TYF Staff: The first albums we ever owned

Between gifts and hand-me-downs, it’s hard to really narrow down what my “first” album was. The best contender is Gin Blossoms New Miserable Experience, which I have owned no less than three copies of in my lifetime. New Miserable Experience is a top-notch collection of jangly guitar rock that probably set off my life-long love of power pop. I loved the single “Hey Jealousy” — near inescapable between 1993 and 1995 — before I knew it was written by their guitarist Doug Hopkins about his alcoholism. (Hopkins was out of the band before the album became a hit and tragically took his own life in late 1993.) The album has many songs just like it that mask darker lyrics with upbeat melodies and sweetened vocals of singer Robin Wilson. The fact that New Miserable Experience spun off at least four big radio singles (all of which I loved) kept it fresh in my mind throughout my childhood. I devoured this album as a kid, but it took me a while to come back to it. Once I did, after I became a huge power pop diehard, I recognized its influence towards my predilection for that genre later in life.