"Boys Named Goo: The Goo Goo Dolls' Long Trek To Success"
Everytime I wanted to quit the band, something dragged me back in," says Johnny Rzeznik, singer/guitarist for longtime pop rockers the Goo Goo Dolls. "I'd get frustrated and quit, and then our manager would call with some opportunity I couldn't refuse. There were all these serendipitous events that kept me in the band, and in between those events, I just asked myself, 'What else would I do with my life?'"
After nine years and five albums, original drummer Tutuska broke with the band right before the one event that would cement Rzeznik, bassist/co-vocalist Robby Talak (it is misspelled I know, but that is how it was spelled in the mag) and new drummer Mike Malinin's future: the Top 5 success of "Name," the single from 1995's A Boy Named Goo." KROQ, L.A.'s influential modern rock radio outlet, decided to add its own choice for a single, "Name," almost a half-year after the album's release. The out-of-nowhere add and huge listener response got the ball rolling and changed the entire course of the band's career. Today, with follow-up hits "Slide," and the mega-single, "Iris," the Goo Goo Dolls are bigger then ever, but Rzeznik appreciates the success even more when he remembers where they've been.
Though they didn't know each other at the time, the three original band members were raised on the east side of Buffalo, N.Y. in a "blue-collar, Polish working-class ghetto," says Rzeznik. "The best a person could hope for was to graduate high school and work in the factory. I got the hell out of there as soon as I could."
At age 15, Rzeznik became an orphan when both of his parents passed away within the same year. He lived by himself through the rest of high school and tried to better himself by going to plumbing school.
When Rzeznik finally moved to the suburbs, he met fellow east-side transplants Takac and Tutuska, and, in 1986, the Goo Goo Dolls were formed. The Dolls self-released their eponymous debut in 1987 and signed with L.A.-based label Metal Blade Records in 1988. "In my opinion, it was really a shitty record deal," says Rzeznik, "but no one else wanted to release our music. We just wanted to make records."
The band was able to jump to Warner Bros., following a breach-of-contract suit with Metal Blade. Concerning the lawsuit, Rzeznik jests, "I always say that we need to play more shows because I have a wife and three lawyers to support."
The Metal Blade days were lean for the band. "It wasn't like many of these punk bands whose members are trust-fund kids who can keep their loft in Soho because their fathers owns Mobil," Rzeznik comments. "We would get done with the tour, and we'd have to go sleep on a friend's floor until we could get on our feet again. WE had a lot of friends who've helped us over the years, and I love and appreciate all of them for that."
Finally, in 1995, the pop-rock ballad "Name" put the Goo Goo Dolls on the map. Yet just as people can't help but call actress Sandra Bullock the modern Doris Day, music fans couldn't help comparing the Goo Goo Dolls to bands like the Replacements and Hootie & the Blowfish, and their song, "Name," to Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train." In fact, the Goo Goo Dolls were actually the runners-up in Rolling Stone's annual Readers Poll as the "Next Hootie & the Blowfish."
"I don't give a shit," Rzeznik laughs coolly. "The only comparison that ever bummed me out was from a girl in Japan who said I looked like Jon Bon Jovi."
Referring to their next big break, the song "Iris" from the City of Angels soundtrack, Rzeznik remarks, "I never imagined our song would be a single because we were on a record with U2, Peter Gabriel and Sarah McLachlan. I was amazed as how big it hit."
Still Rzeznik and the band never forget their past. He recalls, "I believe growing up in Buffalo had a big impact on my life. I've never met people who work harder and who, as a whole, are such a big-hearted group of people. When I was 18, there were 50 people that I called my friends. Today, there are only three, but I'm glad to have those three. If you have three people that you can really call your friends, then you truly have it made."--David Jenison
