Several Articles
From mcarman@du.eduThu Feb 22 10:18:04 1996
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 23:59:49 -0700
From: "Michael P. Carman"
To: penberth@oswego.Oswego.EDU
Subject: Articles..
Got these off lexis...
The New York Times, November 23, 1995
Though the Goo Goo Dolls had five albums of hard alternative-rock to build
their set from on Tuesday night at the Academy, in the encore they repeated
songs from earlier in the show but now in acoustic versions. The band had
decided to take advantage of a high-energy performance by recording a few live
songs for forthcoming albums.
An acoustic set wasn't something one would have expected from Buffalo's
fast-rocking Goo Goo Dolls in the past, but the band has followed in the
footsteps of alternative-rock brethren like Soul Asylum and the Meat
Puppets and found success on the basis of an atypical song, a ballad.
The Goo Goo Dolls' only top-10 hit, "Name," showcases the band at its
most sedate, picking clean melodies on acoustic guitar instead of bashing
out heavy electric riffs.
On Tuesday, the Goo Goo Dolls tried to merge the speed of punk and the
anthems of 80's rock with contemplative songwriting and pure pop
exuberance. The problem was that the foundation was weak: after nine years of experience, the
smooth-voiced guitarist Johnny Rzeznik and the gruff-singing bassist Robby
Takac are still writing uninsightful songs full of hackneyed
generalizations about relationships and individuality. The best numbers
the band performed on Tuesday were versions of songs by other bands,
ranging from the garage-rockers called the Lime Spiders to INXS.
Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1995
HEADLINE: GOO GOO DOLLS FINALLY MAKE A 'NAME' FOR THEMSELVES;
POP MUSIC: AFTER A DECADE OF TOURING, THE GROUP HAS A TOP 10 HIT IN THE
FOLK-TINGED BALLAD.
BYLINE: By RICHARD CROMELIN, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
BODY:
"You really question how you feel when you're a teen-ager, and how intense
every single move you make is," says Johnny Rzeznik. "And then there's the
feeling you get when you're 28, going, 'My God, life is so different, I'm
such a different person now than I was when I was 15.'
"Almost everyone I know has to get up and do something that they'd
rather not be doing every day. I really feel for them."
Rzeznik's ability to snag that feeling and distill it into an aching,
folk-tinged ballad called "Name" has transformed his band, the Goo Goo Dolls,
from a long-term almost-there into a new rock contender.
"Name" recently moved into the Top 10 on the national singles chart, helping
the group's fifth album, "A Boy Named Goo," reach the gold-record sales plateau
of 500,000.
The Morning Call (Allentown), October 28, 1995
BYLINE: JOHN TERLESKY; (A free-lance story for The Morning Call)
BODY:
The Goo Goo Dolls sound more than a little like The Replacements, the
Minneapolis band led by Paul Westerberg that in the 1980s all but invented what
is now referred to as "alternative rock." There are some telling differences,
however.
When one of the boisterous crowd in front of the stage at Starz, the
Allentown nightclub where the Goos played last weekend, bought lead singer John
Rzeznik a shot of liquor, he politely declined to drink it until after the
show. The Replacements probably would have gotten into a fistfight over
the drink, then plowed halfway through Jose Feliciano's version of "Light
My Fire." Times they have a-changed.
But such subtleties were of no concern to the 650 twenty- and
thirtysomethings that came out to see the Buffalo, N.Y. trio's first appearance
in the Valley. The crowd responded enthusiastically to the Goos' highly
formulaic songs (uptempo, minor chord verse, major chord chorus, next song ...
), driven along by drummer Robby Takac's relentless 2/4 beat.
Rzeznik shared vocal duties with bassist Robby Takac, who seemed to be
enjoying himself a bit more than his band mates. But unlike The Replacements in
their prime, the enjoyment never slipped over into chaos, or, for that matter,
unpredictability. The same-sounding songs went off without a hitch, the blur of
'80s guitar-rock only momentarily broken by an acoustic run-through of the
Goos' current video staple, "Name," from the band's fifth disc, "A Boy
Named Goo."
