New Miserable Experience | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | August 4, 1992 | |||
Recorded | February–March 1992 | |||
Studio | Ardent (Memphis, Tennessee) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 45:02 | |||
Label | A&M | |||
Producer | ||||
Gin Blossoms chronology | ||||
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Alternate cover | ||||
Singles from New Miserable Experience | ||||
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New Miserable Experience is the second studio album by alternative rock band Gin Blossoms,released on August 4,1992. The album was released to little fanfare and relatively lackluster reviews. However,nearly a year after its release the lead single "Hey Jealousy" entered the top 40. [1] With "Found Out About You" following a few months later,the album eventually reached multi-platinum status. [2]
The band's original lead guitarist,Doug Hopkins,was fired near the conclusion of the recording sessions for the album,ostensibly for his persistent alcohol problems. His replacement,Scott Johnson,is listed as a member of the band in the liner notes,but did not play on the album. Just as the album was becoming a success at the end of 1993,Hopkins died by suicide.
New Miserable Experience's initial release had completely different packaging. The album's original cover artwork depicted the Arizona desert. Several songs on the album were written with references to the area,people,and events surrounding the band at the time,such as "Mrs. Rita",which is a song about a local psychic from the Gin Blossoms' hometown of Tempe,Arizona. The majority of the songs rely on a melody-driven pop style,while the final track,"Cheatin'",leans into country.
The album was re-released in late summer 1993 with a new cover without the original Arizona desert photo. This re-release in conjunction with A&M's newfound support of the album. Lead singer Robin Wilson specifically requested artistic control over the new release,recalling,"I did insist that I have total control over the new cover. So what you see on New Miserable Experience,those are all my photographs. I did the layout,I handwrote all the lyrics and I made sure that I had control over that." [3]
The album's music has been described as alternative rock, [4] [5] jangle pop, [6] [2] and power pop. [7]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [8] |
Blender | [7] |
Chicago Tribune | [9] |
Los Angeles Times | [10] |
Pitchfork | 8.1/10 [11] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
The Village Voice | C+ [13] |
Rolling Stone critic Paul Evans praised New Miserable Experience,saying it "sounds both fresh and highly personal." [14] In his review for AllMusic,Rick Anderson called the album "a tight and lean collection of brilliant,edgy pop music". [8] Evan Rytlewski of Pitchfork described it as "a tender and sincere record that made the band famous while they grappled with tragedy." [11]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Lost Horizons" | Doug Hopkins | 3:20 |
2. | "Hey Jealousy" | Hopkins | 3:56 |
3. | "Mrs. Rita" | Jesse Valenzuela, Jim Swafford | 4:25 |
4. | "Until I Fall Away" | Robin Wilson, Valenzuela | 3:51 |
5. | "Hold Me Down" | Hopkins, Wilson | 4:50 |
6. | "Cajun Song" | Valenzuela | 2:56 |
7. | "Hands Are Tied" | Valenzuela | 3:17 |
8. | "Found Out About You" | Hopkins | 3:53 |
9. | "Allison Road" | Wilson | 3:18 |
10. | "29" | Valenzuela | 4:18 |
11. | "Pieces of the Night" | Hopkins | 4:33 |
12. | "Cheatin'" | Valenzuela, Hopkins | 3:25 |
Total length: | 45:02 |
To celebrate the album's tenth anniversary in 2002, a deluxe edition containing an extra disc of demos, outtakes and live performances was released by the label. [15] The Rarities Album was released separately in Abbreviated form in 2010 as Rarities , missing the three cuts from Dusted .
