Ladies and gentlemen....the 1990s ILX SINGLES POLL RESULTS

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i voted for it, i think in my top 15

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:21 (nineteen years ago) link

WHAT AN AMAZING SONG! Fuck the haters!

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:23 (nineteen years ago) link

I was vaguely aware of "Hey Jealousy" growing up (heard it first on my bro's MTV Buzz Bin CD, I think) but it wasn't until I heard it for the first time in about a half-decade last year that I slowly began to realize what a fabulous song it was.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:23 (nineteen years ago) link

What's the best Gin Blossoms record to get??

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha, Alba!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:24 (nineteen years ago) link

New Miserable Experience is their most popular, and it's where you'll find that song.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:24 (nineteen years ago) link

If you like "Hey Jealousy", get said album (New Miserable Experience). Check "Found Out About You".

― Cheek0 (Cheek0), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:25 (nineteen years ago) link

the pleat-panted alba will soon be appearing in b-list indie films about early-'90s san francisco

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:26 (nineteen years ago) link

TELL ME MORE ABOUT THESE PLEATED PANTS

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:26 (nineteen years ago) link

"Found Out About You" is actually the better song!

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:27 (nineteen years ago) link

TEH NU ALBA

http://dickiesonsale.com/pleatedpants.jpg

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Seriously? The fucking Gin Blossoms?

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:28 (nineteen years ago) link

I voted for High Noon as well.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Before this gets out of hand I ought to clarify that I actually thought it was bad. Really, really bad. Sorry.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:30 (nineteen years ago) link

you don't like candy-ass replacements rips?

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:30 (nineteen years ago) link

*sigh of relief*

xpost

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:31 (nineteen years ago) link

i do.

x-post

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:31 (nineteen years ago) link

I was trying to think of something I liked about it, but all I could end up with was patronising conceits about driving a first car in suburban America.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:31 (nineteen years ago) link

B-b-but the candy-assness is what made them better than The Replacements! I only liked The Replacements when they were hopeless pussies! (see "Within Your Reach" for the best example)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:31 (nineteen years ago) link

i find it weird that "beau mot plage" beat "energy flash". the final list looks really good (from the tracks that i know on it anyway), the hip hop especially.

― tricky (disco stu), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:32 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't think it made them better, Dan, but it gave them a purpose. The Replacements couldn't work up the same dippy enthusiasm for lightweight stuff that the Gin Blossoms did, cuz they weren't as dippy. I should buy that hits comp: best of both albums plus "Til I Hear It From You."

why is it that I tend to love negative reviews of stuff I like more than positive ones?

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:34 (nineteen years ago) link

seriously, alba's line about an American's first car is terrific.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:34 (nineteen years ago) link

I should have developed it!

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:35 (nineteen years ago) link

I often think that a lot of music would have made sense to me if I'd grown up in the suburbs, or a small town, in America or otherwise. But then, as I said, I feel like I'm being a patronising twat and I shut myself up.

I do kind of envy that whole thing, though.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm guessing if Doug Hopkins (the suicide who wrote "Hey Jealousy") was also the singer, the song would have had more Westerbergian-ache. Instead Robin somethingorother sang it.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:36 (nineteen years ago) link

did anyone else vote for "give it to you"?

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:39 (nineteen years ago) link

I would have voted for "High Noon" - maybe I didn't see it on the nominations list or something.

Out of curiosity, how many votes did "Gloomy Sunday" get? "The Diamond Sea"?

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:41 (nineteen years ago) link

"Hey Jealousy" is nice but it's no "No Rain" or "Downtime".

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:43 (nineteen years ago) link

I would like to thank "Hey Jealousy" for not being "No Rain." I forget what "Downtime" is. Is that by the Tragically Hip? I ask because you are a canadian.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:45 (nineteen years ago) link

So, who voted for Kylie?

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Jesus Alba, you had me worried there!

― RickyT (RickyT), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Gear, how many votes did "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" get?

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, was two princes nominated? I didn't see it...

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:47 (nineteen years ago) link

oh man WHERE WAS NOVEMBER RAIN?!!?!?!?!?!?!!?!

NOVEMBER RAIN?!!?!?!?!!!!!

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:48 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't like the Gin Blossoms. The man wears capri pants. CAPRI PANTS. ON A MAN.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Some notes.

1. New Miserable Experience is their first and essentially only album. The main songwriter killed himself after being kicked out of the band (alcohol related issues, I believe) and though they still wrote some great songs ("Follow You Down," maybe "Day Job") afterwards it wasn't quite the same.

2. "Hey Jealousy" is by far the band's best, but "Follow You Down," "Til I Hear it From You," "Found Out About You" and "Lost Horizons" are all excellent as well.

