Until I Fall Away

Written by Gin Blossoms guitarist Jesse Valenzuela and lead singer Robin Wilson, "Until I Fall Away" is a conflicted relationship song, with Wilson trying to reconcile "another personal disaster." Wilson's lyrics often deal with matters of the heart in vague but poetic terms that leave interpretations to the listener.

This song was big in the summer of 1994, two years after it first appeared on the New Miserable Experience album, Gin Blossoms' first with a major label (A&M). After forming in 1987, they released an album on a small indie label in 1989 that included somewhat rough versions of their songs "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You." Signed with A&M, they recorded those songs again at Ardent Studios in Memphis, where one of their favorite bands, Big Star, had recorded. When "Hey Jealousy" was issued as a single in 1992, it went nowhere, but then MTV picked up the video, the song was re-released, and it became a hit in the summer of 1993. It hung around for months, and then "Found Out About You" was issued, reaching its peak in the winter of 1994. "Until I Fall Away" came next - by this time any new Gin Blossoms song was pretty much guaranteed airplay on pop radio, which was hungry for songs that weren't too old, too hip-hop, or too grunge. "Allison Road" followed, keeping them on playlists well into 1995. They didn't release another album until 1996 because they didn't have to. There was a dark cloud hanging over their good fortune, however. Their original guitarist, Doug Hopkins, developed an alcohol problem and had a hard time getting through the New Miserable Experience sessions. The band didn't think he could handle a tour, so they fired him. Hopkins hooked on with another group, but it didn't take, and on December 5, 1993, he took his own life.