ago)

oh god. GB. nevermind, SB away

― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:33 (eleven years ago)

gb > gbv

― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:43 (eleven years ago)

otm

― iatee, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:45 (eleven years ago)

like i said, SB away

― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:51 (eleven years ago)

sorry, i'm still experiencing hallucinations after having read accounts of people listening to toad the wet sprocket songs OTHER THAN the one that sounds like "lucky man".

― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:58 (eleven years ago)

toad the wet sprocket were from my hometown so I may have a skewed perspective but they had like 4-5 radio songs

― iatee, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:15 (eleven years ago)

dishwalla also from my hometown, historians will look back at this as some cultural renaissance

― iatee, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:16 (eleven years ago)

yeah they had several big hits though looking over a list i could only remember two of them - 'walk on the ocean' (which i guess is the one that sounds like 'lucky man') and 'all i want'.

― balls, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:18 (eleven years ago)

Heard "Fall Down" more than "Walk on the Ocean."

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:20 (eleven years ago)

Gin Blossoms wrote good pop hooks... I only wonder why Geir never expressed love for them.

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:28 (eleven years ago)

ten months pass...

Just heard "Alison Road" in the grocery store and I thought of this thread. The querulousness of the vocal - a little bit fuzzy, a little anxious - is of its times in a way that I cannot adequately describe but I know it when I see it.

And holy chimichangas it is almost ten years old. I have children who are younger than this thread.

Why oh why did I neglect Counting Crows in the group including Gin Blossoms, Toad TWS, Goo Goo Dolls?

The category "90s louche rock" is far far larger than these. Hootie, Marcy Playground, Smashmouth, Rembrandts.

If it's 1992 and your age begins with a 2, and more than 20% of your band is currently wearing a trenchcoat, and your lead singer hasn't shaved in approximately three days, you are Louche Rock.

A while ago I happened to be at a show given by a 90s tribute band (Bayside Tigers). Every song sounded like it could have been the theme to "Friends." And, in a way, they all were.

― Ye Mad Puffin, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:34 (eleven years ago)

the thing with the Gin Blossoms is that they were almost sorta cool at the beginning of their career and have unfairly been lumped in with the likes of Tonic and Marcy Playground

they were a bunch of alcoholic-lowlifes from Arizona singing the praises of Westerberg and writing jangly, perfectly good pop rock. the difference between them and Teenage Fanclub or something is that they were careerists who wanted to make money

any interview i've listened to with the lead singer he just gives off a really terrible vibe

― hackshaw, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:41 (eleven years ago)

including Counting Crows would have obfuscated things, somehow. They were something different.

― rip van wanko, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:41 (eleven years ago)

and of course they ripped that poor dude off who wrote all their hits. that's another way to make your career go downhill fast

i'd love to see an article that reaffirms their legitimacy

― hackshaw, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:44 (eleven years ago)

Maybe some CC is different. Maybe "Mr. Jones" is something different.

But "Round Here," "Omaha," "Cannonball," "Raining in Baltimore," elicit a particularly 90s anxiety, one that I also hear in "Sex and Candy," "Found Out About You," "Let Her Cry," "Iris," and "Alison Road."

There's a wobble in the vocal that I hear as a fuzzy wired fear - someone who's just barely holding his shit together.

I mostly hated this music at the time, but in retrospect I feel it was appropriate, because that's exactly how I felt.

― Ye Mad Puffin, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:54 (eleven years ago)

Dulcinea is a pretty good album, really won me over to Toad The Wet Sprocket after disliking their first couple hits.

― fetty wap, kombucha, where to trap queen (some dude), Monday, 8 June 2015 20:55 (eleven years ago)

smoking on stage = pretty louche

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNGWozPjihk

― hackshaw, Monday, 8 June 2015 21:12 (eleven years ago)

five months pass...

"Something's Always Wrong" at CVS this morning. Good song!

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 November 2015 13:17 (ten years ago)

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