Songoftheday 3/1/20 - Did you see the sky I think it means that we've been lost, maybe one last time is all we need...

"Follow You Down"/"'Til I Hear It From You" - Gin Blossoms
from the albums Empire Records (Original Soundtrack) (1995) and Congratulations, I'm Sorry (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 33

Today's song(s) of the day come from the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms, whose major-label debut album New Miserable Experience spun off four top-40 pop radio airplay hits with "Hey Jealousy", "Found Out About You", "Until I Fall Away", and "Allison Road", while going on to sell over four million albums. However that big success came with a bigger loss, as original guitarist and songwriter Doug Hopkins, who wrote the first two hits, was fired from the band for his alcoholism and subsequently committed suicide. Scott Johnson was hired on as guitarist for the subsequent tour and studio work. In regrouping and preparing their next album, the band recorded a song for the record-store movie Empire Records, featuring actresses Liv Tyler and Renee Zellweger as they were just starting their film careers. "'Til I Hear It From You", written by lead singer Robin Wilson and rhythm guitarist Jesse Valenzuela along with geek-rock fave Marshall Crenshaw ("Someday, Someway"), the radio-friendly jangle-pop nugget was much brighter than their material on New Miserable Experience, even worthy of a Friends episode type of quirky pop love song. It worked, as radio picked up on the song as the second promoted track from the Empire Records soundtrack after Edwyn Collins' "A Girl Like You", getting a much bigger radio response...

But as it wasn't available as a commercial "single", it wasn't appearing on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 pop chart, even though it made it to the top ten on the airplay component of the list at #8. But as the song was waning, the Gin Blossoms were ready to release the first single from their next album, "Follow You Down". A darker number written by the entire band more in the style of their debut (but not too dark), the song continued their success at radio, like a major-key version of "Found Out About You"...

The band was guided into not including "Til I Hear It From You" on the American release of Congratulations, I'm Sorry, but decided instead to put it as the "B-side" of the single for "Follow You Down". Since Billboard rules allows all songs that haven't charted to contribute to the "points" from the single, both tracks were listed as it debuted on the chart, with "Til I Hear It From You" initially listed first, getting to #11, then rebounding as airplay from "Follow You Down" made it the "lead" track as it climbed to the top ten in March of 1996. In 1995, "'Til I Hear It from You" was a big hit on both of Billboard's radio charts, getting to #4 on Mainstream Rock and #5 on Alternative Rock. It also climbed to #5 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list and #10 on the Adult Top-40 format tally. Meanwhile, in 1996, "Follow You Down" reached both the Mainstream (#6) and Alternative (#8) rock charts, while on the Adult Contemporary list it peaked at #22, while on the Adult Top-40 format it spent two weeks at #3. But it's best showing was at the newly-minted Triple-A Rock (Adult Album Alternative, or "hipster rock") format, where it topped the chart for five weeks. Internationally, the double-sided single was their biggest success in Canada, taking six weeks at #1, while in the UK, where it was released separately, "Til I Heard It From You" made it to #39, while "Follow You Down" peaked at #30. In Iceland, "Til I Heard It From You" was a top-ten hit at #8, and "Follow You Down" got to #35.

Coming off of this double-shot of big radio hits, unfortunately the band couldn't keep that momentum as mainstream pop radio was already drifting away from jangle-rock style records. The next single from Congratulations, I'm Sorry, "Day Job", missed pop radio in the spring, but getting on both the Alternative (#21) and Mainstream (#29) rock radio lists. The opposite happened with the next release, "As Long As It Matters", which went to #75 on the pop Hot 100 in American, and #30 at Adult Top-40. Personally, I think the latter should have been released straight away as the second single, but there was also a long life and slow burn to "Follow You Down". While Congratulations was their first top ten album at #10, it sold a quarter of what their last did, and the Blossoms disintegrated to pursue other projects.

The group reunited in 2002, though rotating through drummers for a bit, before releasing a new album, Major Lodge Victory, in 2006. Lead single "Learning The Hard Way" was a minor hit at Triple-A radio at #22, while the album put them back on the lower half of the sales chart. Four years later, they re-emerged with No Chocolate Cake, which I really recommend seeking out, it a solid album that went to #73 even with no radio hits ("Miss Disarray" just missed making the Adult Top-40). Their most recent studio album, Mixed Reality, was released in 2018, making the top-40 on the independent albums sales chart. They've also been touring, performing their breakthrough album on its anniversary and in tandem with fellow underrated rockers Collective Soul.

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This is a clip of the band doing "Follow You Down" at a college concert in the late 90s...