{{Short description|1989 song by Gin Blossoms}} {{Use American English|date=July 2016}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2016}} {{Infobox song | name = Hey Jealousy | cover = Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Gin Blossoms | album = New Miserable Experience | B-side = 29 | released = {{Start date|1993|06}} | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = * Alternative rock<ref>{{cite web|last=Al-Sharif|first=Rabab|date=August 21, 2020|title=10 Pop-Punk Covers of '90s Songs|url=https://loudwire.com/pop-punk-covers-90s-songs/|access-date=June 17, 2021|website=Loudwire}}</ref><ref name="AllMusic Erlewine">{{AllMusic |class=album|id=mw0000306373|title= Various Artists - ''Whatever: The '90s Pop and Culture Box'' (2005) Review|last= Erlewine|first= Stephen Thomas|access-date= December 6, 2024}}</ref> * pop rock<ref>{{cite web|last=Waldman|first=Scott|url=https://loudwire.com/best-pop-rock-songs-90s/|title=10 Best Pop-Rock Songs of the '90s|website=Loudwire|date=April 3, 2020|access-date=March 19, 2022}}</ref> | length = {{Duration|m=3|s=56}} | label = A&M | writer = Doug Hopkins | producer = * Gin Blossoms * John Hampton | prev_title = Mrs. Rita | prev_year = 1993 | next_title = Until I Fall Away | next_year = 1993 | misc = }} "'''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.
"Hey Jealousy" became the band's signature song, reaching number 25 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1993. It peaked at number 20 in Iceland, number 24 in the United Kingdom, number 28 in Australia, and number 39 in Canada. "Hey Jealousy" was certified gold in the United States.
==Background== {{Listen | type = music | title = "Hey Jealousy" (1992 re-recording) by Gin Blossoms | filename = Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy.ogg | align = right | description = Clip from "Hey Jealousy" }} "Hey Jealousy" was inspired by Hopkins' desire to get back with his ex-girlfriend Cathy Swafford, who had left him because of his drinking and cheating.<ref name="vh1">{{cite web |title=Gin Blossoms: Doug Hopkins |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZTWCgWC3Kk |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/EZTWCgWC3Kk |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|publisher=VH1 True Spin |access-date=7 April 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Ed Masley of ''The Arizona Republic'' describes the song this way:<blockquote>...[A guy] shows up at his ex's house too drunk to drive and asks if he can spend the night, a case he tries to make with "You can see I'm in no shape for driving and anyway, I've got no place to go."<br>She was the best he'd ever had, he admits before bringing the verse to a humiliating close with "If I hadn't blown the whole thing years ago, I might not be alone." But he's not giving up just yet, heading into the chorus full of hope as he attempts to sell her on a promise of "Tomorrow we can drive around this town and let the cops chase us around/ The past is gone but something might be found to take its place".<br>There's too much self-awareness here to win a reasonable person over ("If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down.").<ref name="auto">{{cite web|last=Masley|first=Ed|date=February 23, 2021|title=30 best Gin Blossoms songs including 'Hey Jealousy,' 'Follow You Down' and 'Mrs. Rita'|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2021/02/23/gin-blossoms-best-songs-tempe-arizona-rock-band/4541644001/|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=The Arizona Republic}}</ref></blockquote>
Hopkins originally included the line "you can trust me not to drink" in "Hey Jealousy", but lead singer Robin Wilson insisted on changing "drink" to "think," having grown tired of Hopkins' lyrical references to his drinking problem.<ref name="mtv">{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2869714/happy-90s-songs-dark-backstories/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429025603/http://www.mtv.com/news/2869714/happy-90s-songs-dark-backstories/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 29, 2016|title=13 Sunny '90s Hits with Surprisingly Dark Backstories|last=Geffen|first=Sasha|date=April 28, 2016|publisher=MTV}}</ref> Wilson explained:
{{blockquote|Yes, because there were so many references to drinking, you know, in our songs. I would try to steer it away from that all the time. The band was called Gin Blossoms, which, as you know, is a reference to heavy drinking. We had all of these lyrics about it, and it was something we seemed to be talking about too much. I didn't think it was that big of a deal to change one word.<ref>{{cite web|last=Clash|first=Jim|date=November 26, 2019|title=Gin Blossoms Vocalist Robin Wilson Remembers The Group's Late Guitarist Doug Hopkins|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2019/11/26/gin-blossoms-vocalist-robin-wilson-remembers-the-groups-late-guitarist-doug-hopkins/?sh=4c4161cb21dd|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=Forbes}}</ref>}}
Hopkins, who was dismissed from the band due to alcohol abuse before ''New Miserable Experience'' was released,<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/story-behind-the-song-gin-blossoms-hey-jealousy/|title=The story of how Gin Blossoms created 'Hey Jealousy'|date=April 11, 2023|website=faroutmagazine.co.uk}}</ref> was upset that Wilson changed the lyric. When asked about the song after it became a hit, Hopkins expressed discomfort with the track, stating that he turned it off when he heard it on the radio.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ruelas|first=Richard|date=December 6, 1993|title=Ex-Guitarist for Gin Blossoms Kills Self|url=https://apnews.com/article/a273083cb469b0f5de4d6051830edba4|access-date=April 7, 2021|publisher=Associated Press}}{{dead link|date=July 2023}}</ref>
==Release== "Hey Jealousy" was included as a track on Gin Blossoms' 1989 debut album, ''Dusted''.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theringer.com/2020/10/22/21527962/60-songs-episode-2-hey-jealousy-gin-blossoms|title=The Heartbreaking Story Behind Gin Blossoms' "Hey Jealousy"|first=Rob|last=Harvilla|date=October 22, 2020|website=The Ringer}}</ref> It was re-recorded<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.azmusichalloffame.org/inductees/gin-blossoms/|title=Gin Blossoms|website=Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame |access-date=July 23, 2023}}</ref> and released as a track on ''New Miserable Experience''.<ref name="auto2"/> Although ''New Miserable Experience'' initially stalled in the charts, it received a second promotional push that benefited "Hey Jealousy" in the form of a new music video. Wilson noted, {{blockquote|One day we get a call from the label that they were going to try 'Jealousy' again and make another video for it. The budget for the first [video] was five grand; the second was ten grand; and the third was forty grand. That's when I was like, "Holy shit, they're serious." At that point we had been in the van for six months, just a blur of college cafeterias, interviews and opening for whoever we can.<ref name="rs new mis exp">{{cite magazine |last=Hudak |first=Joseph |title=Gin Blossoms' 'New Miserable Experience' at 25: Inside LP's Dark History |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/gin-blossoms-new-miserable-experience-the-dark-history-of-a-nineties-classic-126566/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=April 7, 2021 |date=March 29, 2017}}</ref>}}
"Hey Jealousy" made its debut on the Billboard Top 100 on July 24, 1993.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/gin-blossoms/|title=Gin Blossoms - Biography, Music & News|magazine=Billboard |access-date=July 23, 2023}}</ref> It was the band's first hit single, peaking at number 25 on the ''Billboard'' chart on October 16, 1993.<ref name="auto" /> Guitarist Jesse Valenzuela joked, "It got everywhere. You can hear it at the Lowe's hardware".<ref name="rs new mis exp" /> "Hey Jealousy" has become known as the band's signature song<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehour.com/entertainment/article/Gin-Blossoms-go-acoustic-in-Connecticut-8264504.php|title=Gin Blossoms go acoustic in Connecticut|date=November 5, 2009|website=The Hour}}</ref> and one of its most enduring hits;<ref name="rs new mis exp" /> it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).<ref name="auto" />
==Critical reception== A review by ''Rolling Stone'' called the song "manna for radio", highlighting "the ease with which this quintet casts hooks".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Gin Blossoms: New Miserable Experience|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/ginblossoms/albums/album/109676/review/5943404/new_miserable_experience|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=July 17, 1997|access-date=April 16, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230064400/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/ginblossoms/albums/album/109676/review/5943404/new_miserable_experience|archive-date=December 30, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> AllMusic staff writer Rick Anderson identified "Hey Jealousy" and "Until I Fall Away" as the two songs from ''New Miserable Experience'' "that leave the deepest impression".<ref>{{cite web|last=Anderson|first=Rick|title=New Miserable Experience - Gin Blossoms {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/new-miserable-experience-mw0000081872|access-date=April 22, 2010|publisher=AllMusic}}</ref>
