Boy Named Goo

Goo Goo Dolls: John Rzeznik (guitar), Robby (bass), George (drums). All songs were written by John Rzeznik or the Goo Goo Dolls, except for "Disconnected" (Mann/Piranha/Secrist/Sinister) and "Slave Girl" (M. Blood/J. Jakimyszyn). The album "A Boy Named Goo" showcases the Goo Goo Dolls' ability to incorporate all the necessary elements to become a great guitar band.

The album's title is a clear reference to Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue" and its narrator's search for the people who named him, but the Goo Goo Dolls are not following that path. They already know their past (straight-ahead post-punk), and "A Boy Named Goo" outlines their present.

With a smart-alec, bar-band approach reminiscent of the Replacements, the Goo Goo Dolls express their frustration about being "Disconnected" - "someone pulled the plug." They sound worried on "Long Way Down," realizing that "I don't think I'll make it on my own." "Burnin' Up" offers another key to the Goo Goo Dolls' garage sound by adding a touch of Husker Du (the Bob Mould guitar chimes and Grant Hart's melodic vocal sense are properly reproduced).

However, it is on the acoustic "Name" that the Dolls' own context emerges. The song complains about "growing up way too fast" in a culture where everything seems borrowed and "re-runs are our history." This is what makes the Goo Goo Dolls admirable. They are thoroughly aware of the repetition within today's guitar-rock, and they use only the good pieces to evaluate the present.

"A Boy Named Goo" shows a band completely aware of their surroundings, and boasts some great guitars in the process. Though they hailed from upstate New York, the Goo Goo Dolls began as a band enamored of the '80s Minneapolis sound of the Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, and others. Accordingly, their early albums were fervid punk-flavored affairs.

The album was produced by Lou Giordano (tracks 1-11) and Rob Cavallo and the Goo Goo Dolls (tracks 12-13). The engineers were Lou Giordano (tracks 1-11) and Jerry Finn (tracks 12-13). The album was recorded at Beartracks Studios in Suffern, New York, and Soundcastle in Los Angeles, California.

product information: