Shocking new details have emerged from a VH1 Classic investigation into the Gin Blossoms involvement in a gruesome cold case that left 3 unidentified persons decapitated at a Rodeway Inn in Tempe, AZ, in the fall of 1992.
With their hit single “Hey Jealousy”, the Gin Blossoms catapulted up the charts by positioning themselves as charming ne’er-do-wells making a drunken plea to get back with all five of their respective exes. An offhanded lyric about being chased by the cops went unexplored for years — presumably the result of a dine and dash or a good-natured game of mailbox baseball. However, investigators are now discovering these lyrics to be the euphoric ramblings of a murder spree in medias res.
According to multiple reports, B-role footage from the “Hey Jealousy” music video shoot seems to place the band members at the scene of the crime, with several shots of them brandishing large machetes and what appears to be a luggage cart loosely stacked with bricks of heroin. One chilling moment caught on camera depicts a member of the band using a severed hand to make his selection at the hotel’s vending machine. And from there, snapshots of a dangerous joyride through Camelback Mountain with copious amounts of rest stop sex, snake blood, and adult contemporary crossover appeal.
Investigators believe that the extremely cool way in which the footage was shot may have ultimately obscured and trivialized the atrocities that occurred on that fateful day. Renowned ‘90s music video director Skylar Rubel explained.
“Oh, bands were doing all kinds of dumb shit in music videos in those days, like hanging out with a sad clown on a swingset or using someone else’s hand to get a bag of chips. It didn’t matter, as long as it was shot with desaturated colors and a bleach bypass, you were getting played on 120 Minutes, no question.”
Ultimately, the most incriminating footage ended up on the cutting room floor, with their label A&M insisting on a cut that involved significantly fewer Hell’s Angels members. The resulting video proved to be a commercial success, with the Gin Blossoms leaning into more of a freshly shampooed, grunge-lite image with zero trace of any deranged bloodlust.
Questions remain regarding the Tempe Police Department’s inability to solve the case, with critics notably pointing out that the El Camino the band cruises around in throughout the video is rolling down the street in neutral. Even more puzzling, when reached for comment, the Gin Blossoms fully admitted to the murders and pointed to the fact that they recounted the entire course of events in their 2008 autobiography, Found Out About the Gin Blossoms, which unfortunately sold very poorly. At this time, VH1 Classic is considering a conviction but is also confused about how to do that.