The only other anomaly of the night came late in the hour-long set. During
"Another Second Time Around," what appeared to be a fourth member of the group
turned up on stage in the guise of the 30-ish, token crowd-floater. His 2-1/2
seconds of fame were cut short immediately when a security person performed an
impressive leaping tackle of the perpetrator in the pseudo-pit below. The song
was halted and, after a brief interval, begun again. Westerberg and company
likely would have kept playing, or used the event as an excuse to get another
drink.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO by LISA LAKE, Special to the Morning Call CAPTION: John Rzeznik
and the Goo Goo Dolls played last weekend at Starz.
THE HARTFORD COURANT, October 14, 1995
HEADLINE: GOO GOO DOLLS ARE THE SAME, BUT THE CROWDS HAVE CHANGED
BYLINE: ROGER CATLIN; Courant Rock Critic
BODY:
Sudden success hasn't changed the Buffalo, N.Y., band the Goo Goo Dolls.
"We're still playing the same rooms we've always been playing," says Goo
Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac over the phone from Boston. "It's just that
there's people in them now."
After 10 years of rocking in the trenches, it's been an uncharacteristic
ballad that's given the Goo Goo Dolls a name.
"Name" topped Billboard's Modern Rock charts two weeks ago and is the
highest-charting debut on this week's Hot 100 Singles chart, at No. 22.
Not every modern-rock hit makes it in the Top 40, but the tender "Name"
has a good chance, thanks to the oft-broadcast black-and- white video on MTV.
"We're in there with Green Day, Van Halen and Lisa Lisa," says Takac.
And while the approach of the song, written by lead singer Johnny
Rzezkik has the rough-hewn beauty of a Paul Westerberg ballad, it stands
in contrast to the rest of the loud, hard-charging music the band is used
to playing. "We clear the room with the first few songs," Takac says. "People start
filing out like you wouldn't believe."
But the Goo Goo Dolls, who play the Sting in New Britain tonight, have
also nurtured a growing following that's hip to its normal style.
Still, it's hard not to watch the exits for reactions to a hit like "Name,"
Takac says.
It's a buzz-bin phenomenon he's seen happen before,-- two years ago,
when the band was out on tour with Soul Asylum. "We'd stand by the door
and watch people file out after they play 'Runaway Train,' " Takac says.
So during a recent show in Rochester, N.Y., someone was placed at the
door to enumerate the post- "Name" crowd loss.
"We actually lost 163 people after we played the single," says Takac.
The Goo Goo Dolls are too proud to put their big hit at the end of the
set,-- or worse, in the encore to guarantee an ovation (and audience) at
the end of the show.
"It's pretty much in the middle of the set, just as it was on the record,"
says Takac.
As for its wild popularlity, he chalks it up to the skills of its writer
Rzezkik. "John wrote a really good song."
But "Name," and the rest of the work on the band's "A Boy Named Goo" album,
came at a price,-- the loss of their longtime drummer George Tutuska.
Just about all of the album was finished when Tutuska parted, a division
Takac called "a hellish nightmare. He's one of my best friends, and in order to
keep the band together and proceed the way we wanted and for him be true to way
he felt about the thing, we had to do what we had to do."
Tutuska felt the band was turning too soft, too melodic; the others said
they were just maturing, Takac says. "He was missing some of the chaos
that had prevailed on earlier stuff."
"If you keep putting out the same record, either you're really boring or
you're the Ramones. And it's fine for them. But I have different things that
make me want to play different sorts of sounds."
The replacement drummer came in Mike Malinin, a fan from Denton, Texas who
had been in the Los Angeles band the Careless, but was left wanting things
to do after that band's guitarist, Nathan December, went off to play the
R.E.M. tour.
"He had all our records and knew our songs," Takac says. "We got
together and played 20 songs the first day and did a gig nine days later."
Now, in another of rock's ironies, Tutuska is missing out on the spoils of
success, such as staying in Boston in . . . what's this? A Days Inn?
"Dude, I'll take Days Inn any day over a stuffy hotel," Takac says,
reflecting the back-to-basics approach of the band. "A bed, a TV, a bathroom.
What more do you need?"
Billboard, October 07, 1995
HEADLINE: GOO GOO DOLLS GET A 'NAME' WB TRIO SPLASHES WITH SURPRISE HIT
BYLINE: CARRIE BORZILLO
BODY:
LOS ANGELES--When Johnny Rzeznik, singer/guitarist of the Goo Goo Dolls,
reflects on his band's nine years of relentless touring and recording, he's not
bitter.
