Wait...what? Goo Goo Dolls had something to sell out of? It's true. Believe it or not, they were once a band with an edge. When they released their first couple of albums, Johnny Rzeznik and his bandmates were a garage rock band with a snotty, punk attitude that released songs with names like "Sex Maggot" and "Don't Beat My Ass (With a Baseball Bat)." Those were the sounds of a band that refused to take themselves too seriously, and who would've rather shot themselves in the face than record a song for a Meg Ryan chick flick. Even on their fifth studio album, A Boy Named Goo (their first true introduction to the mainstream audience), the band sounds more like classic Replacements than Hootie and the Blowfish. (Much of that had to do with Rzeznik being the back-up singer, with bassist Robby Takac taking lead vocal duties.) But one song on that album, the downtrodden ballad "Name," shot up the charts in a way that no one expected. From then on, the Goo Goo Dolls were no longer a rock band. They remained firmly entrenched in the world of adult contemporary once Dizzy Up the Girl was released in 1998, offering only the slightest glimpses into their raw past when former lead singer is allowed to step in front of the mic again.
