Found Out About You

"Found Out About You" was written by Gin Blossoms guitarist Doug Hopkins. The song is based on a compilation of episodes with several of his girlfriends: "I heard about nights out in the school yard. I found out about you." - This has a double meaning. He found out about a girlfriend meeting another guy in a schoolyard and it is also where he and another girl swung on the swings and talked finding out about each other. "Street lights blink on through the car window. I get the time too often on AM radio." - The group members hung around together and this particular line refers to a night when the girl from the swings was with Doug and Robin was driving. They were doing a lot of partying and were listening to the radio when the announcer said the time.

This first appeared in 1989 on Dusted, the Gin Blossoms' debut album. Released on a tiny label, it didn't get much attention, but a few years later the band earned a deal with A&M Records and recorded a new version for their 1992 album New Miserable Experience. During those sessions, Doug Hopkins was dealing with personal problems and alcoholism. He barely got through them, and when the sessions were over his bandmates fired him. The Gin Blossoms hit the road to promote the album with a new guitarist (Scotty Johnson), and Hopkins picked up with another band. At first, the album went nowhere, but when they released a video for the song "Hey Jealousy" - also written by Hopkins - they got some momentum. By the fall of 1993, the song was all over the radio. By this time, Hopkins was out of his band and in a downward spiral; he killed himself on December 5, 1993. Around this time, "Found Out About You" was released as the follow-up single. Like "Hey Jealousy," it earned lots of airplay and helped establish the band. The song peaked on the US chart at #25 in February 1994.