Bis Split Up! and Gin Blossoms Reform

Nah, their guitarist/songwriter died, not the lead jerk.

"Alternative power popsters the Gin Blossoms were formed in 1987 in Tempe, AZ by longtime friends Bill Leen (bass) and Doug Hopkins (guitar), with an initial lineup also featuring vocalist Jesse Valenzuela, guitarist Richard Taylor, and drummer Chris McCann. The following year saw several personnel shifts as the band struggled to solidify -- McCann was replaced by Dan Henzerling and, shortly thereafter, Phillip Rhodes, while Taylor was fired and replaced by guitarist Robin Wilson. Wilson and Valenzuela subsequently switched roles, and the band recorded a self-released album, Dusted, in 1989. A&M signed them the following year. After an impressive 1991 debut EP, Up & Crumbling, the Gin Blossoms rocketed out of the college pop charts and into the mainstream with their 1993 hit single "Hey Jealousy." Combining the ringing guitar hooks of the Byrds and R.E.M. with a solid, rootsy drive, the band's breakthrough full-length album, New
Miserable Experience (which had actually been released the previous year), was filled with songs equally as strong as "Hey Jealousy," including the second hit single, "Found Out About You." New Miserable Experience and its singles dominated radio and MTV for the following year -- "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You," both penned by Hopkins, were in heavy radio rotation nearly a year after their initial release -- pushing the sales of their debut album to over one million copies. However, all was not well. Doug Hopkins' battle with alcoholism and depression had taken its toll on the band during the sessions for New Miserable Experience, and he was fired shortly after the record's
release, with guitarist Scott Johnson taking his place. Speculation abounded as to whether the band would be able to maintain their success without Hopkins' melancholy songwriting voice. Tragically, on December 5, 1993, Hopkins shot and killed himself, even as the songs he had written were blanketing the airwaves.

Not me, buddy! I'd rather smelled canned farts.

No they're not.

"They are great."

You're quite high.

"They kick ass."

Not even if their very lives depended on it would they be capable of doing so.

"Power pop don't get much better than them"

I wouldn't call them power pop.

reasons...?

the last two full-length albums Bis have put out have not only been brilliant but have shown interesting growth apart from how they started. that's not counting the EPs, either---in particular, Music for a Stranger World and Fuct ID #5.

not only that, if they'd split 4 years ago, they wouldn't have recorded what might be one of the finest covers of one of the most over-covered songs ever in their version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart."

er, in my humble estimation, at least. :)

Thank god for that.

I hate GB less than the tools I read in Flipside once around 1994 or so who were being interviewed, saying, "Isn't it good that KROQ is playing real music now like the Gin Blossoms instead of that Depeche Mode shit?" Morons.