Rather, the singer, who is basking in the glow of a No. 1 Modern Rock Tracks
hit with "Name," says it's a blessing in disguise that the road to success has
been long and winding.
"I've been forced to be a patient person," says the 29-year-old singer
of the Buffalo, N.Y.-based trio. "If it would've happened when I was 19,
when I started the band, I probably would've been dead. The best times
have been since we started touring for this album."
The Goo Goo Dolls have a solid base with fans and at album rock from their
four previous albums, a few singles, and years of touring with such acts as the
Replacements and Soul Asylum.
However, it wasn't until the band's latest album, "A Boy Named Goo," that the
threesome found success. The album was issued March 14 worldwide on Warner
Bros.
Metal Blade (Music To My Ears, Billboard, Feb. 25).
The album topped the Heatseekers chart on Sept. 23 and moves 14 spots to No.
60 with a bullet this week on The Billboard 200, where it shows a 23% sales
increase.
The Goo Goo Dolls became Heatseekers Impact Artists when "A Boy Named Goo"
broke into the top half of The Billboard 200 on Saturday (30) at No. 74.
According to SoundScan, the album has sold more than 100,000 units to date.
The album's third single, "Name," hit No. 1 on Modern Rock Tracks this week
and debuts at No. 34 on Top 40 Airplay Monitor's mainstream chart. The track
moves 21-18 with a bullet on Hot 100 Airplay and moves up four spots to a
bulleted No. 11 on the Album Rock Tracks chart.
"It just happened that musical tastes have come around more to bands like
us," says Rzeznik. "This time around, me and (bassist) Robby (Takac) have
been able to gel much better as a unit, and getting recognition definitely is
motivational fuel to keep going."
The band also includes new drummer Mike Malinin, who replaced the recently
departed George Tutuska.
The trio's hard-rocking, guitar-driven sound has softened a bit from its
first two albums, 1987's " Goo Goo Dolls" on Celluloid and 1989's
"Jed" on Death/Enigma.
A more melodic feel came to the fore on the band's first two Metal
Blade/Warner Bros. albums, 1990's "Hold Me Up" and 1993's "Superstar Car
Wash." "Name" offers a moodier, acoustic guitar-tinged side of the band,
whose concerts gradually build from punk rants to rock anthems about the
ugliness (or uplift) of coming-of-age experiences. "It's definitely
gotten more melodic, because I can't pretend to be 19 >again," says
Rzeznik, who, along with Takac, is signed to EMI Virgin Songs for
publishing. "I don't feel some of those things that I felt then . . .
There's the 200 people who have been with us over the years, and now
there's the other 600, 700, or 800 that show up because of 'Name.' If
'Name' was the bait to lure them in, great."
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE, August 25, 1995
HEADLINE: Goo Goo Dolls moving mainstream
BYLINE: Rex Rutkoski; Valley News Dispatch, Tarentum, Pa.
BODY:
Their record company is calling them "America's best known unknown band."
But as critical raves continue to roll in for the melodic rockers, the Goo
Goo Dolls, they soon could be dropping the "unknown" moniker. This "new" band
was born nine years ago. Their latest album, "A Boy Named Goo," on Warner
Bros. is their fifth.
"We've always been misfits. That's our strength," says
guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Johnny Rzeznik. "We've always been misfits as far
as the styles of music we put together, the clothes we wore, the bands we've
done shows with. I've always considered us like a punk-influenced rock
band with a different attitude or approach. I think we've had to grind out our own
niche because we didn't fit in anywhere."
Rzeznik does not want to see the Buffalo-based group limit itself or paint
itself into a corner. "There are so many different flavors and I like them
all," he explains. "That has caused a little confusion about us. But the
reason I got into alternative kind of music is that it allowed you to be an individual
and it had really wide parameters you could work in."
Timothy White, writing in Billboard magazine, praises the Dolls as a band
with a "gallant roar" and "blue-collar guts" and refers to the new album as
"incomparable."
"I've always really loved like hard core punk and melodic pop music,"
Rzeznik says. "I definitely think our music is punk-influenced. I don't
feel we are solely a punk band, but definitely a punk-influenced band."
He believes music can help offer some perspective for those of his
generation who are about to turn 30 and are searching. "It's getting hard
to make sense of what's going on. There are a lot of scary politics," he
says.
