And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cuz sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight
--Iris, off Dizzy Up The Girl
The musings of
Johnny Rzeznik have carried the three boys from Buffalo, himself (lead vocals and guitar),
Robby Takac (backup vocals and bass), and
Mike Malinin (drums) into the
limelight from their early punk rock beginnings. It is a transition that critics claim have robbed them of their gritty garage band sound. From their roots in upstate
New York, Rzeznik, Takac, and original drummer
George Tutuska, the
Sex Maggots (as they were then called) started as a cover band in 1986. That same year, a local promoter "strongly advised" an identity change; shortly thereafter, The Goo Goo Dolls were born in their current form. The name came from a
True Detective magazine in which was advertised a
Goo Goo Doll. The band would later come to regret the name, seeing it as a potential
hindrance to record sales. In the words of frontman
Rzeznik in an
ASCAP interview, times were bleak:
... in Buffalo you headline Saturday night at The Continental, and that's it, really. We had to get real and just pick up. We got this record deal. It was like for fifteen hundred bucks (...) and that's what we had to make the record. The record was with a company called Celluloid which doesn't even exist anymore. We made that record, and then we said, 'We've got to get out of here, and hit the road.' So, we borrowed our friends van, and we were like, 'Well, we're either going to do it, or we're going to starve to death." It was really just a sink or swim situation...
In 1986, the Goo's also released their
first album; the aptly titled
First Release, it was later self-titled. The LP cost the band a borrowed $750, and was a baby step into what would become
stardom. Their 14-song disk is a raw and uncut look at their teenage beginnings in
Buffalo, and did as well as any opening
garage-band
LP could expect.
A year later, their disc was picked up by
Metal Blade records as part of a ten-record deal that would ultimately last for over a decade. The disc was self-titled under the new release, but otherwise remained the same. In the wake of the deal,
Rzeznik and company were, in his words, "
blinded" by the dream of a multi-record deal, and naively signed into what would later unfold as an unfair record deal with
Metal Blade.
The deal lasted through a steady release stream of
records, one every other year,
Jed in 1989,
Hold Me Up in 1991, and
Superstar Car Wash in 1993. By the third release under their label, they were starting to receive good press and increasing their fan base. The year 1995 was a big one for the band. In
January (on New Years), original drummer
George Tutuska was asked to leave the group under less than friendly circumstances. The audition for a new
percussionist began.
George was eventually replaced by
Washington DC and South
Florida native
Mike Malinin original in 1995 under contract, and was a contributor on
A Boy Named Goo. He had played drums since High School, and went through several bands in
Texas. Mike was a huge fan of the band before joining, already having owned all of their records. He played with them for the next few years, becoming an "official" Goo in 1998.
The band saw their first large success from 1995's release of
A Boy Named Goo, named after the Johnny Cash's song, "
A Boy Named Sue". For the first time, they saw a top five single in "Name", a departure from their punk/garage staple. The album would go on to sell over two million copies (
double platinum), however the three weren't seeing the riches that they'd expected. A lawsuit was filed against Metal Blade records, citing an unfair contract, and that they "haven't received a penny" from their hit album. The financial devastation was so great,
VH1 named them one of the top ten "Riches to Rags" stories of modern music.
The litigation dragged on and eventually involved Warner Brothers, the distributor of
Metal Blade. A
California law, (the
Olivia DeHaviland law) was cited that states that contracts are not enforceable past 7 years in the state; the
Goo Goo Dolls had worked under the same contract for
eight already. All parties settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, but the major result was that they were signed directly to
Warner. There was also no word as to whether original drummer George Tutuska received any payment from the settlement, as he did not contribute to the hit album. He did continue to receive songwriting royalties.
Drained and experiencing writer's block, Rzeznik and the band did quite a few soundtracks including
Twister,
Batman & Robin,
Tommy Boy, and
Ace Ventura II. They had nominal success, until their song Iris, for the
City of Angels soundtrack. Johnny had a bit of
inspiration from watching the movie and tried to write the song from the standpoint of
Nicholas Cage's character. It stayed at number 1 on the
Billboard charts for three weeks, and was in the Top 100 for a total of 18. The song went on to bring three
Grammy nominations.
With
Rzeznik out of counseling for his writer's block, and with a renewed attitude and vigor, the band continued to make albums with a
compilation CD in 2001, and with
Gutterflower in 2002. They have had consistent success in contemporary adult markets, and have enjoyed the prosperity that comes with the limelight of a main stream band.
The music is that of any popular adult band, a
power guitar and
bass melody, with
definite rock influences. They have showed it's staying power with repeat
performances on the airplay charts, and on tour with such varied bands as
No Doubt and
The Rolling Stones. While not as hard hitting as a lot of their earlier songs, they tend to find success with
ballads and basic
staple contemporary sounds. Their rock background is solid, but none of their recent music is too risky. They've said numerous times in
interviews that they play for the crowd and for what sounds
good. There isn't much of a hard hitting message in anything they play, mostly what they like and what would get airplay. "I don't try to peddle my agenda to people that come to see us" says Rzeznik. They are have weighed in on such issues as
gun control and are active in community service ranging from
food drives to the benefit concert for
September 11th.
Many people are
critical of the band as a
Replacements clone (their favorite band, and a heavy influence), or as selling out, and in a way they have. In many interviews, they've chalked it up to maturity, but after the troubles they've had on
bankruptcy's door, I can't say that I blame them. Playing what you want to play, and playing what people want to hear is the goal of any performer, as well as being part of being a musician:
I think that you should do whatever feels good. That thing that makes the hair on the back of your neck standup, that's all. That's always the thing to follow. I mean, there is nothing wrong with having an eclectic kind of thing. (ASCAP)
If you like them, you may be interested in other similar contemporary bands such as
Matchbox 20,
Collective Soul, and
Soul Asylum, or older bands that may have influenced them such as
The Ramones, or
The Replacements.
Works used:
- VH1 BTM 5th Anniversary: Riches to Rags
- http://azlyrics.com
- http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-g/googoodolls_main.htm
- http://www.insidecx.com/interviews/archive/googoodolls.html
- http://www.ascap.com/musicbiz/rzeznik.html
- http://www.azlyrics.com/g/googoodolls.html
- http://www.musicfanclubs.org/googoodolls/misc/faq.htm
- http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=3308&cf=210
- http://artistinfo.spinner.com/cg/x.dll?UID=2:50:59|AM&p=netscape&sql=1:4384~C