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Something Wrong" | Valenzuela | 2:40 |
2. | "Slave Dealer's Daughter" | Hopkins, Bill Leen | 2:32 |
3. | "Fireworks" | Hopkins | 3:05 |
4. | "Keli Richards" | Hopkins, Leen | 3:04 |
5. | "Just South of Nowhere" | Valenzuela | 3:26 |
6. | "Angels Tonight" | Hopkins | 3:33 |
7. | "Blue Eyes Bleeding" | Hopkins | 2:30 |
8. | "Soul Deep" | Wayne Carson Thompson | 3:05 |
9. | "Heart Away" | Wilson | 2:21 |
10. | "Cold River Dick" | Wilson, Valenzuela, Leen, Phillip Rhodes, Scott Johnson | 1:16 |
11. | "Christine Irene" | Wilson, Valenzuela | 2:42 |
12. | "Number One" | John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Neil Innes | 2:35 |
13. | "Idiot Summer" | Wilson | 4:13 |
14. | "Back of a Car" | Alex Chilton, Andy Hummel | 2:43 |
15. | "Allison Road '94" (Remix) | Wilson | 3:22 |
16. | "Hold Me Down" (Live) | Hopkins, Wilson | 4:55 |
17. | "Hey Jealousy" (Live) | Hopkins | 3:57 |
18. | "Mrs. Rita" (Live) | Swafford, Valenzuela | 4:20 |
19. | "29" (Live) | Valenzuela | 4:07 |
20. | "Movin' On Up" (Live) | Jeff Barry, Ja'net Dubois | 2:57 |
21. | "Folsom Prison Blues" (Live) | Johnny Cash | 3:08 |
22. | "Pieces of the Night" (with piano ending) | Hopkins | 4:20 |
Original 1992 release:
Chart (1992–1994) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [16] | 63 |
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [17] | 43 |
UK Albums (OCC) [18] | 53 |
US Billboard 200 [19] | 30 |
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [20] | 1 |
Chart (1994) | Position |
---|---|
US Billboard 200 [21] | 54 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [22] | Gold | 50,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [23] | 4× Platinum | 4,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Gin Blossoms is an American alternative rock band formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. They rose to prominence following the 1992 release of their first major label album, New Miserable Experience, and the first single released from that album, "Hey Jealousy". "Hey Jealousy" became a Top 25 hit and went gold, and New Miserable Experience eventually went quadruple platinum; four other charting singles were released from the album. The band's follow-up album, Congratulations I'm Sorry (1996), went platinum and the single "As Long as It Matters" was nominated for a Grammy Award. Gin Blossoms broke up in 1997. Since reuniting in 2001, the band has released Major Lodge Victory in 2006, No Chocolate Cake in 2010, and Mixed Reality in 2018.
Douglas Owen Hopkins was an American musician and songwriter. He co-founded Gin Blossoms, a popular modern rock band of the early 1990s, with Richard Taylor. He was the band's lead guitarist and a principal songwriter. Hopkins' writing credits included the hits "Hey Jealousy", "Found Out About You", "Hold Me Down" and "Lost Horizons".
Marshall Howard Crenshaw is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as "Someday, Someway," a US top 40 hit in 1982, "Cynical Girl," and "Whenever You're on My Mind." He is also the co-author of one of the biggest radio hits of the 1990s, the Gin Blossoms's "Til I Hear It from You." His music has roots in classic soul music and Buddy Holly, to whom Crenshaw was often compared in the early days of his career, and whom he portrayed in the 1987 film La Bamba.
Robin Wilson is an American musician most notable for his work as the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms.
Jesse Valenzuela is an American rock musician and singer who is perhaps best known as a member of the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. He was originally the vocalist in Gin Blossoms when the band first formed in 1987.
Congratulations I'm Sorry is the third studio album by the American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms, and the follow-up album to the successful 1992 release New Miserable Experience, released in 1996 by A&M Records. The album was named in reference to the success of 1992's New Miserable Experience, followed closely by the suicide of the former band member Doug Hopkins in 1993.
Mixed Reality is the sixth studio album by American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. It was released on June 15, 2018, on Cleopatra Records.
