Goo Goo Dolls

Certain Songs #525: Goo Goo Dolls – “Flat Top”

May 3, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: A Boy Named Goo
Year: 1995

The Goo Goo Dolls followed up the ragged glories of Jed & Hold Me Up with the too-slick-by-half Superstar Car Wash, which featured a few great songs (especially “Girl Right Next To Me” & “String of Lies”), but lacked the sense of bratty humor that suffused the early records.

Gone were the fun covers that had been sung by a local lounge singer named Lance Diamond (including the suddenly sadly relevant “I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man”), and in their place, a disappointing collaboration with Paul Westerberg.

Then in 1995, they dropped A Boy Named Goo, their attempt to replicate the pop-punk success that Green Day had with Dookie, and it totally stiffed.

Certain Songs #513: Goo Goo Dolls – “You Know What I Mean”

April 21, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hold Me Up
Year: 1990

What makes a band decide to cover a song? Or, more germane to this post: what makes a band decide to cover a relatively obscure Goo Goo Dolls song.

In the case of Sedan Delivery, for the past few years, I’ve been positive it was because our guitarist Don really liked Johnny Rzeznik when they had a conversation about both being the door guys for their local clubs when the Goo Goo Dolls played the Blue.

This despite the fact that I don’t actually have a memory of the Goo Goo Dolls playing the Blue.

Certain Songs #512: Goo Goo Dolls – “There You Are”

April 20, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hold Me Up
Year: 1990

I don’t remember where I read it, but around the time this album came out, there was an article in some music magazine where Goo Goo Guitarist Johnny Rzeznik listed his favorite albums, and they were all albums by The Replacements, Hüsker Dü and The Clash.

I remember reading it and thinking, “OK, I need to check these guys out,” and immediately bought Hold Me Up,, which turned out to be one of my favorite punk (or punk-influenced, you snobs) records of the post-Hüskers pre-Nevermind era.

Certain Songs #511: Goo Goo Dolls – “Road To Salinas”

April 19, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Jed
Year: 1989

Because it was the 1990s, in light of their eventual mega-success, the Goo Goo Dolls ended up getting devalued critically, despite the fact that they made quite a few good (and one great) albums.

The first of those good albums was their second album, 1989’s Jed, which dialed back the paint-by-numbers bratcore of their eponymous debut and started adding some melody into the songs.