Origins and early music (1985–1993) The band's original lineup included
John Rzeznik (guitar, vocals),
Robby Takac (bass, vocals), and
George Tutuska (drums, percussion). Takac and Tutuska had been long-time friends in school and met Rzeznik while he was playing in the band The Beaumonts with Takac's cousin, Paul Takac, and close friend Michael Harvey who was the inspiration for the band. In 1999 Rolling Stone reported the trio picked their name from a
True Detective ad for a toy called a Goo Goo Doll. In 2022, Rzeznik said he didn't remember how they picked the name. "We had a gig and so we had to come up with some kind of a name just to play the show", Rzeznik said. "It's kind of a stupid name." The band started out playing covers, but went on to develop a punk sound. With Takac as their lead singer, the band released their first album,
Goo Goo Dolls, in 1987 on Mercenary Records, but was picked up in 1988 by
Celluloid Records, a larger record company. They played around Buffalo's underground music circuit and across the United States, opening for punk bands such as
Gang Green,
SNFU,
Dag Nasty,
Bad Religion,
Motörhead,
ALL,
The Dead Milkmen, Doughboys,
Big Drill Car,
The Gun Club,
Uniform Choice,
The Dickies, and
DRI and playing with fellow Buffalo bands. The band released its second album,
Jed, in 1989. The band released its third album,
Hold Me Up, in 1990 and featured Rzeznik as the lead vocalist on five tracks, including the single "There You Are" and "Two Days in February". After being embraced by local
college radio and punk scenes (including such venues as
CBGB), the Goo Goo Dolls incorporated elements of
heavy metal,
pop rock, and
punk rock into the album. In 1991, the song "I'm Awake Now" was recorded for the soundtrack of ''
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare''.
Superstar Car Wash, released in 1993, received a larger budget from
Metal Blade Records. The album was partially recorded at
Metalworks Studios in
Mississauga, Ontario. The single "We Are the Normal", co-written with
Paul Westerberg of
The Replacements, Westerberg providing the lyrics, received a major push toward play on college and independent radio, and its video was displayed on MTV's
120 Minutes program. "Fallin' Down" made it onto the 1993 soundtrack of
Pauly Shore's hit film
Son in Law.
Mainstream success, A Boy Named Goo, legal issues, and Tutuska's departure (1993–1997) Just before
A Boy Named Goo's release, Tutuska was fired from the band and replaced by
Mike Malinin.
A Boy Named Goo became the first album in
Metal Blade history to achieve double-platinum status. The single "
Name" was particularly successful on the record. This success, however, proved bittersweet, as the band found themselves in a legal battle with Metal Blade. The band filed suit against Metal Blade, claiming they had not earned any royalties from their album's sales, which was attributed to a "grossly unfair, one-sided and unenforceable contract" which had been signed by the band in 1987. The two sides reached a settlement which had the band signed to Metal Blade's distributing label,
Warner Bros. Records, under which the band released their sixth album
Dizzy Up the Girl in 1998. The Goo Goo Dolls experienced mainstream success following the 1995 release of their breakthrough single "Name". The success of "Name" marked a fundamental change in the band's sound from alternative rock to a more mainstream, adult-oriented direction and led to guest appearances on
Beverly Hills, 90210 and
Charmed.
Dizzy Up the Girl and Gutterflower (1997–2005) Rzeznik was approached to write a song for the
City of Angels soundtrack, and the end product was "
Iris". Session guitarist
Tim Pierce played the mandolin intro and also the slide guitar solo. The song stayed on top of
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay charts for 18 weeks and spent 4 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Pop Songs chart. Iris held the record for the most weeks on the radio for almost 22 years before
The Weeknd released "
Blinding Lights" and broke the long-standing record on August 22, 2020. Iris was nominated for three Grammys. According to several interviews with Rzeznik, he was experiencing serious bouts of writer's block when he was approached, and was on the verge of quitting the band days before he wrote the song. "Iris" was included on the quintuple-platinum
Dizzy Up the Girl, and was among top-ten hits "
Slide", "
Black Balloon", "
Broadway", and "
Dizzy" from the same album. In 2001, the Goos released their first compilation CD,
What I Learned About Ego, Opinion, Art & Commerce. Next,
Gutterflower (2002) achieved gold certification, producing the hits "
Here Is Gone", "
Sympathy", and "
Big Machine". On July 4, 2004, the band performed a free concert in Buffalo, playing through a deluge of rain that appears on the DVD released later that year. The DVD also contained a studio version of the Goo Goo Dolls' cover of "
Give a Little Bit" by
Supertramp. The single reached the top of the
Adult Top 40 chart in 2005. July 4, 2004, has been proclaimed "Goo Goo Dolls Day" in their native
Buffalo, New York.
Let Love In (2005–2007) " from the
OST of the 2007 film
Transformers at the
Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, on July 22, 2007. In 2006, the Goo Goo Dolls marked their 20th anniversary with their new album
Let Love In, which included the studio recording of "
Give a Little Bit" as well as other top 10 radio singles "
Better Days", "Stay with You", and "Let Love In". Goo Goo Dolls performed on
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on June 8, 2007, and at
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on June 22, 2007. On June 27, 2007, the Goo Goo Dolls performed at
Red Rocks Amphitheatre in
Morrison, Colorado. The concert was released as a DVD on the limited-edition version of their 2008 release,
Vol.2. Though the album has not (as of 2007) been certified by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), various music sites have asserted that it has gone gold.
Greatest hits albums (2007–2008) On November 13, 2007, the Goo Goo Dolls released a greatest hits album entitled
Greatest Hits Volume One: The Singles, which includes a new version of "Name" recorded and mixed by Paul David Hager, and a remix of "Feel the Silence" by Michael Brauer. The band performed "Better Days" and "Stay With You" at the halftime of the
Detroit Lions' 2007 Thanksgiving Day game at
Ford Field.
Something for the Rest of Us (2008–2010) The Goo Goo Dolls announced recording sessions for a new album, on their website, unrelated to their
Volume Two in 2008. In addition, the band performed as part of the O2 Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park in the summer of 2008.
Something for the Rest of Us was released on August 31, 2010. While the album was full of the pop-rock that has sustained the band for decades, lead singer/guitarist Rzeznik's songwriting took on a more somber, serious tone.
Something for the Rest of Us included the single "
Home", which extended the band's record to 14 top ten hits at the Hot AC radio format (more than any other artist in the history of that format). The band performed a live mini-concert at the Apple Store in
Manhattan, New York on December 2, 2010.
Magnetic and Malinin's departure (2010–2015) The album
Magnetic was released on June 11, 2013 and debuted at No. 8 on the
Billboard 200 chart. On July 19, 2013, the band released the second single off of
Magnetic, "
Come to Me". In December 2013,
Mike Malinin announced his departure from the band. In November 2014, Malinin sued the band for wrongful termination, claiming that he was fired after requesting paternity leave. The Goo Goo Dolls contributed to the soundtrack of the broadway musical
Finding Neverland in 2015. The soundtrack, released June 9, 2015, contained the song "If the World Turned Upside Down".
Boxes, 20th anniversary of A Boy Named Goo and touring (2015–2017) The band spent the majority of 2015 in the studio writing and recording their eleventh studio album,
Boxes, at
Bear Creek Studio in
Woodinville,
Washington. The album was released on May 6, 2016. The Goo Goo Dolls celebrated the 20th anniversary of the release of
A Boy Named Goo by releasing a special edition of the album on November 27, 2015. Goo Goo Dolls released an exclusive vinyl box set for Record Store Day on April 22, 2017, entitled
Pick Pockets, Petty Thieves, and Tiny Victories (1987–1995).
You Should Be Happy, Miracle Pill, and Christmas album (2017–2021) On May 12, 2017, Goo Goo Dolls released a five-song EP entitled
You Should Be Happy. In support of the EP, the band toured throughout the summer of 2017 on the "Long Way Home" tour with
Phillip Phillips. With 2018 marking the 20th anniversary of
Dizzy Up the Girl, the band embarked on a commemorative tour where they performed the album in its entirety. Also in 2018, the band released two live albums:
The Audience is This Way in June, and
The Audience is That Way in November. At the beginning of 2019, the Goo Goo Dolls announced that they were working on a twelfth studio album. On record store day (April 13, 2019), a vinyl box limited to 1000 copies under the name
Topography was released. On August 24, 2020, the band announced a Christmas album: ''
It's Christmas All Over, which was released on October 30. Later that year, Rzeznik sat down with Atwood Magazine'' to discuss the band's 35th anniversary.
Chaos in Bloom (2022–present) In a June 2021 interview, singer
John Rzeznik revealed that the band was working on their 14th studio album, which would be released sometime in 2022. When asked about how the album differs from the band's previous work, Rzeznik claimed that the band had decided to approach both writing and recording in an alternative way. Specifically, the band used earlier forms of production which they utilized prior to the
digital era in the music industry. In a November 2021
Spin interview, Rzeznik stated that he produced most of the album himself. He added that the album would sound more experimental than the band's past releases, hinting that he did not believe it would receive much radio airplay. It was later confirmed that the album was entirely produced by Rzeznik. On June 27, 2022, the band announced the title of their new album,
Chaos in Bloom, as well as the first single off it, "Yeah, I Like You". The latter premiered on July 1, 2022. In February 2023, Goo Goo Dolls announced their North America tour. == Band members ==