"Hey Jealousy" is a song by American rock band Gin Blossoms. The song was included on the group's debut album, Dusted (1989), and was re-recorded for their 1992 album, New Miserable Experience. It was written by lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, who was fired from the band before New Miserable Experience was released.
Dusted is the debut album by the alternative rock band the Gin Blossoms. It was released through San Jacinto Records, a small independent label as a 12-song tape and record in 1989.
Up and Crumbling is an EP released by the American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms on October 8, 1991. It was released after the Gin Blossoms signed with A&M Records and, while attempting to create a full-length album, ran into a creative drought during the recording sessions. According to the band's official website, the band recorded Up and Crumbling "on their own in hopes of rekindling the spark from Dusted that had been missing from the recent recordings." The songs from this EP were remastered and included on the 2002 deluxe edition of the band's breakthrough album, New Miserable Experience.
Major Lodge Victory is the fourth studio album by the power pop band Gin Blossoms. It was the first album released by the band since their 1997–2002 breakup. It was released on August 8, 2006, on Hybrid Recordings, making it the Gin Blossoms' first new album in over 10 years.
"Found Out About You" is the fourth single from American rock band Gin Blossoms' second studio album, New Miserable Experience (1992). Written by lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, who was fired from the band after the album, it first appeared on their 1989 debut recording, Dusted.
From Beyond the Back Burner is the debut album by Arizona-based pop rock band Gas Giants, released on Atomic Pop Records on October 19, 1999.
"Til I Hear It from You" is a song by the Gin Blossoms that was released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the film Empire Records in July 1995. It topped the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart for six weeks, rose to number eight in Iceland, and reached number 39 in the United Kingdom. In January 1996, it was re-released as a double-A side with "Follow You Down" in the United States, peaking at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard described "Til I Hear It from You" as "the closest thing to a perfect pop song to hit radio in recent memory" lauding its "breezy and wonderfully infectious melody, the boy-needs-girl lyrics, and the earnest execution."
"Allison Road" is a song by the American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms.
"Until I Fall Away" is a song by American rock band Gin Blossoms. Released as a single in 1993, it reached number 13 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1994. The same year, it peaked at number 34 in Iceland and number 35 in Canada.
"Follow You Down" is a song by American rock band Gin Blossoms, and the first single released from their album Congratulations I'm Sorry. It was released as a double A-side single with "Til I Hear It from You" in the United States. The song received a fair amount of radio play and has been featured in several films, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It reached number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 in a 46-week stay on the chart. It also became the band's second number-one single in Canada, after "Til I Hear It from You", and reached number 30 in the United Kingdom.
This discography of American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms, consists of six studio albums, one live album, two EPs, four compilation albums, and 15 singles.
No Chocolate Cake is the fifth studio album by power pop band Gin Blossoms. It was released on September 28, 2010, worldwide, and the first single, "Miss Disarray", was released to radio stations on August 2, 2010. The album reached #1 on Amazon.com MP3 album charts on the release date. No Chocolate Cake entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number 73 after selling 7,000 copies in its first week of release. It was the album's peak position, after falling off the chart the following week.
Rarities is a compilation album by pop rock band Gin Blossoms. It was released in 2010 on A&M Records. It is most of the bonus disc from the New Miserable Experience Deluxe Edition, 2-disc set released in 2002, which had three extra cuts from the Dusted album. The separate release here includes nineteen tracks not found on prior albums. These encompass seven tracks from two EPs, Up and Crumbling and Shut Up and Smoke, six tracks from a 1993 live performance, two studio outtakes, two alternate versions of previously released songs, a soundtrack contribution and Big Star cover.
While Hopkins' presence is all over New Miserable Experience – he wrote several cornerstone tracks, including autobiographical opener "Lost Horizons," the Byrds-like "Pieces of the Night" and the Modern Rock Number One "Found Out About You" – Wilson and Valenzuela provided their own songs that further cemented the album as a Nineties alt-rock favorite.