Continuing our series (click to view all in the series), we’re ranking the music videos of artists or bands that were created during the height of the MTV music video era. Today we are checking out the Gin Blossoms — a band still going strong as of 2021, and touring to bring you that sweet ‘90s guitar sound. The Gin Blossoms led the way for other bands in the Tempe, Arizona music scene in the ‘90s with their almost country-like guitar progression that, at many times, favored plucking individual chord strings as opposed to the typical thrashing barre chord rock. The Gin Blossoms’ sound was definitely ‘90s and even to this day is instantly recognizable when you hear their tunes playing at your local retail store.
We could go on, but let’s get to what you came here for — our ranking of all of the Gin Blossoms music videos.
5. Follow You Down
Do you like stairs? No, do you LOVE, like really LOOOVE stairs? If the answer is yes, this video may be #1 for you as it has (spoiler alert) LOTS of stairs. The band playing on stairs, random shots of stairs, shots of people holding pictures of stairs, close ups of stairs, wide shots of stairs, different colored filters on shots of stairs, toilet paper and metal ring type stuff falling down stairs…. Gasp.. stai…r..s… I guess the moral behind this video is — the best way to “follow you down” is using the stairs, otherwise you won’t be able to follow whoever down as quickly? Stairs… the best invention to follow someone down that isn’t an elevator.
4. Til I Hear It From You
This song is the lead single from the soundtrack to the 1995 film Empire Records. The safe choice here would be to make a music video with clips of the movie interspersed with the band singing. But nope, instead we get a concept video and, as a result — we have many questions about this video’s intentions. The video has (seemingly) random people interspersed with the band scrolling by, all against a white background and everything else mostly in colors of black, white, and red. Who are these people interspersed with the band? Why do they scroll by? Why are people mostly smiling at first and then more somber later? Why do we mostly see people’s stomachs and not their faces? Is this an ad for an ulcer product? As the video goes on there are less smiles from the random people — maybe they are sad as they didn’t “hear it from you?” … or it could be pain from ulcers? It’s a coin toss.
3. Hey Jealousy
This video features dudes standing around in a house and near a bridge while playing and stuff. It’s a pretty typical “let’s shoot a music video while we sing and stare at the camera” video, but some of the shots are spiced up with photograph-type panels and effects that are supposed to bring up feelings of nostalgia. Despite the rather typical concept, this video might be a bit higher just because it’s the song that propelled the band to stardom, and there is something endearing about watching some young lads earnestly play music right as they hit it big. It’s nostalgic indeed, and maybe the rather basic photograph vibe at that time really hit the nail right on the head all these years later.
2. Found Out About You
Major epilepsy warning. Like no joke, don’t watch this video if you have epilepsy — I’m shocked the video doesn’t have a warning. As someone without epilepsy, it was still jarring to watch, and maybe this jarring-ness is what made it so memorable and hence so high on this list (aside from the fact this is one of the band’s best songs)? The video is mostly shots of the band playing in a dark void mixed with a diva-type girl in a fancy hotel. The typical “guy stares at camera while singing” is taken up a step here with some shadows thrown over the band and their faces, and in general — I think I have shell shock from the flashing in this video, so it will forever haunt me while it gets this spot.
1. Until I Fall Away
The band plays in a gym, interspersed with close ups of sand (with creepy hair-looking trees coming out of the sand?), and shots of an hourglass. The hourglass eventually explodes, and the world comes tumbling down — the gym around the band starts to deteriorate as the roof caves in. While it’s not as cool on film as it sounds as I type it, the song is so beautiful and really jives with the onscreen imagery, that it raises the video a bit above the typical “dudes playing with stuff happening around them.”
Which is your favorite music video from the Gin Blossoms? Let us know in the comments!
- Some of the biggest hits on the Gin Blossoms’ breakout album New Miserable Experience were written by Douglas Hopkins, who was sadly kicked out of the band for substance abuse issues around the release of New Miserable in 1992, and committed suicide a year later. Doug Hopkins penned songs including the hits “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You.”
- The line in “Hey Jealousy” — “you can trust me not to think” — was originally “you can trust me not to drink,” but lead singer Robin Wilson was so tired of dealing with the band’s drinking issues at the time (mainly principal songwriter Douglas Hopkin’s drinking problems) that Robin changed “drink” to “think.”
- The hit “Hey Jealousy” was originally on the Gin Blossoms’ 1989 debut album Dusted, but did not gain any traction. The band re-recorded the song for their 1992 hit follow-up New Miserable Experience, and after the band got a major push by their label in 1993 with a new music video for “Hey Jealousy” — the song shot to number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
- The band had been playing together in one form or another since 1987, but it wasn’t until 1993 that they finally hit it big.
- A “gin blossom” is a slang term for rhinophyma, which is a bumpy, bulbous, red/rosacea type skin condition on the nose — the condition is commonly linked as an effect of alcoholism.
- Some of the biggest hits on the Gin Blossoms’ breakout album New Miserable Experience were written by Douglas Hopkins, who was sadly kicked out of the band for substance abuse issues around the release of New Miserable in 1992, and committed suicide a year later. Doug Hopkins penned songs including the hits “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You.”
- The line in “Hey Jealousy” — “you can trust me not to think” — was originally “you can trust me not to drink,” but lead singer Robin Wilson was so tired of dealing with the band’s drinking issues at the time (mainly principal songwriter Douglas Hopkin’s drinking problems) that Robin changed “drink” to “think.”
- The hit “Hey Jealousy” was originally on the Gin Blossoms’ 1989 debut album Dusted, but did not gain any traction. The band re-recorded the song for their 1992 hit follow-up New Miserable Experience, and after the band got a major push by their label in 1993 with a new music video for “Hey Jealousy” — the song shot to number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
- The band had been playing together in one form or another since 1987, but it wasn’t until 1993 that they finally hit it big.
- A “gin blossom” is a slang term for rhinophyma, which is a bumpy, bulbous, red/rosacea type skin condition on the nose — the condition is commonly linked as an effect of alcoholism.
