Goo Goo Dolls

Formed in Buffalo in 1986, the Goo Goo Dolls started out as a punk band with some metal overtones and no commercial appeal; they ended up as purveyors of melodic, multi-Platinum alt rock with plenty of pop savvy. Guitarist John Rzeznik, bassist Robby Takac, and drummer George Tutuska were the founding members of the group. On their self-titled 1987 debut album, Takac was the lead vocalist, and the feel was straight-up hardcore-informed punk with the occasional dash of metal guitar. On 1989's Jed, Rzeznik took the lead vocal on a couple of cuts but the musical direction remained largely the same. In 1990, third LP Hold Me Up found the Dolls pursuing a more melodious sound, with vocal chores evenly split between Takac and Rzeznik. But the band's first four albums did next to nothing commercially; it wasn't until 1995's A Boy Named Goo that the Dolls broke through, thanks to the acoustic-based ballad "Name," which became a No. 5 single and helped drive the album to double-Platinum status. After completing the record, the band replaced Tutuska with Mike Malinin. The band graduated to the majors for their next album, and 1998's Dizzy Up the Girl was their Warner Bros debut. Doubling down on their new, radio-friendly style, the album became the band's biggest ever, aided in no small part by the sweeping power balladry of "Iris," the phenomenally successful No. 1 single that was originally cut for the soundtrack of the film City of Angels. Though they were never able to reproduce their massive success of the mid-to-late '90s, the Goo Goo Dolls remained a high-profile Warner Bros band, recording and touring on a regular basis. In 2008 Rzeznik was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. And though Malinin was kicked out of the group in 2013, replaced by a session drummer, the creative core of Rzeznik and Takac always remained in place.