88 MPH: Goo Goo Dolls Are More Than Just Replacements

posted in: Features • Rock

The Goo Goo Dolls have all the trademark characteristics of any generic, commercially-viable pop rock band: the numerous multiplatinum albums, the heavy radio play, the chart-topping monster singles. But behind these established markers of commercial success hides a specter from rock ‘n’ roll’s past. While the Goos have indeed become one of the most successful pop rock acts in the last twenty years, their sound is rooted in the influence of a band famous for its spectacular failure to gain widespread acceptance and its well-documented hatred of everything mainstream.

Variously labeled as one of the best and worst American bands ever, Minnesota punks The Replacements courted controversy wherever they played during their decade-long existence. After changing their name from The Impediments”as a result of being banned from a Minnesota club”the band took on the name that would follow them right to the brink of mainstream success and back again. Following the release of their short, fast and loud hardcore punk releases in the early eighties, The Replacements began to embrace a more pop-friendly sound on Let It Be and their major label debut Tim. Though the ecstatic reviews for Tim seemed to signal the band’s unimpeded entry into the mainstream, The Replacements just weren’t ready for the exposure. Increasingly problematic drug and alcohol usage began to ravage the band and their worsening live performances hit a notorious low when they performed drunk on Saturday Night Live and were banned from ever appearing on the show again. Interpersonal problems soon led to the band’s 1991 breakup, after which frontman Paul Westerberg began a solo career.

“There You Are” from the Goos’ 1990 album Hold Me Up finds them channeling the best of The Replacements then-crumbling legacy. With frontman Johnny Rzeznik’s scrappy but melodic vocals above surging power chords, the song sounds like the direct spiritual successor to “Bastards Of Young” (above). Similar to Westerberg’s admiration for Alex Chilton of Big Star fame, Rzeznik idolized Westerberg and even had him co-write a song that would appear on the band’s 1993 release Superstar Car Wash. While a juxtaposition of “There You Are” and “Bastards Of Young” makes the Goos’ debt to The Replacements clear, as the band evolved throughout the ’90s, they fully embraced poppier sensibilities in a way that The Replacements simply didn’t. After their 1998’s smash “Iris,”  nothing was the same for the Goos. Sold-out stadium tours awaited them and their former obscurity was left far behind. Ironically, the band that based its sound on The Replacements scruffy melodic punk was finally able to achieve what The Replacements never could: lasting mainstream success.