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]
Background
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]
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]
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.
^Hudak, Joseph (March 29, 2017). "Gin Blossoms' 'New Miserable Experience': The Dark History of a Nineties Classic". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 27, 2021. 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.
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