3. The Replacements are a good comparison (especially "Within Your Reach"), and though I wouldn't go so far as to call the Gin Blossoms better (I might like HJ more than any individual Mats song but they're still the better band) I do think much of the urgency and sound is the same.

4. I don't see how the "Westerberg-ian ache" that Anthony talks about is at all absent from "Hey Jealousy." In fact, with the possible exception of "Unsatisfied," I think that Robin Wilson nails the Westerberg-ian ache better than Westerberg himself ever did. It's one of rock and roll's ultimate glory shots, and he sings it so passionately and so within an inch of myself, that I couldn't believe it was him and not Hopkins that was singing. That last part--"Hey Jealousy / 'coz she took my heart"--he just barely warbles it out, almost too emotionally overcome and embarrassed to say it out loud. His voice even cracks like Westerberg's.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:49 (nineteen years ago) link

(Jeff does raise a good point there.)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:50 (nineteen years ago) link

In fact, with the possible exception of "Unsatisfied," I think that Robin Wilson nails the Westerberg-ian ache better than Westerberg himself ever did.

NEIN!

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:53 (nineteen years ago) link

#852 (out of 350)

SPIN DOCTORS - "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong"

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:53 (nineteen years ago) link

This thread seems to also really be reflecting the initial prejudices everyone seems to have against the Gin Blossoms for being so associated with shitty adult contemporary of the 90s, when in fact the song belongs far more to an 80s alternative lineage (especially the big Minneapolis bands of the time, Replacements, Huskers, Soul Asylum, etc.) It's the same reason that nobody takes the Goo Goo Dolls seriously, even though they also wrote one of the best songs of the decade with "Name" (and a couple other lesser ones that are still pretty great). Being played on your top 40 stations instead of your local college radio stations isn't their fault and should not be held against them.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:53 (nineteen years ago) link

The Gin Blossoms are a very good argument to support the theory that the main reason I dislike The Replacements is because I was too young to appreciate them when I first heard them.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:55 (nineteen years ago) link

"Downtime" is by the Gandharvas, who are even more provincial than the Tragically Hip.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:55 (nineteen years ago) link

pls move gin blossoms discussion here: Give it up for the fucking Gin Blossoms

k? thnx. bye.

― john'n'chicago, Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:56 (nineteen years ago) link

What exactly makes this song so un-Westerbergian, Anthony?

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:56 (nineteen years ago) link

Whoops, I was totally confusing the two too. Johnny Rzeznik, the guy from the goo goo dolls wears capri pants. I don't know if the vocalist for the gin blossoms wears any pants at all.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 22:57 (nineteen years ago) link

The two groups really have a lot in common.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 23:00 (nineteen years ago) link

the song itself is Westerbergian (that was the first thing I said). I just think Robin Wilson doesn't have the same level of fear/frustration/desperation/smart-stupid second-guessage that Westerberg (and probably Hopkins) had in his delivery. This isn't a BAD thing, it makes the song more pop. I just don't hear the same intelligence and anxiety in Wilson's performances, though there's enough sympathy that it doesn't come off completely absurd (like, I dunno, Linda Rondstandt singing Elvis Costello's "Allison").

Basically Johnny and Robin have a little too much Jon Bon Jovi in them to be Paul Westerberg. This doesn't nullify their ability to make good stuff (Jon Bon wrote some good stuff), it just makes them different.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 23:02 (nineteen years ago) link

Robin wrote "Alison Road." Westerberg wrote "Answering Machine."

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 23:04 (nineteen years ago) link

"name" is better than any gin blossoms but maybe thats just cuz it was playing at the airport when i had to say goodbye to a certain someone for the last time ever back in 95 and omg it was just like an episode of friends waaaah waaaaaaaaaaaah

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 23:10 (nineteen years ago) link

I think maybe there's a bit of a difference in attitude between Wilson and Westerberg, but I think it's coming from the same place. Westerberg shouted his fear/frustration/desperation, he was young and pissed off and eternally unsatisfied, he was bruised but he was fighting. On "Hey Jealousy," Wilson sounds to me sort of like a man defeated, who wants to hang on to his last shred of hope, but is too world-weary and too honest with himself--he's drunk now so he's pouring out his heart and saying everything he's ever wanted to say but couldn't, but he knows that once he's sobered up it'll all be for nothing and he'll just seem old and pathetic. It's too little and too late and he sings it like he knows it. It's Westerberg all right, but five or so years later--All Shook Down instead of "Bastards of Young".

Needless to say, I don't see him on par with Jon Bon Jovi at all (nor do I see "Hey Jealousy" as being just a really good pop song).

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Wednesday, 10 November 2004 23:12 (nineteen years ago) link

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