Let's remember the GOOd Old Days of Johnny & the boys

Johnny Rzeznik was probably too cute to not become a sex symbol at some point (though plastic surgery has done quite a number on ol' Johnny, he looks like an aging drag queen now. What the fuck, dude?), and he was definitely writing songs that were way too catchy to not become hits and make the Goo Goo Dolls one of the biggest alternative rock bands of the mid- to late 90s. Sure, there is another reality where Johnny never really composes much, leaves the lead vocals to Robbie Takac and the Goo Goo Dolls continue bringing out thrashing, primitive punk rock to the few initiated before quietly breaking up. Instead, Rzeznik - even before making them a hit machine churning out power ballads - brought a dynamism and mainstream-friendy appeal to his compositions that saw the Dolls go from their sloppy, not very impressive punk rock of their first two albums to alternative rock superstars, then adult contemporary mainstays. But to remember how good the Goos could be, let's go back and look at the good old days on GOOd Old Days. 

Opener "There You Are" shows how much more dynamic and more widescreen, for lack of a better word, the Rzeznik-led Dolls are. By 1994, Rzeznik was the undisputed lead singer and main songwriter of the band. The band had at that time put all their effort into Superstar Car Wash, an album and its singles that the band and its label thought was going to break them through to the mainstream. And it does have a number of good tracks, notably "We Are The Normal", Rzeznik's collaboration with his idol, The Mats' Paul Westerberg. It was a long-distance thing, both sending tapes, but still, a thing of the bucket list for Rzeznik. But the album didn't do as well as everyone hoped and by the time of recording its follow-up, Rzeznik was seriously thinking off hanging it up, as far as a full-time rock'n'roll career was concerned. Then, he came in with the demo for the traditional acoustic track. That track was "Name" and became the band's first top ten hit, and from there they were unstoppable for a couple of years. 

It's rare for a band that their commercial and artistic peak overlap. Often, bands get their breakthrough when their musical direction is just starting to go in the wrong direction, or they have their best work right after the mainstream audience zones out. But in the case of the Goo Goo Dolls, their commercial breakthrough A Boy Named Goo and follow-up blockbuster Dizzy Up The Girl with mega hit "Iris" were the best work of the album. Rzeznik tossed off songs that were catchy, commercial and also good. A full ten tracks, or half of the compilation put together by yours truly, come from this time period. By the time they released Gutterflower in 2002 Rzeznik's big power ballads started to come off a bit pandering, and while the band still managed a bunch of chart hits until 2007, the music started to become more formulaic. Incidentally, Gutterflower is also the last album that has a harder edge throughout, as from follow-up Let Love In they really started to drift into the realm of adult contemporay and their early punk days were a distant memory. The last fifteen years or so have largely been mid tempo ballad goo to swim through to find the occasional good song. 

Slightly belying its title, GOOd Old Days tries to turn up some good stuff from the late period towards the end of the comp, including the sprightly "Rebel Beat". The compilation ends with an acoustic version of "Boxes", a wistful tune of a middle-aged man looking back at his life and thanking his life-partner and then a cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", firmly showing that the Goos have arrived in the realm of dad rock. The Goo Goo Dolls grew into middle age along with us, and they did it without embarassing themselves. But they were better in the good old days, and GOOd Old Days will hopefully make you remember that...