As Goo Goo Dolls prepare for their 13th studio album, 'Chaos In Bloom,' frontman John Rzeznik shares the stories behind the band's most beloved songs.
By Joshua M. Miller
Since debuting 36 years ago, Goo Goo Dolls have built a steadfast legacy through adaptability and an unwillingness to compromise. That strategy led to many memorable moments as well as chart-topping hits such as "Iris," "Name" and "Better Days."
After humble beginnings as a cover band, the group transitioned to a punk-driven sound on their late '80s and early '90s albums. By the middle of the '90s, they shifted to a more adult-oriented, alternative rock sound, starting with their hit album A Boy Named Goo.
While that change may have alienated some early fans, it helped them gain even more fans with their new level of fame. Their journey hasn't always been smooth sailing, though, with member changes and legal issues surrounding royalties.
However, lead singer John Rzeznik and his fellow co-founder, bassist Robby Takac, have kept the band going strong thanks to their openness to grow their sound and keep true to their vision. In Rzeznik's eyes, Takac is the reason they're still around. "There was a lot of adversity personally and professionally, but I credit Robby with keeping this band together more than I have," the frontman tells GRAMMY.com.
Even so, Rzeznik has helped write the band's many hits, and found freedom in staying true to himself as a lyricist and writing relatable songs about vulnerable topics such as drug addiction.
That continues on the band's eleventh studio album, Chaos in Bloom (out August 12), where Rzeznik says he and the band try to "make sense of a very confusing world." And even nearly four decades in, they're still pushing creative boundaries, as it's the first Goo Goo Dolls album that Rzeznik has fully produced.
"I still feel like I have something to say. At this point in time, the most important thing is just being a little more fearless," Rzeznik says. "We've been doing this so long, it's sort of like, 'Hey man. We're allowed to drop some of our apprehensions and not worry about the outcome so much.' Which is a great thing. Kind of freeing."
Ahead of Goo Goo Dolls' latest release, Rzeznik reflected on the band's legacy with GRAMMY.com, sharing the backstories and favorite memories behind their biggest hits.
"Name" — A Boy Named Goo, 1995
It was the first song that got played on the radio. Kevin Weatherly started playing that song all the time on KROQ. That was back in the days when KROQ was the tastemaker for the rest of the country.
We were shooting a video for another song called "Flat Top," and someone from the record company came onto the set of the video we're shooting and were like, "they added 'Name' to KROQ and they're playing it all the time." And now we have to stop doing this video, and we have to make a video for that song. Which, I guess, goes to show you how much influence KROQ had on music at that point in time.
We stopped production on this one video and made the other video and then boom, that became our first hit. That song actually went to No. 1 [on two Billboard charts, Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock Airplay], which was pretty awesome.
"Long Way Down" — A Boy Named Goo, 1995
It was a very tough song, a banger. But that was one of the songs where I felt like Robby and I were really learning how to play our instruments and learning how to make records. We took a step up from our first few albums when we got into making that one. Going out and playing hundreds and hundreds of shows, every night, we just got better at our craft.
"Iris" — Dizzy Up the Girl, 1998
I was staying in a hotel in Los Angeles and my manager called me and said, "Hey, Danny Bramson, who's a music supervisor at Warner Brothers, wants you to come and take a look at this movie. Maybe you could write a song to put in the film." It was a movie called City of Angels. I saw it, and I was like, "Oh, I know exactly what I'm going to say."
It was pretty interesting, because that was the first time I had ever written a song for a film specifically. I had a guitar [that] had four strings on it because I broke two. I just wandered into this weird tuning, and I went back to my hotel room, and thought about it.
I was able to write the song from the perspective of the character in the film, which was really a lot of fun, and it was great. I played it for [Danny] on a four-string guitar, and then went in the studio with Rob Cavallo.Then it went boom.
I never expected that song to do so well. I just wanted to be on a soundtrack U2, Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morissette were on. I thought, "Wow, that'd be really cool. It would be something cool to show people 20 years from now."
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VIDEO
Inside Goo Goo Dolls' Biggest Hits: John Rzeznik Details How "Iris," "Slide" & More Came To Be
As Goo Goo Dolls prepare for their 13th studio album, 'Chaos In Bloom,' frontman John Rzeznik shares the stories behind the band's most beloved songs.
JOSHUA M. MILLER
|GRAMMYS/AUG 11, 2022 - 01:59 PM
Since debuting 36 years ago, Goo Goo Dolls have built a steadfast legacy through adaptability and an unwillingness to compromise. That strategy led to many memorable moments as well as chart-topping hits such as "Iris," "Name" and "Better Days."
After humble beginnings as a cover band, the group transitioned to a punk-driven sound on their late '80s and early '90s albums. By the middle of the '90s, they shifted to a more adult-oriented, alternative rock sound, starting with their hit album A Boy Named Goo.
While that change may have alienated some early fans, it helped them gain even more fans with their new level of fame. Their journey hasn't always been smooth sailing, though, with member changes and legal issues surrounding royalties.
However, lead singer John Rzeznik and his fellow co-founder, bassist Robby Takac, have kept the band going strong thanks to their openness to grow their sound and keep true to their vision. In Rzeznik's eyes, Takar is the reason they're still around. "There was a lot of adversity personally and professionally, but I credit Robby with keeping this band together more than I have," the frontman tells GRAMMY.com.
