Gin Blossoms
The Tempe, Arizona band behind "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You," chiming guitar pop that Rolling Stone said married "world-weary lyrics with ebullient melodies." Both of those hits were written by guitarist Doug Hopkins, who had been pushed out of the band before either one made it big.
Gin Blossoms formed in Tempe, Arizona, in 1987 around lead guitarist and songwriter Doug Hopkins, bassist Bill Leen and singer Jesse Valenzuela. Robin Wilson joined on rhythm guitar, and in 1988 he and Valenzuela switched jobs, with Wilson taking over lead vocals. Drummer Phillip Rhodes was in by 1989. The name came from a photo in Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon captioned "W.C. Fields with gin blossoms," slang for the rosacea on Fields's face and nose. After an independent album, Dusted, in 1989, the band signed with A&M.
Recording their major-label debut in Memphis in early 1992, Hopkins was drinking heavily and sinking into depression. A&M removed him from the band and held back $15,000 it owed him until he signed over half his publishing royalties and his mechanical royalties. Scott Johnson took his place. New Miserable Experience came out later that year. Its breakout single was "Hey Jealousy," which Hopkins had written. In the summer of 1993 it became a hit, reaching No. 25 on the Hot 100 and No. 4 on Billboard's mainstream rock chart and eventually going gold. Hopkins died by suicide on December 5, 1993, at 32. A later single, "Found Out About You," also his, reached No. 1 on Billboard's modern rock chart, and the album eventually went 4× platinum. "Without Doug and his songwriting, we never could have signed a record deal," Wilson told People in 1994.
"Til I Hear It from You," from the 1995 Empire Records soundtrack, was a rock-radio hit that year, but it didn't reach the Hot 100 until January 1996, when it was paired as a double A-side with "Follow You Down" from the new album Congratulations I'm Sorry. That single reached No. 9. The album went platinum and earned a Grammy nomination for "As Long as It Matters." They were regulars on Late Show with David Letterman, where musical director Paul Shaffer was a fan and they once played Kiss's "Christine Sixteen" with Kiss. The band broke up in 1997, reunited in 2001, and has kept touring and recording since, including a 2019 tour with Collective Soul.
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Empire Records
One chaotic day at an indie record store, a crew of lovable misfits, and a washed-up '80s pop star named Rex Manning. It bombed in theaters — then home video made it a cult classic, and fans still celebrate Rex Manning Day every April 8. Damn the Man. Save the Empire.
Collective Soul
The Georgia band that went from a basement demo to "Shine," eight weeks at No. 1 on rock radio in 1994. Ed Roland sang its "yeah" into an empty toilet-paper tube, and the "heaven" in its chorus got them mistaken for a Christian band. "December," "The World I Know" and "Heavy" kept them on rock radio for the rest of the decade.
Counting Crows
Adam Duritz's dreadlocked, wordy, openly wounded alt-rock band — one of the definitive sounds of 90s radio. Their 1993 debut sold over seven million copies, and Duritz spent years dismantling the very song that made them famous, recanting "Mr. Jones" and its hunger for stardom after getting exactly what he wished for.
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Hootie & the Blowfish
The band everyone owned, played to death, and then pretended never to like. Hootie & the Blowfish's Cracked Rear View was the best-selling album of 1995 — eventually certified 22× platinum — before total saturation curdled into backlash.