Goo Goo Dolls have Saturday date at Edmonton’s River Cree Casino

InterviewFebruary 24, 2011Edmonton Journal

CALGARY - Johnny Rzeznik doesn’t deny that his music has changed and evolved over the years.

His Buffalo, N.Y. band the Goo Goo Dolls started life in the mid-’80s as a sloppy, Replacements-inspired alt rock act. Now you’re more likely to hear their songs emanating from a minivan than a hazy college dorm room.

But what Rzeznik does have a problem with is those who scoff and claim the change is some kind of calculated attempt to sell out. “When you’re a very underground band like we were, we were like the critics’ darlings before we sold records,” he says. “When we were selling 20,000 to 30,000 albums the critics loved us. As soon as we sold a million records they all turned on us.

“But it’s because people want to believe that they’re involved in something very small and private and cliquish and then when it becomes something that people who are maybe construed as less hip or less in the know get hold of it and it becomes mainstream ... then it immediately becomes passe to this group of elitists.

“And I never wrote music for those people anyway. I never tried to pander to an audience of snobs.”

These days, Rzeznik can more than afford to hold that opinion, considering the Goo Goo Dolls have survived and thrived as radio staples, selling millions of albums, and earning numerous industry awards thanks to hits such as Name, Iris and Black Balloon.

They’ve appeared on soundtracks, recently performed at the Pro Bowl, and are currently touring their ninth studio album, Something For The Rest Of Us, including a stop in Edmonton on Saturday night.

Rzeznik says today’s Goo Goo fans are made up of everyone — from those who’ve stuck with them the past quarter century to those who’ve recently been introduced to their brand of smooth, melodic rock.

“It’s kind of interesting because we’ve been around that long that the kids have discovered the later material and then they discover the earlier material ... I talk to a lot of kids and they’re like, ‘It’s really interesting your older records are so different from your newer records,’ and it’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s what happens when you grow up and you learn how to play your instrument and you start to think about different things and your world view is completely different’.”

As for the world view espoused on the songs of the group’s latest release, they aren’t that far removed from those he may have held as a punk growing up in the urban decay of Reagan’s America, just perhaps a little more mature and a lot more refined.

“We’ve been living under a state of emergency for 10 years in America and the economy is going into the toilet and there’s an awful lot of frustration. We’re stuck in two wars that we’re never going to get out of and I think people are finally coming to understand they’re being pushed to the limit and there is no more leeway. And I just wanted to express my feelings for those people. That’s why it’s called Something For The Rest Of Us. When you ask me who comes to our shows, it’s like: the rest of us.”

Rzeznik doesn’t mean to disown the band’s earlier albums, such as 1990’s Hold Me Up or their early classic Superstar Car Wash, and he admits the group’s current set list features material from those days.

“Those were interesting records, and that was an interesting time,” he says. “Those records, Hold Me Up and Superstar Car Wash, they’re 20 years old almost. . . . But those albums have their own charm because they were a reflection of us and our attitudes at that time. This is just sort of where I’ve evolved into and I’m really happy making the music that I make.”

Related