By: Jon Rich

The Goo Goo Dolls are riding the wave of chart success, but it seems the band can’t get a break with most people. Sure, that song from City of Angels was all over the radio and MTV this summer and their single, “Slide,” topped the Billboard charts in October and November, but a lot of people still have something against this three-man band from Buffalo who first hit the big time in 1996 with the song “Name.” Maybe it’s that their concerts usually sell out, or that they sound like the Replacements but have achieved the monetary success that band never experienced firsthand. Perhaps it’s just the goofy band name.

Whatever the reason, the band isn’t letting it get to them. They’ve recently played on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Howard Stern Radio Show and Modern Rock Live, and what’s more, they’ve released their sixth album, Dizzy Up The Girl. Lead singer Johnny Rzeznik talks about how they’re dealing with all this attention. “I’m really happy because people are taking notice of what we’re doing and we didn’t have to change what we do to make people notice us. And that’s a good feeling. I feel like we worked our asses off, and I’m just grateful. We’re working really hard right now and trying to avoid any of the outside influences and interference’s.” One of those interference’s is the possibility of overexposure. This summer you couldn’t turn on the radio or MTV without hearing “Iris” on the speaker. “Sorry about that,” he laughs. “I apologize. But I’m just keeping my head down and working... trying not to pay attention to what’s going on in the outside world.” “My biggest concern right now,” the wild-haired singer continues, “is that we do the most amazing shows we can possibly do. I want to go out there and kick every other band’s ass, and I never felt like that before. I feel like we have these two other guys playing with us and have an amazing crew. The band is really, really tight, feeling healthy, feeling good and having such a great time that I just want everybody to go ‘Man, that is the best fuckin’ band I have seen live in a long time.’”

Since 1996’s A Boy Named Goo, the Dolls have made a name for themselves on soundtracks, first City of Angels, and now the new Brad Pitt film, Meet Joe Black. While some film scores are just slapped together from studio leftovers or whatever is topping the charts, Rzeznik says his contributions stand out because they’re penned specifically for the movies. “I was called by the music director and producer of the film [City of Angels]. They asked me if I would be interested in writing a song for the remake of Wings of Desire that they were doing. I said ‘Sure, guys, fly me to Los Angeles, put me up in a hotel, and we’ll do this.’ They did, and after I saw the film I went back to my hotel room and wrote the song in about an hour. I was in a recording studio a week later doing it for the film. I never anticipated it being a hit, though, because of all the other artists like U2, Alanis Morissette, Peter Gabriel and Sarah McLachlan on the album. They’re all fantastic. Somebody’s out there scratching their head about that one.”

Rzeznik says he gets another type of satisfaction from music, that of therapy. “It allows me to forget about everything that’s going on in the outside world. It’s kind of weird because, being a musician, you have to protect the purity of what you do and you can’t let anything in the outside world influence you. You can’t let negative criticism, the music business, people calling you a rock star or saying you’re famous...all that’s bullshit. It’s crap. All that stuff is a by-product of being good at what you do and it has to be treated as such. It has to be treated really carefully because it will fuck you up if you let that be the end to you. If you use music as a means to become famous, fame being your end, then you’re a fucking phony.” Not trying to be phony, the band manages to pull some earnest songwriting from their experiences. “Broadway” is about the working-class neighborhood Rzeznik and his band mates grew up in around Buffalo, New York.

While “Hate This Place” is an homage to one of their early influences. “Everyone says we sound like The Replacements all the time, so I wanted to write a song that sounded like them,” Rzeznik laughs about his tribute to Paul Westerberg and company. “I admire his work and he’s really brilliant. When his new record comes out I hope it’s really huge because people ought to know his music taught me how to play rock ‘n’ roll.” There are other insights into the band on other songs, such as “Extra Pale,” which takes its name from a Rolling Rock beer tap, and “Dizzy Noise,” which Rzeznik says refers to the need for people to not take themselves so seriously. “The title [Dizzy up The Girl] means to show someone a good time, take them out drinking and dancing, have a good time and lighten up. I have a very serious friend and she needs to lighten up sometimes. I’ll say, ‘You wanna go out tonight? C’mon, I’ll take you out and dizzy you up. You need some dizzying’ up. You ought to let yourself get dizzy for a night, then go back to what you gotta do.’”