Even so, Rzeznik has helped write the band's many hits, and found freedom in staying true to himself as a lyricist and writing relatable songs about vulnerable topics such as drug addiction.
That continues on the band's eleventh studio album, Chaos in Bloom (out August 12), where Rzeznik says he and the band try to "make sense of a very confusing world." And even nearly four decades in, they're still pushing creative boundaries, as it's the first Goo Goo Dolls album that Rzeznik has fully produced.
"I still feel like I have something to say. At this point in time, the most important thing is just being a little more fearless," Rzeznik says. "We've been doing this so long, it's sort of like, 'Hey man. We're allowed to drop some of our apprehensions and not worry about the outcome so much.' Which is a great thing. Kind of freeing."
Ahead of Goo Goo Dolls' latest release, Rzeznik reflected on the band's legacy with GRAMMY.com, sharing the backstories and favorite memories behind their biggest hits.
"Name" — A Boy Named Goo, 1995
It was the first song that got played on the radio. Kevin Weatherly started playing that song all the time on KROQ. That was back in the days when KROQ was the tastemaker for the rest of the country.
We were shooting a video for another song called "Flat Top," and someone from the record company came onto the set of the video we're shooting and were like, "they added 'Name' to KROQ and they're playing it all the time." And now we have to stop doing this video, and we have to make a video for that song. Which, I guess, goes to show you how much influence KROQ had on music at that point in time.
We stopped production on this one video and made the other video and then boom, that became our first hit. That song actually went to No. 1 [on two Billboard charts, Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock Airplay], which was pretty awesome.
"Long Way Down" — A Boy Named Goo, 1995
It was a very tough song, a banger. But that was one of the songs where I felt like Robby and I were really learning how to play our instruments and learning how to make records. We took a step up from our first few albums when we got into making that one. Going out and playing hundreds and hundreds of shows, every night, we just got better at our craft.
"Iris" — Dizzy Up the Girl, 1998
I was staying in a hotel in Los Angeles and my manager called me and said, "Hey, Danny Bramson, who's a music supervisor at Warner Brothers, wants you to come and take a look at this movie. Maybe you could write a song to put in the film." It was a movie called City of Angels. I saw it, and I was like, "Oh, I know exactly what I'm going to say."
It was pretty interesting, because that was the first time I had ever written a song for a film specifically. I had a guitar [that] had four strings on it because I broke two. I just wandered into this weird tuning, and I went back to my hotel room, and thought about it.
I was able to write the song from the perspective of the character in the film, which was really a lot of fun, and it was great. I played it for [Danny] on a four-string guitar, and then went in the studio with Rob Cavallo.Then it went boom.
I never expected that song to do so well. I just wanted to be on a soundtrack U2, Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morissette were on. I thought, "Wow, that'd be really cool. It would be something cool to show people 20 years from now."
"Slide" — Dizzy Up the Girl, 1998
We were doing the video for the song "Slide," and I was supposed to be in this shop with this girl. I'm kind of whispering in her ear, talking to her, and then they cut the shot and the girl slapped me across the face. I don't know why. I didn't say anything offensive, but she just gave me a smack. I was like, "Okay, I guess I was over-acting for something."
I just remember that. And it was kind of fun. It was an interesting kind of song. Subject matter is very serious lyrically, but the music is so light, lighthearted in a weird way, that it kind of fools you. I like songs that do that.
"Broadway" — Dizzy Up the Girl, 1998
It was a song that I had written and put it in a drawer and just left it there for a couple of years. I [later] revisited it, and reworked it, and it was the right time for that song to come out.
I wrote that song about the neighborhood I grew up in, which was a pretty hard neighborhood. Full of tough guys on the east side of Buffalo, [New York]. Once I was able to get away from that pretty oppressive environment, I felt like I had enough distance, and then I could speak my mind about it and sort of purge it out of me.
"Black Balloon" — Dizzy Up the Girl, 1998
It's a song about someone who's struggling with drug addiction, and what it's like to care about someone and love someone who has an addiction problem. I'm sure it's been used for stuff, but I thought the song kind of hit a pretty hard emotional chord.
"Sympathy" — Gutterflower, 2003
Once again, that song directly addresses addiction problems. That problem of trying to get sober and stay sober. Kind of interesting that you line all these songs up and put them in a row like this. I've touched on that subject a few times. I thought that that song just sort of encapsulated a dialogue I was having with myself in my head.
"Better Days" — Let Love In, 2006
It was originally supposed to be a song for a Christmas compilation that we were asked to contribute a song to. I wrote that and then took it into the studio. Glen Ballard [Michael Jackson, Alanis Morrissette] was the producer and co-writer on that. He turned it into something that became so much more than a Christmas song. CNN used the song as the music bed for their campaign to raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief, which I thought was really amazing and brilliant.
"Give A Little Bit" — Let Love In, 2006
It's a funny song, because we basically just took the parts that everybody knew and put them together. If you listen to our version and the original version [by Supertramp] back-to-back, they're so different. We just thought, "Well, let's take the parts that everyone knows and put them together in a song." We did this very condensed-down, concentrated version.
I thought that was kind of funny because I was like, "You're listening to the song and you're like, 'Wow, well, this song is seven minutes long. We've got to cut some stuff out of it." That's what we wound up with. And it worked, which was a surprise.
I think we got a note, or someone got a phone call from [Supertramp co-frontman] Roger Hodgson, and it was good. It was nice to be acknowledged by him for that.