Contributed by: Bill Reiser
The Billboard (9/5/98) article:
WB is 'Dizzy' Over Goos Set: 'Iris' Single Helps Set Up 'Boy' Follow-Up by Dylan Siegler
NEW YORK - In conquering his writer's block, the Goo Goo Dolls' Johnny Rzeznik found therapy in the writing of "Iris," the act's contribution to the "City of Angels" soundtrack.
Luckily, Rzeznik was unaware of the tremendous impact the song would have on the Goo Goo Dolls' career, or intimidation might have quelled inspiration. The infectious track propelled the band to a first-ever No. 1 in Australia, topped the charts at home in the States, and presented a serendipitous setup for the group's new Warner Bros. album, "Dizzy Up The Girl," due Sept. 22 in the U.S.
"I was a little surprised [at the massive success of "Iris"]," says Goo Goo Doll Robby Takac, "because with U2 and Alanis [Morissette] and Sarah McLachlan and Peter Gabriel, we weren't exactly the marquee act on that album."
The single's charm has triggered a tripling of weekly sales for the band's 1995 set, "A Boy Named Goo" (Music to My Ears, Billboard Feb. 25, 1995), and jump-started other catalog recordings. "People are going out wanting to find more Goo Goo Dolls music," says Andy Schuon, executive VP/GM at Warner Bros. "There's rarely been a better setup for an album."
"Dizzy Up The Girl" will likely please both longtime Goo Goo Dolls fans and recent, "Iris"-inspired converts. Without sacrificing the powerful, guitar-driven ethic that propelled 1993's "Superstar Car Wash" and "A Boy Named Goo," "Dizzy" represents a perceptible expansion of stylistic boundaries (see track listing, below).
"I wanted to make something that sounded like it had some permanence to it, something real, something that breathed," says Rzeznik, who plays guitar and shares vocal duties in the band. "You've got to keep moving; that's the biggest thing that I've learned. It's been four years and an unbelievable growing process. My perspective on a lot of things has changed."
Other changes--like the addition of drummer Mike Malinin (who replaced George Tutuska following the recording of "ABNG"), the group's move to Warner Bros. from the Warner-distributed Metal Blade following a breach-of-contract suit (The Beat, Billboard, April 19, 1997), and of course "Iris"--all contributed to the Buffalo, NY-based band's more mature outlook. "We are all really comfortable where we are," says Rzeznik. "We belong where we are now."
CREATIVE STRIDE
"When you've been together as long as the GGDs have, you continue to grow," says Schuon. "They've gotten to a place where the writing and the music has clicked. They've hit a stride creatively that's really fueling them."
While the GGDs pre-Metal Blade/WB recordings were straight-ahead rock albums, they began to gain mainstream momentum when the band's musical development collided with the insurgence of modern rock, which was poised to embrace the act.
Propelled by chart-topping rock track "Name," ABNG has sold 1.3 million units, according to SoundScan.
"Iris" was just what the group needed to tip the scales, broadening its appeal across formats and increasing its presence internationally. "This is definitely the song that lets the band quit their day jobs," says Jayn, assistant PD at modern rock KNRK Portland, Ore.
"They're rooted in alternative and rock but are able to cross over to pop and modern AC," says Schuon. "It takes three, four, five markets in 1998 to really break out and sell the kind of records that the GGDs can sell."
In Europe, sales have been spurred by film promotions for "City of Angels." Bernd Dopp, CEO of WEA Germany, credits close collaboration with Warner Bros.' film unit and aggressive retail marketing with making "City of Angels" a success and bringing the GGDs attention.
In Australia, a massive six-week TV campaign to promote the movie featured "Iris," launching the song into the top 10 before more radio stations had even picked up on it. "Iris" is so far Warner Music Australia's biggest-selling single of 1998, with sales of 140,000 copies (double-platinum). The soundtrack has sold 100,000 copies, according to the label.
Plans are to release "Dizzy" in Europe during the same time frame as the US launch, although details were still being nailed down at press time. WEA is releasing the album Sept. 22 in Canada and Mexico and Oct. 5 in Japan.
Mainstream attention abroad and stateside should not give the impression that the band has ceased to rock, however. The new album is rife with guitar hooks and inspired lyrics, kept current by the production of Rob Cavallo, who recently moved to Hollywood Records as senior VP of A&R from the same post at Reprise.
"I has so much fun doing this record," says Rzeznik. "[Cavallo] is a great musician, and that's what we wanted out of a producer. It's so important to have a producer be able to dig in and get creative with you."
Rich Wall, PD at modern rock WEDG Buffalo, says that "Iris" was "an instant hit" at the station, since Buffalo listeners "go the extra mile to support the hometown team."
But loyalty aside, "Iris" has to be a great song to get the numbers they've pulled" in research, and the new album's "great guitar sounds and incredible lyrics" are promising, Wall adds. "As far as bands out there who are in the vein of the GGDs, they're the most real and the most honest."