"I think music will play an incredibly pivotal role in shaping
attitudes," he says. "It always has. "But now it seems like there is an
actual, viable musical movement going on in this country. I just hope it
doesn't become packaged and too commercialized." There is nothing wrong
with reaching millions of people with your music, though, if you are
doing the kind of music you want to do, he adds.
Rzeznik does not take it all for granted. He knows that he is "really,
really lucky that I've been given an opportunity to express myself." "That's something
that every single person on this earth (wants), it's their right to do. Whether
they do it and millions of people hear it, or nobody but yourself, it's equally
valid."
Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1995
HEADLINE: A TALE OF THREE GOO GOO DOLLS;
THE BAND HAS SWEATED THROUGH HARD TIMES, BUT IT STILL HAS GREAT EXPECTATIONS
BYLINE: By MIKE BOEHM, TIMES STAFF WRITER
BODY:
These are the best of times and the worst of times to be a Goo Goo Doll.
In the 1980s, the band from Buffalo sweated out its dues on the low-budget>
independent-rock scene, where full-fledged rock stardom seemed an absurdity.
But having survived into the post-Nirvana years, when such kindred
raucous-yet-melodic contemporaries as Soul Asylum and Sugar have found
commercial rewards, the Goo Goo Dolls can see the trends turning in their
favor.
On its latest album, "A Boy Named Goo," the trio keeps on creating tunefully
yowled anthems that hit with plenty of punk-inspired throw-weight. It is a far,
far better thing for rock 'n' roll that such fare has come to stand a good
chance in the marketplace.
As a result of that changed climate, the touring Goo Goo Dolls (who play
Sunday at Music City in Fountain Valley) found themselves taking a hastily
arranged detour to Los Angeles last weekend to shoot a video for their
eloquently bereft ballad "Name."
The band hadn't planned on making the song into a video, at least not at
this point, bassist and co-founder Robby Takac reported a couple of days later over
the phone from a tour stop in Seattle.
But taste-making modern-rock station KROQ began playing the song and, not
wanting to pass up something that looked like the break they have been waiting
for, the Goo Goo Dolls decamped to L.A. for a day to shoot a new clip in such
settings as Union Station and aboard a vintage Greyhound bus, shots designed to
fit the song's mood of plaintive anomie.
Shelved, for the time being, was an already-shot video for "Flat Top," an
anthem that bemoans, with a typical Goo Goo Dolls mixture of irony and
anguish, the souring effect that televised political bickering has had on
American life.
"It has a man with a TV in his head wandering through it," Takac said,
sounding just a little disappointed that the band has had to set that
footage aside temporarily in favor of the bus and train depot.
Only bands with prospects make videos in such an urgent rush. Thus, the
insta-vid for "Name" is part of that best-of-times scenario for the Goo Goo
Dolls. On the other hand, Takac noted, having prospects that so far remain
unfulfilled can make it the worst of times.
Spending a day of filming as a denizen of a train station and aboard an
interstate bus might have reminded Takac that he does not, at present, own an
automobile.
"You want to be able to eat and drive a car, and (having a car to drive) is
not a luxury I've been allotted for many of these years," he said in a low,
grainy voice, sounding a bit road-weary at the midway point of the Goo Goo
Dolls' current yearlong touring campaign, yet still able to muster frequent
chuckles as he reflected on the life and times of a band fated to wander in
search of a breakthrough.
"I find myself sliding in and out" of frustration, he said. "Sometimes I'm
just happy to be here. I'm thinking I can maintain this at 30 years old, come
out and play decent shows and put out records. But when your rent comes up,
it's 'oh (expletive).' "
He thinks the Goo Goo Dolls' unfulfilled career hopes could have something
to do with the darkening cast of their records. Their first major label
release, "Hold Me Up" in 1990, was full of songs that sought, and found, ways to
lift the spirits even as they acknowledged that life might be nothing but a dirty deal.
It ended with Johnny Rzeznik, the band's co-founder and guitarist, singing the
refrain, "Everything is wrong, well, it's all right."
There are no such defiant affirmations on "A Boy Named Goo." In the
climactic number, "Eyes Wide Open," Rzeznik imagines a world so bleak that he dreams of
being granted sovereignty over it so that he then might "kick it on down."
"We start to get older and we start to see what's out there," Takac said.
"Our first couple of records were just sort of very carefree. Things started to
change around 'Hold Me Up.' Starting to look for answers, we make those
introspective records we all hate to admit we make."
