Gin Blossoms

Critics dismiss the Gin Blossoms as the frat boy's Lemonheads or Posies. But while the group's alt-pop is designed for mainstream consumption, their debut album nailed the slacker alienation that pervaded the early 1990s. On top of boasting killer hooks, tunes like "Hey Jealousy," "Lost Horizons" and "Found Out About You" are moody ruminations on boredom, inertia and apathy. Don't let all that R.E.M.-inspired jangle fool you; this album isn't called New Miserable Experience for nothing.

Even if you hate weak guys a lot more than I do, you can't deny that "Hey Jealousy" is a classic--Peter Buck himself would kill (or at least steal) for that gold-plated guitar hook. But though the guy who came up with it is now dead, the group and its handlers jangle on through mediocre follow-ups programmers wouldn't have played twice before "Hey Jealousy" softened them up. Released in 1992, the album is now double platinum, on the charts a year and a half after it broke. And I wouldn't put it past them to sell the next one too. The marketplace--what mere journalist can fathom it? (Grade: C+)