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.[4] Hopkins originally included the line "you can trust me not to drink", but lead singer Robin Wilson insisted on changing "drink" to "think," having grown tired of Hopkins' lyrical references to his drinking problem.[5] Wilson explained:

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.[6]

Hopkins was upset that Wilson changed the lyric, as it was done to a song he had written after he had been fired as the band's guitarist. When asked about the song after it became a hit, Hopkins expressed discomfort with the track, stating, "It's my song, but I don't enjoy it. I mean, when it comes on the radio, I turn it off, because I don't really want to hear that. It doesn't make me feel good or anything."[7]

After the record was certified gold by the RIAA, the Gin Blossoms mailed Hopkins a gold record, which he destroyed a few weeks before his death in 1993.[8]

Initially largely unnoticed due to its placement on the unsuccessful Dusted, "Hey Jealousy" enjoyed success upon the release of New Miserable Experience. Although the album initially stalled commercially, it received a second promotional push that benefited "Hey Jealousy" in the form of a new music video. Wilson noted,

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.[9]

"Hey Jealousy" was the band's first commercial hit single, reaching number 25 on the Billboard chart in the US. The song has since become one of the band's most enduring hits. Guitarist Jesse Valenzuela joked, "It got everywhere. You can hear it at the Lowe's hardware."[9]

A review by Rolling Stone called the song "manna for radio", highlighting "the ease with which this quintet casts hooks".[10] AllMusic staff writer Rick Anderson stated that "'Hey Jealousy' and 'Until I Fall Away' are the two songs that leave the deepest impression".[11]

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."[12]

In a review of the single, Ryan Wasoba of Crawdaddy! considered "Hey Jealousy" more closely in light of Hopkins's struggles, arguing:

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.[13]

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'."[13]

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."[14]