Doug hopkins cause of death

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I didn't get the chance to find that out; I never met Hopkins. But in the days since Hopkins took his own life, I've learned a lot about him from a lot of people: He was a very talented musician. He was a very funny guy. He was a very big drunk. Someone who had been wrestling with various demons for a long time and not winning.

Doug hopkins cause of death

No one knows exactly when Doug Hopkins ended his life; most accounts of his demise center on a few known facts: First, that on Friday, December 3, , he bailed an intake consultation at a Phoenix, Arizona detox center; second, that he proceeded to purchase a. As they toured, did television appearances, and began to reap the fruits of six years of kicking around Tempe trying to get noticed, Hopkins returned home to figure out what to do next. On Sunday afternoon, December 5, , twenty-five years ago today, a friend found his body in his apartment. As it turned out, as the s turned into the s, misery packaged in an appealing package had become all the rage. As the variant strains of post-punk caterwauling coalesced into a frightening market force in the ultimate decade of the millenium, tastemakers throughout sought songs that could both prove emblematic of the anger and ennui of the times and still conform to the strictures of radio formatting. The problem was finding a way to get the song in front of a willing audience: By late , the album had pretty much flopped, or at least stalled, with the post-Hopkins Gin Blossoms touring the nation in relative penury while the label flailed around trying to figure out what to do with this group of Arizona nobodies in shorts and floppy hair. He became fast friends with Lawrence Zubia, then of Nudes Live, and they tossed together the Chimeras, a slightly bluesier outfit that quickly became the talk of Tempe. But as soon as Hopkins began to find his footing in his new project, he tanked it, walking offstage mid-song during a local festival set in April. He begged to rejoin after the debacle, but the rest of the Chimeras declined; they eventually changed their name to the Pistoleros and have continued, off and on, straight through to the present. Hopkins, however, continued marinating in his anguish. In the original version of the song, before it was cleaned up for major label prime time, Hopkins penned this desperate stanza:. A Rashomon-esque experienced ensued wherein Hopkins underwhelmed his band and producer John Hampton, as precious time on the clock was whittled away either waiting for Hopkins to show or for him to be able to lay down a competent take of one of his guitar parts.

Best of Phoenix. Measure content performance. Viewed one way, his pain was enveloped by the culture, fed into the machine, doug hopkins cause of death, his misery doing its part to form the lattice of unhappiness that was s pop sentiment; viewed another way, however, he played music until he could not anymore, and his unhappy life reaped eternal reward with the gift of the joy of popular song, with melodies that have long outlasted the man and his memory.

By Associated Press. But Hopkins was fired from the group in April because fellow band members said his drinking hindered his performance at recording sessions. Hopkins killed himself by putting a. After being kicked out of the group, Hopkins formed a band called Chimeras, but that broke up. At the time of his death, he had been performing locally as a soloist or with other bands.

By Hobart Rowland. Doug Hopkins just wanted to smoke and drink in peace, so they retreated to the bar at a nearby Italian restaurant. Hopkins was becoming increasingly angry and distraught, lamenting the uselessness of his life, the sorry state of his liver and the injustices inflicted upon him by a local bar band that, at that moment, was poised for a national breakthrough thanks, in large part, to songs he wrote. Pretty soon, the anger gave way to sobs. Even worse, it was stolen from him. I want to die. He told me he was going to kill himself. In early December , the year-old Hopkins was found dead in his apartment from a self-inflicted gunshot.

Doug hopkins cause of death

It's been 30 years since Gin Blossoms released the album that continues to define their place in music history, "New Miserable Experience. That has given Robin Wilson 30 years to wrap his head around the truly miserable experience surrounding the creation of the quadruple-platinum triumph that nearly destroyed them. Midway through tracking in Memphis, the Tempe rockers parted ways with guitarist Doug Hopkins, the founding member who'd written the songs that would become the album's most successful calling cards, "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You. His former bandmates were still touring on the album in December when Hopkins died by suicide at 32 shortly after receiving a gold record for the writing of their breakthrough hit, "Hey Jealousy. We didn't really want to talk about just how messed up the whole thing was.

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Support Us. It wasn't put on, it wasn't a stage show. Newsletter Sign Up Enter your name, zip code, and email. Join Today. Let's go have a drink. Jimmy Cash elevates Worcester native cred with Tuckerman Hall shows. In a candid open letter in Rolling Stone , his ex-wife and mother of his then-teen children, Mary, wrote, "Let's choose to make this the first time we don't glorify this tragedy with talk of rock and roll and the demons that, by the way, don't have to come with it. I stayed with my friend, Wes, the only person in town I knew, in his apartment on University Expand the sub menu More Coverage. Please log in. Though not necessarily a grunge artist, Nowell was also a tragic '90s loss, overdosing on heroin in his San Francisco hotel room in just seven days after his wedding and 11 months after the birth of his son. Switch edition between U. More From Our Brands. I tried to do everything I could; everybody did--all the Dead Hot [Workshop] guys who were his best friends, Sandra his girlfriend, the Chimeras.

By Associated Press. But Hopkins was fired from the group in April because fellow band members said his drinking hindered his performance at recording sessions. Hopkins killed himself by putting a.

If there is romance in pain, then it is a private romance, a sense one has that the torment that provokes and consumes the mind is pre-ordained, is part of a greater story, is a way to connect the life one lives to past and future selves, a chain of pain that is passed across the transom of time, space, infinity. Ten different substances were found in a preliminary urine toxicology test , according to the Attorney General's Office of Colombia. In the original version of the song, before it was cleaned up for major label prime time, Hopkins penned this desperate stanza:. I used to lay in bed with him and talk about the hells of alcohol, me trying to convince him it was only booze, that he could back off for a few days and get his head together. Blind Melon lead singer Hoon was found dead on his band's tour bus from an accidental cocaine overdose in a New Orleans parking lot in It was something that one of our teachers in high school called me and it stuck. But Doug idealized a lot about suicide, talked a lot about killing himself. Share Tweet. By Associated Press Plus Icon. So Doug picks up the phone and without missing a beat, he does this Hiii-yaaaa! All rights reserved. The Gin Blossoms' lead guitarist, who experienced alcoholism , made his misery the focus of many of the group's songs, and it's what ultimately led him to his death in from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Hopkins said in an earlier interview that he didn't like the trappings of being a rock star--in-store appearances, radio station visits and interviews. Entertainment Music.