Douglas Hopkins (April 11, 1961–December 5, 1993) was an American musician and songwriter from Tempe, Arizona. He co-founded the Gin Blossoms, a popular modern rock band of the early 1990s, in 1987 with his longtime friend, Bill Leen. He was the band's lead guitarist and principal songwriter. April 11 is the 101st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (102nd in leap years). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Cite error 4; Invalid call; no input specified 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... All-America City Program Logo Tempe (pronounced Tempee) is a city located in Maricopa County, Arizona. ... Gin Blossoms are an alternative pop/rock band formed in 1987, in Tempe, Arizona. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, the last decade of the 20th Century. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Hopkins' songwriting credits included the hits "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You."

Hopkins graduated from Arizona State University in 1984 or 1985 with a degree in sociology. During his high school and college career, Hopkins played in a number of bands and even spent time in recording studios with them before founding the band which would give him his greatest fame. Arizona State University (ASU) is currently (as of Fall 2005) the largest university, in terms of student enrollment, in the United States with a main campus student body of 51,612. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

Hopkins was fired from the band in April 1992 as the band worked on its first full-length album, New Miserable Experience. He was struggling with depression and alcoholism, and his drinking impaired his ability to play his guitar parts. The band re-negotiated his contract with A&M Records, giving him half his salary. New Miserable Experience is the breakthrough album by pop-rock band the Gin Blossoms, released on August 4, 1992 (see 1992 in music). ...

After being replaced in the Gin Blossoms, Hopkins formed a new band in Tempe, The Chimeras, and watched as the songs he had written for his former group helped propel two of its singles into the top 10 and push New Miserable Experience to multi-platinum status. But while his new group quickly became the hot unsigned band in Tempe, Hopkins' drinking, combined with royalties being withheld from him by the Gin Blossoms, helped to further shake his already unstable personality up to April 1993 after fumbling a solo at an outdoor festival with The Chimeras when Hopkins abruptly announced that he was quitting the group.

Over the next months, Hopkins drifted through his inertia in Tempe, occasionally giving interviews in which he lashed out at the Gin Blossoms, and Hopkins' girlfriend moved out of his apartment on December 3, 1993. Two days later, Hopkins phoned his girlfriend, laid down on his bed in his apartment, put the barrel of a .38-calibre pistol into his mouth and pulled the trigger. The combination of Hopkins' early death and the subsequent short life afterward of the Gin Blossoms have tended to marginalize the group's achievements during their two albums together. The band tends to be lumped together with the Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Blues Traveler and other melodic, alternative-cum-AOR bands that rode the wave of grunge's success to the charts in the early '90s. December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Cite error 4; Invalid call; no input specified 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Counting Crows is a rock band that became extremely popular in 1993, following the release of their debut album August and Everything After, which featured the hit song Mr. ... Members of Toad the Wet Sprocket on the cover of Acoustic Dance Party. ... Blues Traveler is an American jam band from Princeton, New Jersey, led by John Popper (vocals, harmonica) along with Chan Kinchla (guitar), Brendan Hill (drums), Tad Kinchla (bass) and Ben Wilson (keyboards). ...

While there is a clear artistic dropoff between New Miserable Experience and the Gin Blossoms' subsequent Congratulations...I'm Sorry, during Hopkins' time with the group they were one of the smartest, most literate bands in the country, thanks largely to his contributions. Hopkins' long apprenticeship in the Tempe music scene gave him familiarity in a broad range of musical styles, which he employed to full effect with the Gin Blossoms. Congratulations. ...

His compositions combined an intimate acquaintance with punk riffs, Byrds-style arpeggios and an uncanny knack for melody to produce songs which were at the same time tender and aggressive, guarded and embarrassingly honest.

Over the undeniably catchy melodies of songs like "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You," Hopkins added lyrics which seem effortless and conversational but which contained profound insight and self-examination into his troubled personality. They are literally the words of a man drinking himself to death, acutely aware of his predicament yet incapable of doing anything to impede his descent.

In 2000, The Arizona Republic published a list of the top 100 Valley rock bands of all time, and Hopkins was in four of them. For over a decade, he was a commanding figure in the local music scene, as important and influential as The Beatles were to the Liverpool of the early '60s. A proven hitmaker, a brilliant musician and an immensely gifted and intelligent man, Doug Hopkins deserves mention as one of the greatest, if not most well-remembered, rock musicians of the last decade. The Beatles were a British rock group from Liverpool, England. ...

External link

• Lost Horizons - A Tribute to Doug Hopkins