Ed Masley of ''The Arizona Republic'' listed the song as the Gin Blossoms' best song on his list of the band's top 30 tracks, writing, "It's the obvious choice for a reason -- the signature song that started as the breakthrough hit that made the whole thing possible. And it's a great song, brilliantly arranged so as to maximize the tension and release, its understated verses taking on intensity in a wave of distorted guitars as the song makes its way to that singalong chorus."<ref name="auto"/>
In a review of the single, Ryan Wasoba of ''Crawdaddy!'' considered "Hey Jealousy" more closely in light of Hopkins's struggles, arguing:
{{blockquote|With Hopkins functioning as the protagonist, "Hey Jealousy" outlines a cause for intervention. Coming from the mouth of an alcoholic, the deprecating claims in the song ... sting with accuracy. Other lines become the simplistic slurrings of a friend who’s had one too many ... Even the song’s peppy chorus is recontextualized, its hopefulness shriveled into empty promise.<ref name="crawdaddy">{{cite web |last=Wasoba |first=Ryan |date=October 13, 2009 |title=Gin Blossoms "Hey Jealousy" |url=http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2009/10/13/gin-blossoms-hey-jealousy/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091103144604/http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2009/10/13/gin-blossoms-hey-jealousy/ |archive-date=November 3, 2009 |access-date=March 23, 2010 |magazine=Crawdaddy!}}</ref>}}
But despite this context, Wasoba still lauded the track as a "bona fide have-a-kick-ass-summer jam": "Through all the potential melancholy, 'Hey Jealousy' is still a party. The guitars still jangle, the tambourine still shimmies. The solo is still totally bitchin'."<ref name="crawdaddy"/>
''Pitchfork'' said, "Wilson sings, the words rippling out uncannily smooth, their inherent desperation buffed to a shine. The levity in the song's arrangement—the jangling guitar arpeggios, the shivers of tambourine—belie the weight of the addiction and mental illness Hopkins found himself tangled in while writing, which dragged him to his death."<ref>{{cite web|title=The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-best-songs-of-the-1990s/|work=Pitchfork|date=September 27, 2022|accessdate=October 29, 2022|author=Sasha Geffen}}</ref>
In 2023, Tyler Golsen of ''Far Out'' called "Hey Jealousy" "a candy-coated hand grenade that can still catch you off guard 35 years after Hopkins first conceived of it". Golsen also described the song as "a strange beacon of hope and optimism" and a "mix of despondent lyrics and aggressively catchy pop-rock guitars".<ref name="auto1"/>
==Track listings== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}} * '''US cassette single'''<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Hey Jealousy|year=1992|type=US cassette single cassette notes|publisher=A&M Records|id=314 560 242-4}}</ref> :A. "Hey Jealousy" – 3:56 :B. "29" – 4:18
* '''UK cassette single'''<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Hey Jealousy|year=1992|type=UK cassette single sleeve|publisher=Fontana Records|id=GINMC-3, 580 363-4}}</ref> :A1. "Hey Jealousy" – 3:56 :A2. "Keli Richards" – 3:04 :B1. "Cold River Dick" – 1:14 :B2. "Kristene Irene" – 2:40
* '''European and Australasian CD single'''<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Hey Jealousy|year=1992|type=European & Australasian CD single liner notes|publisher=A&M Records|id=AMCD 127, 580 127-2}}</ref> # "Hey Jealousy" – 3:56 # "Allison Road" – 3:18 # "Just South of Nowhere" – 3:26
* '''Australian cassette single'''<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Hey Jealousy|year=1992|type=Australian cassette single sleeve|publisher=A&M Records|id=580 356-4}}</ref> :A. "Hey Jealousy" :B. "Just South of Nowhere" {{col-2}} * '''UK 7-inch single'''<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Hey Jealousy|year=1993|type=UK 7-inch single sleeve|publisher=Fontana Records|id=GIN3}}</ref> :A1. "Hey Jealousy" – 3:56 :A2. "Cold River Dick" – 1:14 :B1. "Kristene Irene" – 2:40 :B2. "Keli Richards" – 3:04