Takac added that "a weird couple of years" in Goo Goo Dolldom might have
boosted the new album's desperation level a bit. "We know bands we were coming
up with (such as Soul Asylum). I see them again and all of a sudden they are
doing really well. There was a lot of pressure in my mind about the business
taking over too much of what we're doing. There's the whole pressure nowadays
that your record may actually be played on the radio.
"That," he added, "was never a chance for us" during the band's early days,
which go back to 1986. The Goo Goo Dolls began when Takac, a young radio disc
jockey, hooked up with plumbing trainee Rzeznik and drummer George Tutuska.
Before long, they were Buffalo's primary contribution to the world of
college-alternative rock.
A falling out over matters both musical and personal led to Tutuska's
departure six months ago, after "A Boy Named Goo" had been completed. Mike
Malinin is the new drummer. Rzeznik writes about half the songs himself and
collaborates with Takac on the others; the two divide the lead vocals.
It has been the Goo Goo Dolls' unwanted honor to garner frequent
comparisons to the Replacements, one of the definitive bands of the '80s
alternative rock moment. The Replacements' leader, Paul Westerberg, is a friend
of the Goo Goo Dolls and contributed the lyrics to their "We Are the Normal,"
a pained ode to alienation that appeared on their "Superstar Car Wash" album
(1993).
"John talks to Paul all the time. (Westerberg) doesn't see it (the
contention that the Goo Goo Dolls sound a lot like the Replacements), we don't see it,
but everybody else does."
In fact, everybody else is right, as Takac, giving a bit of ground, partly
concedes when pressed. "A lot of the reason we sound the way we do is that we
listened to a lot of things they did as we were coming up. We didn't hear a
Replacements record and say, 'Wow, we gotta sound like that.' "
Takac said the band is most concerned about not trying to sound like the
latest hot modern-rock band.
"That's one of the main rules of what we're doing, one of the only rules.
I've seen a lot of other bands do that sort of thing. I want to be honest. We
just go do Goo Goo Dolls, and if (the records) don't do well, we've got more
in us, better ones in us."
He acknowledges that, with the band's 10th anniversary approaching, he and
Rzeznik have wondered at times how long they can keep plugging for a commercial
breakthrough before they will have to concede failure and give up.
"But there's definitely an underlying sense of optimism, as far as
songwriting and doing more records goes," he said. "It's one thing we know we
can always do. Given the tools needed, we know we can go in and do a great
record."
* The Goo Goo Dolls, Smoking Popes and You Am I play Sunday at Music City,
18774 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley. 8 p.m. $8. (714) 323-8683 (taped
information) or (714) 963-2366 (club).
GRAPHIC: Photo, "Name" is getting airplay for the Goo Goo Dolls -- from left,
Robby Takac, Mike Malinin and Johnny Rzeznik. DENNIS KEELEY; Photo, COLOR,
(F1)
ALL DOLLED UP: Having survived into the post-Nirvana years, when such
contemporaries as Soul Asylum and Sugar have found commercial rewards, the Goo
Goo Dolls can see the trends turning in their favor. They play Sunday in
Fountain Valley. F2
The Denver Post, July 14, 1995 Friday
HEADLINE: Goo Goo Dolls fills a void, along with Face to Face
BYLINE: G. Brown, Rock Talk
BODY:
Goo Goo Dolls and Face to Face have seized the soul and style of the
Replacements and the Clash, respectively - and they sound hot doing it. Who
needs originality when there's great songs to be done?
The spot vacated by the Replacements' breakup could be occupied by Goo Goo
Dolls, because Johnny Rzeznik took good notes on the smart-and-rowdy act. His
snarl bears a similarity to Paul Westerberg, and he has the same ability to
touch a nerve with his trial-of-youth/common-man protest songs.
"Every band out there is influenced from the last generation of rock 'n'
roll," Rzeznik said recently. Goo Goo Dolls will perform at the Mercury Cafe
tonight.
"The Replacements started off aping their influences, too, like the Faces.
Paul's not that much older than me. I like melodic, punk-influenced pop music
and rock 'n' roll. That's something he's into as well.
"Definitely, Paul is a source for a lot of writers, not just myself. I'd
rather be compared to the greatest American songwriter in the past 15 years
than Winger. I'll take that. Thank you."
