Sep
28
2010

When I Say The Gin Blossoms Are My Favorite Band..

...I'm Not Talking About The Band Your Thinking Of

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - 01:21:35 PM
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, The No Chocolate Cake File)
It really needs to be said, because god, I would not want anyone to be under any delusion that my music tastes are bad enough to like this candy ass drivel this band is serving up these days. Because, lets face it, there is nothing more embarrassing as a music lover than to say you're favorite band is the Gin Blossoms, and referring to the current day band.

When I say it, I'm talking about the cool rock n' roll band that existed 20 years. The band that just took only took one listen for you to want to buy into the whole thing. Even if, honestly, for me, it's kinda been a constant disappointment from two weeks in. And a weird relation, but one that kinda works. Y'know the one. The abusive girlfriend, that made the one fatal mistake, like sleeping with your best friend, but you look past it. The one that morally you know you should ditch, but you keep going back for the sex. Which isn't as good as you remember it, and leaves you feeling dirty afterwards.

But just like that whore you're banging, relationships like that always hit the point where it's just too much, you can no longer go on. For me, it took 17 years. That's pretty impressive. With that sort of time, you kinda figure that you're in for good. I did.

How much can anyone take
It's going to make you feel like you were screwed
It didn't have anything to do with you
But that just makes it worse
...
Don't let me see you shove your luck to the street
I can't stand to see you treat it so thoughtlessly
I suppose it shouldn't mean to much to me
But that's how it's gonna be, and that's it's always been

"Push Luck Shove" - Dead Hot Workshop
Words of wisdom by Brent Babb. When it comes to the Gin Blossoms, this, their latest "album", is the limits of what I can take. I'm done watching this band push their luck to the street. I can't no longer stand to see it treated so thoughtlessly.

The last few years it's been hard watching this band literally pushing their luck to the street. A band with a second chance of sorts, and rather than taking it, morphed into the half rate Rembrandts hybrid that they're known as today. This of course is a band that in 1996 was hell bent on proving they would be fine without Hopkins in the songwriting department. To a nauseating extent in 1996, where it was cringe worthy the billionth time that I'd heard Wilson bang on about it. Well, it was cringe worthy from day one, but you know what I mean.

But folks, little did I know that those were the good days. When the band actually had a remote desire to actually write songs together. When the band had interest in writing material with an inch of credibility.

For album #3, any notion of trying to prove anything in the song writing department went out the window. Instead, offered up as the "Gin Blossoms" was a slab of generic and heartless slices of corporate pop. Can I think of anything less "Gin Blossoms" than the song writing combination of Jesse Valenzuela, Danny Wilde and Susann Sanberg. (Who? Yeah, I know. Danny is in that boring outfit known as The Rembrandts. You might remember him from hits such as that nauseating Friends theme song). Together, the trio is a combination for writing the most corporate shrill pop songs, custom built for nothing more than background music for the latest B grade teen flick. Welcome to your new "Gin Blossoms" kiddies!

But just like all of your shitty girlfriends, there's always the "one more second chance". It was just a rough patch, it'll get better. It was just a phase, and now that it's out of your system it's going to be all good. Here we are, 4 years later, but wait, nothing has gotten better. The band's personality crisis is deeper fixated with being The Rembrandts. Only with a new twist. A second personality has sprung up, with a desire to market to the Britney Spears crowd (Don't Change For Me). Could anything be as far removed from the Gin Blossoms?

And that right there is the breaks. The moment I heard that song (because it's already been done by another guy, two years ago!), I swore that it was the end for me if it showed up on this record. If they stooped as low as to go there. And fuck me drunk - they did! But aside from a few moments of hope in the form of a song here or there written amazingly by someone in the band I actually still have musical respect for, I'm not going to be missing out. There is nothing here that resembles the "Gin Blossoms". Just another easy listening, corporate shill Rembrandts hybrid album.

Further to the outsourcing, in addition to Danny Wilde being all over this new record, outsourcing has also gone out to Nashville's latest corporate country writers, the Warren Brothers. No, that's right, I said "Nashville's latest corporate country writers". You've gotta milk the pockets of the CMT crowd while taking the pocket money of Britney Spears fans. And let's not forget the slew of other co-writers brought in for this album. It really puts that "we can write our own songs" battle cry of 1996 into perspective, doesn't it. Of course, don't take this implication wrongly, or mistake my underlying point - one of my biggest disappointments with the band over the past 4 years is that they're not writing their own songs, because that is what I want to hear. An outtake of the album, Scotty's old song Lost & Found surfaced, and it only takes one listen of that to back up the above statement.

Look me in the eye
And tell me that I'm satisfied
Unsatisfied
I'm so, I'm so unsatisfied
I'm so dissatisfied

"Unsatisfied" - The Replacements
Thanks Paul Westerberg, for summing up exactly how I feel about this whole situation. It's ironic how well a Replacements song fits, given the degree to which this band had the potential to be the next Replacements. How exactly does a band with the potential to be the Replacements wind up being the Rembrandts anyway? Oh yeah, that's right, by firing their Paul Westerberg.

And I guess he, Doug Hopkins, called it in 1992 - there is nothing here but a corporate rock band. (Ironically, corporate rock would be an improvement on what the easy listening drivel they're putting out today). But I'm not sure that even he could have foreseen just how bad this thing would digress. And here's why I need to say all this. There are no shortage of corporate rock bands in the world. There are no shortage of people putting out corporate shill music to the masses. And, y'know, I'm not one to get on anyone about how they put bread and butter on the table.

BUT...did you really have to go and do it under the Gin Blossoms moniker? Really? That's where I'm absolutely disgusted. Writing these terrible songs to make a buck is one thing, but using the Gin Blossoms name to do it pushes the limits of good taste - hell, moderate taste even - too far.

Quite frankly, if this (being the songs and direction of the last 4 years) is why they "saved" the band in 1992, there is no longer any doubt that they should have just broken up. Not to make this about that, or go off on the Hopkins tangent. Or to imply that I haven't supported the band post Hopkins. But, with where this band is now, it's virtually impossible to keep dancing around those aspects that people like myself have for so long. It finally needs to be said outloud.

Of course, I don't need to be told that the band has never been doing this for me. Or anyone else for that matter. There has never been any doubt of the answer to the question "do you think we do this for you?", or that if you don't like it, we should "start our own band". But by the same token, I'm not the one that has to worry about being a sell out when I go to sleep at night.

So, please don't be confused about the sort of quality music and bands I like. There is absolutely a distinction to be made from now on in terms of this one.

When I quote the Gin Blossoms as my favorite band, I mean the alcohol fused, bittersweet, snotty and glorious rock n' roll band that existed 20 years. This band:



It's worthwhile saying that I still have respect for Wilson (who incidentally penned the two decent songs on the record, both of which are the only two I'm likely to ever listen to in the future) and Johnson, and will continue to be interested in other projects that either of those two are involved in in the future, outside of the band.

As for the band, it's been a long strange road, and I was never convinced that it was actually going to lead here.

But, with the one time flick of the wrist, I promise that we're done. Here's my middle finger. Thanks for nothing.
Now Playing: Strange Young Things - You've Tripped On My Words For The Last Time (Don't It Hurt)

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