* '''UK CD single'''<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Hey Jealousy|year=1993|type=UK CD single liner notes|publisher=Fontana Records|id=GINCD 3, 580 357-2}}</ref> # "Hey Jealousy" – 3:56 # "Cajun Song" – 2:56 # "Just South of Nowhere" – 3:26 # "Angels Tonight" – 3:34
* '''UK maxi-CD single'''<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Hey Jealousy|year=1993|type=UK maxi-CD single liner notes|publisher=Fontana Records|id=GINCD 1, 580 363-2}}</ref> # "Hey Jealousy" – 3:56 # "Allison Road" – 3:18 # "Just South of Nowhere" – 3:26 # "Angels Tonight" – 3:34 {{col-end}}
==Charts== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}}
===Weekly charts=== {|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+Weekly chart performance for "Hey Jealousy" !scope="col"|Chart (1993–1994) !scope="col"|Peak<br/>position |- {{single chart|Australia|28|artist=Gin Blossoms|song=Hey Jealousy|rowheader=true|access-date=April 1, 2018}} |- {{single chart|Canadatopsingles|39|chartid=2277|rowheader=true|access-date=April 1, 2018}} |- !scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1994/MM-1994-02-26.pdf|title=Eurochart Hot 100 Singles|magazine=Music & Media|volume=11|issue=9|page=14|date=February 26, 1994|access-date=July 23, 2020}}</ref> | 66 |- !scope="row"|Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timarit.is/page/2619421#page/n1/mode/2up|title=Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (11.–17. nóv.)|newspaper=Dagblaðið Vísir|language=is|page=20|date=November 11, 1993|access-date=September 30, 2019}}</ref> | 20 |- {{single chart|Scotland|40|date=19940305|rowheader=true|access-date=April 1, 2018}} |- {{single chart|UK|24|date=19940212|rowheader=true|access-date=April 1, 2018}} |- !scope="row"|UK Airplay (''Music Week'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1994/Music-Week-1994-02-26.pdf|title=The Airplay Chart|magazine=Music Week|date=February 26, 1994|page=22|access-date=May 23, 2025}}</ref> | 22 |- {{single chart|Billboardhot100|25|artist=Gin Blossoms|rowheader=true|access-date=April 1, 2018}} |- {{single chart|Billboardmainstreamrock|4|artist=Gin Blossoms|rowheader=true|access-date=April 1, 2018}} |- {{single chart|Billboardpopsongs|20|artist=Gin Blossoms|rowheader=true|access-date=April 1, 2018}} |- !scope="row"|US ''Cash Box'' Top 100<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popmusichistory.co.uk/_files/ugd/b4848d_4f9128176360450ba51be67a0468e9fa.pdf|title=U.S. Cash Box Charts|website=popmusichistory|access-date=February 7, 2023}}</ref> | 23 |} {{col-2}}
===Year-end charts=== {|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+Year-end chart performance for "Hey Jealousy" !scope="col"|Chart (1993) !scope="col"|Position |- !scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref>{{cite web|url=http://longboredsurfer.com/charts.php?year=1993|title=Billboard Top 100 – 1993|access-date=August 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061110095203/http://longboredsurfer.com/charts.php?year=1993|archive-date=November 10, 2006}}</ref> | 95 |- !scope="row"|US Album Rock Tracks (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Year in Music: Top Album Rock Tracks|magazine=Billboard|volume=105|issue=52|page=YE-39|date=December 25, 1993}}</ref> | 13 |} {{col-end}}
==Release history== {|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" |+Release dates and formats for "Hey Jealousy" !scope="col"|Region !scope="col"|Date !scope="col"|Format(s) !scope="col"|Label(s) !scope="col"|{{abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |- !scope="row"|United States |June 1993 |{{hlist|CD|cassette}} |A&M | |- !scope="row"|United Kingdom |January 24, 1994 |{{hlist|7-inch vinyl|CD|cassette}} |Fontana |<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Single Releases|magazine=Music Week|page=21|date=January 22, 1994}}</ref> |- !scope="row"|Australia |April 4, 1994 |{{hlist|CD|cassette}} |A&M |<ref>{{cite magazine|title=New Release Summary – Product Available from : 04/04/94: Singles|magazine=The ARIA Report|issue=216|page=20|date=April 3, 1994}}</ref> |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Gin Blossoms}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1989 songs Category:1993 singles Category:A&M Records singles Category:Fontana Records singles Category:Gin Blossoms songs Category:Songs written by Doug Hopkins Category:Songs about jealousy Category:Torch songs Category:Heartland rock songs