Goo Goo Dolls Biography

The Goo Goo Dolls were passed off initially as potential one-hit wonders. However, the band would surprise the critics to go on to become one of the most popular adult alternative rock bands of the 1990’s and well into the new millennium.

The Goo Goo Dolls formed in Buffalo, New York in 1985, with Johnny Rzeznik, Robby Takac, and George Tutuska coming together to create the cover band the Sex Maggots. The band soon began to write their own songs, and their debut album was released in 1987. But it would be Superstar Car Wash in 1993 which would be the big breakthrough for the Goo Goo Dolls. On the strength of the single “We Are the Normal,” the album enjoyed significant airplay. A Boy Named Goo followed in 1995, with “Name” going into heavy rotation and eventually hitting the Top Five and going platinum. The ballad “Iris,” written for the film City of Angles followed, in 1998, and the single earned a Grammy nomination and remained on the charts for eighteen weeks.

Since that time, the Goo Goo Dolls have released the additional albums Dizzy Up the Girl (2000), What I learned About Ego, Art, Opinion and Commerce (2001), What I learned About Ego, Art, Opinion and Commerce came in 2001, and Gutterflower (2002), Goo’s Live in Buffalo (2004), Let Love In (2006), Something for the Rest of Us (2010), Magnetic (2013), and Boxes (2016.) Notable singles from the albums include: “Give a Little Bit,” “Better Days,” “Stay with You,” “Slide,” “Dizzy,” "Here Is Gone," "Sympathy,” “Big Machine,” and “Black Balloon.”

The Goo Goo Dolls continue to perform and record with the current full-time lineup of Rzeznik and Takac, with Brad Fernquist, Craig Macintyre, and Korel Tunador joining them on tour. The group most recently released the EP You Should Be Happy in 2017, and teamed up with Phillip Phillips for an extensive nationwide tour in the summer.