Providence's Brown University Inspired This 90s Alternative Rock

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island is one of the nation’s oldest Ivy League institutions of higher learning, and has many notable alumni.

Many went on to create great things; Horace Mann was the father of American public education, Ted Turner birthed a media empire and David Guggenheim directed Oscar-winning documentaries, just to name a few.

However, it was a person who frequented the campus – but was never actually a student – that was inspired to write a popular song of the 1990s after an encounter he had in the Brown cafeteria.

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A New “Spin” on Brown’s Ability to Inspire

In August 1991, the alternative rock band Spin Doctors released their debut album Pocket Full of Kryptonite.

While they had a moderate hit with their first single, “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” it was their second single, “Two Princes” that remains a staple of rock radio even today.

However, the third released single, “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues,” that owes its inspiration to Brown.

The title of the album came from a lyric in the song, and the cover of the album featured a phone booth – another allusion to Superman. The song is about Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen having a secret crush on reporter Lois Lane, and hoping she'd pick him over Clark Kent/Superman.

Were the members of the band huge comic nerds? Were they inspired by the Christopher Reeve movies?

Actually, neither. It was all about Brown.

Chris Barron Shares the Story Behind “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues”

Barron shared the following in a video posted to the Spin Doctors Facebook page, explaining the origin of “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” and how it came about at the Providence university.

“When I was about 18 or 19 years old, I had a bunch of friends who were at Brown University, and I was staying with them, and I was broke. I had no money at all,” he said. “So I came up with this rouse so I could basically eat.”

Barron said he snuck into the Brown cafeteria and “appropriated” an apron, which he then put on and walked through the kitchen, as if he worked there. He would grab some food, exit the kitchen, put the apron in his backpack, and then sit down to eat.

“I was not particularly proud of this. I did it out of hunger and desperation,” he said. “And as I was sitting there eating my ill-gotten pancakes after pulling this heist off, a young woman walked in.”

He said the young lady sat at a table near him, and he was looking over at her and noticing how much she looked like Lois Lane.

“I thought, well, if she’s Lois Lane, who am I? I’m certainly not Superman,” he said. “You know, who would I be if that was Lois Lane, in the context of a song? And I thought, oh, I’m Jimmy Olsen.”

There you have had it. Had it not been for the vagabond Barron’s overwhelming hunger at one of Providence’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning, we might never have had a classic Spin Doctors tune.

By the way, here’s their new track, “Still a Gorilla.”