Dizzy Up The Girl by The Goo Goo Dolls
By Eamon O'Neill
Search online for the worst band names in history, and doubtless the Goo Goo Dolls will pop up on any list. The duo from upstate New York would be the first to admit that their moniker is not great, with main man John Rzeznik once calling it “kind of stupid”. However, where they fell short in name, they more than made up for in great songs, irresistible hooks, deft musicianship, and star quality charisma.
Starting life as a punk-leaning outfit in the late 1980s, they released their first album in 1987. A world away from the band that would score their first major success almost a decade later, they were by the time of sophomore release ‘Jed’, unlikely as it may seem, signed to Metal Blade Records; the nascent home of all things heavy including Slayer, Manowar and Cannibal Corpse. With bassist Robby Takac taking on lead vocal duties, the man who would later be most recognisable as their front man and focal point was relegated to more of a supporting role.
All that would change by the time of fifth LP, and another doozy in the titling department, ‘A Boy Named Goo’, in 1995. By then, John had stepped up as the band’s main songwriter and singer, with Takec taking occasional lead vocals, and in ‘Name’, they had scored their first domestic hit single. International success, it seemed, was just around the corner.
Pointing the way to their future, 'Name' was, in Rzeznik's own words, "something of a departure". With a mellower track that showcased the singer’s distinct timbre as well as knack for unorthodox acoustic exploration that produced incredible results, the band had accidentally found their natural sweet spot. On their next album, they would develop it even further.
Released in 1998, ‘Dizzy Up The Girl’ was the band’s major breakthrough. Bursting with alt-pop gems and the semi-acoustic anthems that would make their name and reputation, it would turn the unassuming underground rockers into international sensations.
Opening with the post-grunge perfection of ‘Dizzy’, the instant earworm’s was musically somewhere between Soul Asylum and The Stereophonics, with their brand of guitar driven alt-rock sitting neatly alongside the likes of Vinyl8 favourite's The Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns', Garbage’s sophomore ‘Version 2.0’ and Manic Street Preachers’ ‘This is My Truth Tell Me Yours’; all of which topped the charts that year.
‘Slide’, which followed, gave the band another huge hit in the U.S.A. With its incredibly sunny disposition, it proved that the combination of Rzeznik and the acoustic was the perfect recipe for chart success. The more pensive ‘Broadway’ would also chart highly on the Billboard Hot 100, with the introspective ‘Black Balloon’ giving them yet another smash single.
Rzeznik may have penned the hits, but Takec was no slouch either, writing four songs for the album and getting behind the mic on all of them. With the jaunty ‘January Friend’ and the punky ‘Amigone’, it was clear that although cleaner and leaner, the band's original spirit was still in there.
Elsewhere, the melancholic ‘All Eyes on Me’ featured writing contributions from the whole band including then drummer Mike Malinin, and the emotive ‘Acoustic #3’ featured a solo Rzeznik backed by a string quartet, on a track that acted as the perfect preamble for that song.
To say that ‘Iris’ utterly defines the album would be a massive understatement. Casting a shadow from on high, the alt ballad written for the romantic fantasy film ‘City of Angels’ captured the imagination, and a moment that few bands ever experience. One of Ireland’s biggest-selling singles, it has received over a billion streams on Spotify, putting it in the same exclusive club as Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’, Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and The Killers’ ‘Mr. Brightside’.
A song as stunningly beautiful as ‘Iris’ however, deserves more than just a list of its statistical achievements. Based around an ascending / descending acoustic riff in a Jimmy Page-esque open tuning, the song was cinematic in scope, with Rzeznik perfectly distilling ‘City of Angels’ plot of pained longing and sacrifice for love into what is one of the greatest songs of the 1990s.
As an album though, ‘Dizzy Up The Girl’ remains the perfect snapshot in time from a band who, six albums into their career, thoroughly deserved their success. Though they’d never scale such heights in the charts again, 2002’s ‘Gutterflower’ provided a worthy follow-up, while their contribution to the Batman & Robin soundtrack ‘Lazy Eye’ - written in the same year as ‘Iris’ - is a real hidden gem.
First issued in the CD age when the vinyl pressing plants were all but silent, ‘Dizzy Up The Girl’ only received its first vinyl release in 2015. Out of print since then save for a limited release on colour vinyl in 2018, it’s just been pressed as a limited edition metallic silver vinyl to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary.
Few saw the Goo Goo Dolls success coming, but one man did. Brian Slagel, who signed the band to Metal Blade’s Death Records imprint back in 1989 told the author for this piece; “we all loved the music and attitude that the Goos had in the early days", he said; "Seeing them live, they were just so much fun and great energy. We always felt that they could become something bigger."
From punk rock roots to dizzying success, the band with the worst name in history continues to shine.
Album Details
Dizzy Up The Girl was released on 22nd September 1998 and is available to buy at Vinyl8.
Tracklist
1 Dizzy
2 Slide
3 Broadway
4 January Friend
5 Black Balloon
6 Bulletproof
7 Amigone
8 All Eyes On Me
9 Full Forever
10 Acoustic #3
11 Iris
12 Extra Pale
13 Hate This Place
2 Slide
3 Broadway
4 January Friend
5 Black Balloon
6 Bulletproof
7 Amigone
8 All Eyes On Me
9 Full Forever
10 Acoustic #3
11 Iris
12 Extra Pale
13 Hate This Place