The new album "A Boy Named Goo" could break Buffalo's "band most likely to."
"Only One" and "Name" are reminiscent of some of the Replacements' best. "Flat
Top" is the catchiest song on the record.
"It's just about insomnia, being oversaturated," Rzeznik explained.
"As a society, I don't think we're in any worse predicament than we've ever
been in. The world has been ending since it started. It's just that the
television coverage of it has gotten so much better.
"CNN is 24-hour-a-day negativity. It should be 'CNN - Headline Bad News.'
Everybody's obsessed with it because your average Joe's life is so freaking
boring that he needs the drama of the ebola virus in his home every night.
"I have to shut myself down or I go crazy."
A lot of people think Goo Goo Dolls is a new band, but Rzeznik formed it
eight years ago.
"You've got to get your ass out there and commit to staying on the road
for a year and convince the record label people that you've got something going
on and to believe in it at all levels, retail, radio, everywhere.
"Hopefully, something will take off with the record. In some respects we're
like the old whore on the block, so we're getting the best spot on the corner.
"I just gotta keep slamming it. It's a war of attrition, and I'm not going
away until I get a hit."
Newsday...
Newsday, March 24, 1995
The Goo Goo Dolls, who pull into CBGB tomorrow night, hail from Buffalo, a
city guitarist John Rzeznik, 29, calls "on the cusp of the Midwest." Ground
zero for the trio's music, however, is the Midwest, most specifically Minneapolis,
whence such bands as the Replacements, Husker Du and Soul Asylum made heartland
post-punk the great lost cause of late-'80s rock.
There's nothing highbrow about the working-class Goos - Rzeznik admits being
overjoyed when eight years of hard slog paid off in the step up from van to
tour bus. ("We couldn't believe it. I used to help the driver polish the eagle
on the front.") But the ferociously catchy songs that he (cynical, rough, hard) and
bassist Robby Takac (optimistic, poppy, pliable) write and sing delve into
subjects a lot deeper than rocking and rolling.
In "Flat Top," Rzeznik (the first z is silent) takes the first of several
squints at the tube and posits "A televison war between the cynics and the
saints / Flip the dial and that's the side you're on." Paraphrasing the Clash,
he continues, "A visionary coward says that anger can be power / As long as
there's a victim on TV."
Behind his vulnerable rock voice, Rzeznik's slow-rolling guitar army
lights a richly resonant war of colliding melodies and harmonies. In the surging,
majestic "Ain't That Unusual," Rzeznik damns it all with philosophical
abandon: "All we are is what we're told and most of that's been lies / It's
like a made-for-TV movie and I just blew my lines." The guitarist - who was watching
"The Price Is Right" while conducting a phone interview from Milwaukee - is
obviously getting something more than brain rot from the electronic glow.
Takac's lyrics reach farther afield, taking on mundane subjects with the
subtle ambition of a short-story writer. His Cheap Tricky "So Long" is the only
rock song in memory to mention carpal tunnel syndrome, but its characterization
of departure is pretty straightforward. "Impersonality" pours down a descending
power pop riff, with bracing slabs of rhythm guitar dollying a sweetly
evocative childhood memory. "When I was three feet tall, I loved them all and lived life
for myself / Falling down for laughs, your photograph, some puppets made of
felt."
Both front men are quick to credit producer Lou Giordano for the raw, hot
sound of their fifth album. Neither is anxious to discuss the circumstances
that led to the departure of drummer George Tutuska, replaced two months ago by Mike
Malinin. "It's a really sad situation. We had differences and we couldn't solve
them," says Rzeznik. "I really hope we can become friends again. I hope he
reads this. I wish him all the best."
The album was finished when the personnel change happened, but the band
decided to delete a Tutuska song ("Stand Alone") and add a couple of spare
cover versions (the punk raver "Disconnected," by Buffalo's Enemies, and the
garage-rocking "Slave Girl," by Australia's Lime Spiders) to take up the slack.
"We were afraid George might have felt we were exploiting him so we took his
song off out of respect for him," says Rzeznik.
Meanwhile, the reconstituted Goo Goo Dolls are back on the road,
supporting a stirring, consistently great album that could actually put them on a track to
pop-punk stardom. (If the Offspring and Weezer can make it . . .) With no
assurances of success, Rzeznik takes it all in stride. "When we first went out
in a van to take on the world, there were points that