What do the Goo Goo Dolls and the Rolling Stones have in common?  They’re both touring this year….and yeah, maybe that’s all.  The Goo Goo Dolls did open for the Rolling Stones back in 1999, and have famously covered some of their tunes, but most of the similarities end there, since our band is many years away from senior discounts.  Here’s an interview with Robby before the Goo Goo Dolls headed out on the road with Mick, Keith, & friends,  and some videos of their covers….”Bitch” featuring the incredible Lance Diamond, and “Gimmer Shelter” (with some BOC thrown in for good measure)…

Gaga over Goo Goo Dolls; Buffalo rockers dizzy with success after years of struggle

From: The Boston Herald
Date: March 20, 1999
Author: Rodman, Sarah

Apparently opening for the Rolling Stones presents the same financial demands as going to see them.

“As soon as we figured out how we were going to pay for it,” said Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robbie Takac, laughing, “that’s about when we said yes we’d be interested.”

Of course, the Buffalo rockers and recent Grammy nominees, who open the Stones’ FleetCenter shows on Monday and Tuesday, were talking logistics, not the tour’s $300 ticket prices. Then again, Takac said, “I’ll probably have to stand, too.”

All kidding aside, Takac, calling from Los Angeles, said that opening for the Stones is “an honor just like the Grammys were. When it comes right down to it, you never think you’re going to have a chance like that. When it finally happens, I’m sure it’s going to be really exciting.”

Unfortunately, the rock trio who open six shows for the Stones, had to settle for the honor of their three Grammy nods. Their sweeping hit ballad “Iris,” from both the “City of Angels” soundtrack and their current album “Dizzy Up the Girl,” recognized in the Record, Song and Group Pop categories, failed to score a trophy. But they took it in stride with lead singer-guitarist Johnny Rzeznik spotted at post-show parties sporting a T-shirt inscribed, “I was nominated for three Grammys and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”

Said Takac, “The synopsis of the day for me was we did probably 40 interviews on the way down the carpet and everyone asked about our suits, and I think maybe two people asked us about our songs.

“Ultimately, it’s pretty cheesy. The cool thing about it is the people that voted are in the music industry and that feels pretty cool, especially after all this time for people to tip their hat.”

All this time is right. 1998 was a breakthrough year for the trio – which includes drummer Mike Malinin – with “Dizzy” going platinum and spawning top 10 hits such as “Iris” and “Slide.” But the group has been slogging it out since 1986 hitting their first major peak 10 years later with the acoustic ballad “Name” in 1996.

“I think there’s (a) perception among a lot of people that we’ve made one record,” said Takac of “Dizzy.” In fact, the group has cut five previous records of their tuneful garage pop and culled a healthy following for their turbulent live shows. They could even teach the Rolling Stones a thing or two about touring.

“We circled the entire world in 28 days, Los Angeles to Los Angeles” said Takac of their recent whirlwind schedule. “We did Europe for two and a half weeks and Japan for six days and Australia for five, New Zealand for one and then we were back home to try on our suits and go to the Grammys.”

Although they’ve suffered some grief at the hands of longtime fans who see the group’s progression from their earlier, thrashier rock style to the more refined, orchestral textures of “Iris,” Takac can’t be bothered.

“People freak out when you change your shoes,” he said of die-hard fans crying sellout. “It’s just bizarre, sometimes I wonder how someone like Madonna gets away with changing her style all the time. Everyone seems to sort of forgive her for it. I guess everyone anticipates it. I think with rock bands people are always afraid that you’re going to turn into a bunch of (wimps) or you’re going to go too far in one direction and ruin the rock vibe for them.”

But those are small worries for a band that Takac said is, “busier than we’ve ever, ever been.”

He doesn’t picture the Goo Goo Dolls still kicking out the jams in their 50s, however.

“I don’t think so. I don’t know about retirement but I’m sure I’ll be doing something differently at that point. There’s nothing more annoying than a 50-year-old rock guy.”

Like say the Rolling Stones? He laughs when replying, “You know they’re different, they have formaldehyde of some sort.”

The Goo Goo Dolls open for the Rolling Stones at the FleetCenter Monday and Tuesday. Both shows are sold out.

Today we go back to 1993, when flannel…and bowling…were big, and all band member last names were “Goo” (thankfully, that didn’t make a comeback)…enjoy!

VOLLEY OF THE DOLLS

Chris  Mundy
Rolling Stone
4/1/93

The Goo Goo Dolls turn it up and kick out the jams, Replacements style

IF BON JOVI MATTERED – OR AT LEAST aced a couple members, cranked out urgent, bracing melodies and could captivate a sold-out, sweat-soaked club – it might look a lot like this.

It’s a Friday night in Hoboken, New Jersey, and the Goo Goo Dolls have arrived. Guitarist-singer Johnny Rzeznik has just bodysurfed his way back onto the stage unscathed, his nouveau Jovi haircut covering his face and only helping to accentuate the Richie Sambora-like coif of bassist-singer Robby Takac, who is stomping around the tiny stage like a hyperactive child.

