The Goo Goo Dolls will have “something for the rest of us” in Oxford on Sunday.

On April 3, the Grammy-nominated alternative rock band will be kicking off its new tour at the University of Mississippi in support of its 2010 album, “Something for the Rest of Us.”

The rock concert will be held in the Grove at 5 p.m. with an opening act by Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors.

Sponsored by the Student Programming Board, this event will be free — a great incentive for both music fans and first-timers alike.

“I think it’s amazing that a band with the history and following of the Goo Goo Dolls will be playing at the Grove,” said Chase Aertker, co-director of entertainment for the SPB.

“I have been a fan of theirs for years now, and I am thrilled that the first time I get to see them perform is in the Grove.

“I think this has a chance to be one of the best concerts ever held on our campus, and maybe on any campus in Mississippi.”

Students from outside of Ole Miss will be traveling to Oxford to see the reigning rock stars of the past two decades.

“A bunch of my friends from MSU and I will be coming up to see them,” MSU student Sara Taheri said.

“I’ve been to several concerts, but I can tell this is going to be one of the best I’ve ever been to. I’ve always been a huge fan and never thought I’d get to see them play in Mississippi.”

Since the band’s formation in 1986 in Buffalo, the Goo Goo Dolls have had a lot of success in the music world.

The band’s first triumph came from its nationwide hit “Name,” boosting the 1995 album “A Boy Named Goo” into becoming one of the most successful alternative rock albums of the ‘90s, selling 3 million copies.

Since then, a series of achievements has trailed behind the Goo Goo Dolls.

Four Grammy nominations and 13 successive Top 10 hits are just the tip of the iceberg for these celebrated musicians.

Their hit single “Iris” remained almost a year on Billboard’s singles chart and an exceptional 18 weeks at No. 1.

Other hits include “Slide,” “Black Balloon,” “Let Love In” and, more recently, “Not Broken.”

The band’s wins are not limited to copies sold.

In January, they performed at the halftime show at the Orange Bowl as well as at the start of the NFL Pro Bowl.  

Their songs play on countless television shows, movies and advertisements, and is music well-known by the general public.

“Better Days,” from the album “Let Love In,” was played frequently by CNN and quickly became associated with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.     

The Goo Goo Dolls are a three-man band led by singer John Rzeznik.

He and his band boast a large variety of music, ranging from soft acoustic rock, alternative rock and punk rock, all the way to metal.

Influenced by The Clash and the Sex Pistols, their music has developed from the soulful ballads and pop rock of their first album into the more somber style of their current album.

According to interviews with Rzeznik, the new album addresses the emotional fallout from economic turmoil, war and a 24-hour news cycle on society.

“It’s just this constant ambient fear and anxiety that goes on, and I think it’s really starting to affect people,” Rzeznik said in an interview with award-winning magazine “American Songwriter.”

“We live in a country that is on high alert all of the time, and I think the chronic stress from that is really starting to affect people emotionally as well.

“I wanted to deal with the emotional underpinnings of living in that kind of society.

Yeah, we are in a very bad economic downturn, we’re fighting two wars, and I think people are starting to get fatigued from it.”

In fact, the album title, “Something For the Rest of Us,” reflects the hardships people are currently facing, according to bassist Robby Takac.

“There’s an awful lot of people who control an awful lot of what goes on, and then there’s the rest of the people.

“This album’s content is for the rest of us,” Takac said.

In an interview, Takac said he’s looking forward to the band’s spring tour because a lot of the stops are college campuses, and the crowds that come to college shows know how to have fun.