Trivia / Goo Goo Dolls

aka: The Goo Goo Dolls

• Breakthrough Black Sheep Hit: "Name" was quite different from the band's normal sound when it became a hit, which was primarily a Replacements-style Hard Rock one. Hell, Robby still sang on half the album "Name" is on!
• Breakaway Pop Hit: "Iris" is far more remembered than City of Angels, the film it was originally written for.
• Creator Backlash: They used to be a punk band. John Rzeznik said in the band's Behind The Music episode that the band's third album, Hold Me Up, was their first "real" album, effectively disowning their self-titled debut and its follow-up, Jed. Taking this further, the band rarely (or never) plays anything that came before their fifth album, A Boy Named Goo (which brought the band its first taste of commercial success, despite being in roughly the same Punk Rock style as their earlier releases), in concert anymore.
  • Actually, several songs from Superstar Car Wash (which was released two years before A Boy Named Goo), namely "We Are the Normal" (which singer Johnny Rzeznik has a particularly soft spot for because he wrote it with his idol Paul Westerberg), "Cuz You're Gone" and "Another Second Time Around" are still commonly played live, and even the title track to Hold Me Up gets an occasional live play.
  • In recent years, Rzeznik's opinions have changed on their earliest albums. When he was asked by Noisey to rank all of the band's records for a recurring feature, he didn't put Jed very high, but ranked their debut ahead of A Boy Named Goo and recommended that people who want to get into the band start with Superstar Car Wash.
• Creator Breakdown: Gutterflower, the album following Dizzy Up The Girl, was written and recorded after years of touring and fame breaking the band down physically and John's divorce from his ex-wife; while his songs have always been darker and moodier than Robby's, they became much more so on Gutterflower, and the album is a fan favorite.
• The Pete Best: George Tutuska. He was the drummer on their first four albums but it was only after he left that the band finally achieved some commercial success.
• Promoted Fanboy:
  • Mike Malinin was a fan of the band before becoming their drummer.
  • John co-wrote "We Are the Normal" off Superstar Car Wash with his idol, Paul Westerberg of The Replacements.

---