Goo 4 Goo

The Goo Goo Dolls initially consisted of John Rzeznik (vocals, guitar), Robby Takac (vocals, bass guitar) and George Tutuska (drums, percussion). While Takac and Tutuska had been long-time friends in school, Rzeznik was playing in the band The Beaumonts, with Takac's cousin.[1] The three founded the band under the name Sex Maggots. However, when a club owner booked the band, he requested they change the name, as the local newspaper could not print their current name. The trio picked the current name out of a True Detective newspaper ad for a toy called a Goo Goo Doll.[2] "We were young and we were a garage band, not trying to get a deal. We had a gig that night and needed a name. It's the best we came up with, and for some reason it stuck. If I had five more minutes, I definitely would have picked a better name" John stated. With Takac as their lead singer, the band released their first album, Goo Goo Dolls in 1986 on Mercenary Records, but was picked up in 1987 by Celluloid Records, a larger record company. The band released its second album, Jed, in 1989 after moving to Los Angeles.[3]

The band's third album, Hold Me Up, was released in 1990 and featured Rzeznik as the lead vocalist on five tracks, including the single "There You Are" as well as the current concert favourite Two Days in February. Despite being earlier dismissed as having too similar a sound to The Replacements, as well as being embraced by local college radio and punk scenes, (playing such venues as CBGB) the Goo Goo Dolls' third release had incorporated elements of heavy metal, pop rock, and punk. In 1991, the song "I'm Awake Now" was recorded for the soundtrack of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, the video for which featured a cameo of Robert Englund in character as Freddy Krueger and was played on the major video channels at the time.

Superstar Car Wash was released in 1993 to significant media attention. The critical success and encouraging sales of the last album resulted in a larger budget from Metal Blade Records. The album was partially recorded in Metalworks Studio in Mississauga, Ontario, which is where Rush had produced multi-platinum albums.[4] The single "We Are the Normal", which Rzeznik sent to frontman Paul Westerberg of The Replacements to wirte lyrics for, which the song received a major push toward college and independent radio, while its video was displayed on MTV's 120 Minutes program. "Fallin' Down" made it onto the soundtrack of Pauly Shore's hit film Son in Law.