According to Jon Leshay, senior VP of marketing at Warner Bros., exposing the group through heavy touring will be the label's first priority. The act is booked by the William Morris Agency. Videoclips for "Slide" and a still-undecided second track will be shot in coming weeks.
"We're already shipping beyond gold, which is a first," says Leshay. "This could be the biggest album of the fourth quarter."
John Grandon, VP of purchasing at the 150-store, Carnegie, Pa.-based National Record Mart, agrees. "I expect the new GGDs to be one of the big rock records of the year, the record that brings the GGDs into superstardom," he says, noting that "ABNG" is still a top catalog seller at the chain.
METHODICAL MARKETING
Leshay adds that marketing "Dizzy" will be "incredibly simple and methodical" in the wake of the success of "Iris," and that the label will build on the band's recognizability with MTV and VH1-related promotions, still in the works.
Band members say they are prepared to deal with the onset of celebrity and the months of touring that will come with it. "You need eight hours of sleep," says Takac with a laugh, "which I haven't gotten in about six months." Rzeznik says he'll try to "just stay healthy and not drink too much--at least not every night."
Jokes aside, the GGDs, who are managed by Pat Magnarello of Third Rail, have gotten where they are through hard work, talent, and perseverance. "You can't assume that it's gonna happen for you," says Takac. "You have to make it happen for yourself."
"DIZZY" TRACK LISTING
"Dizzy Noise (Everything You Are)" (by Rzeznik): "I wanted this song to sound like a cross between Gang of Four and Led Zeppelin with a big hook in the middle," says Johnny.
"Slide" (Rzeznik): The album's first single, this track builds slick accessibility on a firm rock track foundation. "It's just a Catholic teenage sex/angst anthem," explains Rzeznik.
"Broadway" (Rzeznik): "This is about Broadway and Fillmore in Buffalo, the neighborhood I grew up in," says Rzeznik. "It's an ethnic, working-class neighborhood full of a lot of lugheads with a lot of opinions. This is my comment on their perspective on the world."
"January Friend" (Takac): "This song is about a trip I took to Hawaii," says Robby Takac. "When you're in paradise, some weird things go to your head after a while, and this is about that."
"Black Balloons" (Rzeznik): "That's a weird one," admits Rzeznik, "and it kind of gives me the creeps a little bit when I hear it. It's about seeing someone you love that's so great just fuck up so bad." But don't assume that it's a first-person account. Rzeznik often uses other people as his muse. "I try to watch people and listen to them and see what the hell's going on and then comment about it. I mean, Stephen King never really ran into Cujo!"
"Bullet Proof" (Rzeznik): "I like the hook at the front; it's really nasty," says Rzeznik, "and then I really enjoy it when the chorus kicks in. I like the dynamic of this song."
"Amigone" (Takac): According to Takac, this track takes its title from an unfortunately named funeral home in Buffalo. "It's not about that place necessarily, but it relates to the song in a backhanded sort of way."
"All Eyes On Me" (Rzeznik AND Takac): While Rzeznik and Takac usually write songs individually, this is a collaborative number. "I was so stuck," says Rzeznik, "and Robby had been listening to me sort of sing along with the track in the studio and started jotting down what he thought I was saying. And it worked." Says Takac, "Johnny's songs are a bit more descriptive, and I speak in generalizations. This was sort of cool; we hadn't written a song together like that since SSCW."
"Full Forever" (Takac): Inspired by Takac's girlfriend, this song was written late one night after his move back to Buffalo from New York.
"Acoustic #3" (Rzeznik): While this short, heartfelt acoustic number, steeped in orchestral swells, would probably be a hit as a single, Rzeznik is reluctant to establish the GGDs as balladeers. "I gotta tell you, I want to have a hit with something rockin'," says the singer. "I like the simplicity of this song, and it wound up being a lot more personal to me than I thought it would be. [Orchestral arranger] David [Campbell's] strings are beautiful. He's a badass." While there were rumblings in the studio of "turning this one into an epic," Rzeznik refused. "I said, 'We have enough epics on this record. Let's do a little juxtaposition."
"Iris" (Rzeznik): This summer's ubiquitous No. 1 from the "City of Angels" soundtrack has by all accounts served as the perfect setup for the new album. In writing the song, says Rzeznik, "I was able to step out of myself and assume another character and write from his perspective, not mine. I was really bogged down in a bit of writer's block, and so that freedom was good." "We loved the way it turned out," adds Takac.
"Extra Pale" (Takac): Named for the descriptive phrase on a Rolling Rock beer tap, this song began life with its lyrics first written by Takac on cocktail napkins at a bar. "I had just been through a divorce, my ex-wife was sick, and the phrase 'extra pale' seemed to relate to my experience at that time," he says.
"Hate This Place" (Rzeznik): "Everyone says we sound like the Replacements all the time, so I wanted to write a song that sounded like them," says Rzeznik with a laugh.