It’s a typical Goo Goo Dolls show, precariously balancing juvenile energy with grown-up insights, pristine pop with garage-rock abandon. The mesmerized horde ranges from teenagers in flannel to the late-twentysomething peers of the band . . . in flannel. Johnny and Robby bound across the stage barefoot while drummer George Tutuska methodically beats the point into the crowd’s skull with the workmanlike consistency of a construction boss. As the song crashes to a close, the guitarist eyes the crowd. “Last time we played here, we had to leave the stage because of a gas leak,” says Johnny (because the Goos’ last names are less pronounceable than those of most New York cabbies, the band sticks to first names). “Some guy yells out, `Westerberg wouldn’t have quit playing.’ Yeah, right. I just told him, `Westerberg wouldn’t play here.’ ”

Yes, life for the Goo Goo Dolls is grand. Their fourth album, Superstar Car Wash, has focused the group’s range and rage even more than Hold Me Up, the Goos’ last outing and major-label debut. And after seven years of starving for rent money, three record labels, thousands of tour miles and a fair share of near fistfights, their indie credibility is actually being questioned. For three guys from Buffalo, New York, who still rehearse every afternoon at one and who all own their own bowling balls, stardom must be eerily close at hand.

“I think if we’d gotten a break when Hold Me Up came out, we wouldn’t have been ready for it,” says Robby, discussing the band’s current media blitz while sipping a lousy cup of coffee in a Manhattan restaurant the day after the Hoboken show. “To be honest, I think we would have walked away from a lot of it.”

Now, if Paul Westerberg’s validation is what the Goo Goo Dolls were lacking to get them ready and finally put them over the top, they’ve fairly well pole-vaulted into a new sphere. After the Replacements’ boss took the Goos on the road with him and his ex-band, Westerberg even penned lyrics to “We Are the Normal,” Superstar Car Wash’s first single.

“That wasn’t even the song that we asked him to write words for,” says Johnny. “It was on the tape that I sent him, and he said, `Well, I put words to a couple other, too.’ I was like `Uhhh, okay.’ What do you say to him? I’m kind of intimidated by him. He’s a legend.”

Ironically, the acoustic-tinged “Normal” is the one song on the album that doesn’t resonate with the same slovenly majesty and boozy charm that the Goos share with the Mats. Like the albums before it, Superstar Car Wash is the sound of three Goos kicking and screaming for attention. Take a listen and you find out that they had something to say all along.

“The general theme behind this band for a long time has been a sympathetic point of view to most people our ages,” says Johnny. “Things are fucked up, but let’s make the best of it.”

Making the best of a fucked-up situation has been the Goos’ modus operandi from Day One. Left out in the cold in the Buffalo music circuit, the group made its own scene, renting halls to get gigs. Once a break came, the band found itself signed to the record deal from hell.

“I’ll give the guy at Celluloid Records one thing – he put out our record,” says Robby. “I don’t think I would have. But we’d say, `We need twenty dollars for gas,’ and he’d say, `What the fuck are you calling me for?’ They were making ninety percent of the profit, we paid all the bills, and they’re telling us to screw off.”

Subsisting on peanut-butter sandwiches, the band made it to California intact (Johnny survived a night when, sleeping on a stranger’s couch, he was awakened by the sound of his host trying to rape his own sister) and eventually signed to Metal Blade Records. And while Jed, the resulting record, lashes out at the outside world, the follow-up, Hold Me Up, began the group’s effort to put forth a hopeful, if still somewhat desperate, message. The title is a nod to the faith of the Catholic-raised band members.

“I dig God,” says Johnny. “But that’s a real personal thing. I would never tell anyone what they should believe. For me, if there’s a guy on the street that needs a buck and you’ve got one, you should give it to him. Whether he wants it for crack or a cup of coffee. It’s an act of faith. And that will come back to you.”

It might finally be coming back to the Goos. “One thing this band gave me is confidence in myself as a person,” says Johnny. “I couldn’t even talk to people without putting my hand over my mouth, but Robby made me sing.” (“There were some rough spots,” Robby interjects.) “It’s come down when I’m standing there thinking, `He’s going to sock me in the fucking head.’ But it all works out, and then we go bowling.”

And when the Goo Goo Dolls bowl, they bowl in Buffalo. “I’m going to live where my family is until I die,” says George. “If I won the lottery, I’d travel the world, but I’d always go home to where my family is.”

For underdogs making good (“We used to be house dogs,” says George. “Now we’re show dogs”), it’s nice to be where the locals know you’re not just another designer-grunge thrash in the pan.

“We all write from our own experience,” says George. Adds Robby: “Are we supposed to start writing about tour buses? Before you know it, you’re Jackson Browne. We have to be true to the people who have been true to us. Buffalo is a great place to live.” He pauses and smiles. “But I wouldn’t want to visit.”

It’s playoff time for hockey fans, and if you love hockey, we have a treat for you – especially if you’re a Sabres fan.  Sure, they didn’t make the playoffs, but the Sabres LOVE their Goo Goo Dolls!  Whether your team is sitting at home watching because of the shortened season, extensive injuries, or because the Bertuzzi curse seems to be only a myth, here’s some hockey action for you with a Goo Goo Dolls soundtrack.

First, remember when the Goo Goo Dolls performed at the 2003 NHL All Star game?

This Buffalo Sabres video was the season opening video in 2006-2007…

The Sabres video open for 2009 included “Real”…

The Sabres 2011-2012 highlight reel was set to “Let Love In”(makes the fights that much sweeter):

And even Oswego State set their 2012-2013 season video to “Better Days”

We return you to your original hockey programming…and may the team you hate the least…win!