Before the Goo Goo Dolls began one of the most horrific descents into mediocrity and morphed into the sappy lite-rock charade of a rock band they are today, they were one of the best garage bands on the planet. I kid you not. Though it may be hard to believe now, this trio from Buffalo, New York used to be favorably compared to the Replacements. Spin magazine paid this album the highest compliment it could think of when it called Hold Me Up the album for the pathetic loser in all of us. Quite frankly, there is no better album to get you through an ugly break-up than this one. The album consists of mostly of three minute songs with Johnny Rzeznik's thrashing guitar dominating throughout. Knowing that the Goo Goo Dolls were capable of "fuck you" lyrics like Two Days In February's "I know you're living way out west/don't get me wrong I'm not impressed/ with you/ no more," three chord sonic assaults for the defeated like Laughing, There You Are and Just The Way You Are (absolutely no relation to the Billy Joel song) and kick-ass covers of the Plimsouls Million Miles Away and Prince's Never Take The Place Of Your Man, makes their MTV friendly, mopey soft rock like Isis and Name that much more maddening. Given what they became, Hold Me Up may go down as the most underrated album ever.