Ranking the Goo Goo Dolls' albums

This will be quick and simple.

The criteria for best Goo Goo Dolls albums are my 1) opinions on the quality of the songs and 2) overall cohesiveness of the album. Overall cohesiveness, in this sense, is, basically, answered by the following question: can the listener sit down and listen to the album straight through without feeling that the flow is broken up? In other words, do the songs on the album gel together? So, from least-awesome to most awesome, with the 5 best songs from each album listed in no particular order after my justification of location in the rankings, here we go.

Note: As mentioned in the song rankings, I've never heard the songs from First Release, so I cannot judge that album.

8. Jed (1989)
This album, while a lot of fun if one is in a punky mood, just does not compare with the rest of their body of work. Something is rather odd with the sound production of the album. Or maybe it's that the words are hard to understand... makes you wonder if they were inebriated during the production. Hmmm...

Best Songs: Down on the Corner, Up Yours, Sex Maggot, Out of Sight, 7th of Last Month (or Iggy the Cat Gets a Bath)

7. Something for the Rest of Us (2010)
Despite the fact that I love "Notbroken," this album falls way down here because I feel that "Sweetest Lie" sounds nothing like a Goo Goo Dolls song. Even if it has some pop appeal, it's just not them. Also, I don't feel that the album fits together very well. Some great tracks, but the album relies heavily on lyrical content, so much so that, even though the lyrics are nice, they're a little too over-generalized for me. The sounds of the album are good, though. I enjoy the music.

Best Songs: Notbroken, Still your Song, Home, Say You're Free, As I Am

6. Hold me Up (1990)

More well-produced than Jed, more fluid delivery of the songs throughout. This album actually has pretty good cohesion, but the songs on here just aren't as good as the Goos would show that they could do later.

Best Songs: Laughing, Never Take the Place of your Man, Two Days in February, Hey, Just the Way you Are

5. A Boy Named Goo (1995)

I really feel that this album put the band on the brink of greatness. Some wonderful songs, and actually some truly excellent lyric-writing. Musically, though, this album doesn't seem to quite flow together as well. Individually, though, each song has good merit and is worth your time to check out... especially the five listed below.

Best Songs: Long Way Down, Naked, Name, Something Bad, Burning Up

4. Superstar Car Wash (1993)
Superstar and Boy are rather similar, but I like the guitar effects on Superstar better, and I feel that this album is more cohesive than its immediate post-decessor (if you will). The lyrics are very straightforward, for the most part, so this is an album that a new Goo Goo Dolls listener might find helpful to listen to in order to get a good idea of the character of the band... at least as far as song-writing is concerned. Superstar Car Wash is a good album to play in the background while you are havin' a couple brews.

Best Songs: String of Lies, Girl Right Next to Me, We are the Normal, Lucky Star, Close Your Eyes

3. Let Love In (2006)

This album is wonderful. It just drips with heartfelt emotion. It's a good album for end-of-a-relationship catharsis. Only knock on this one is that the flow is just SLIGHTLY off, probably because one may find him/herself so excited to hear the songs listed below that he/she may skip over what's in between. More to the point, the Goos' cover of "Give a Little Bit" is on this album, and I find it lame, so, I skip over it.

Best Songs: Better Days, Without you Here, Can't Let it Go, Let Love in, Feel the Silence

2. Dizzy up the Girl (1998)

The song-writing on this album is, well, dizzying... four top-twenty hits, and hidden gems like "Bullet Proof," "Hate this Place," and "Acoustic #3," not to mention Robby's excellent contributions of gravely delight, "January Friend" and "Extra Pale." So, how could I not put this album not be #1, especially when a #1 song is barely in my top five from the album? Read my comments on Gutterflower to find out.

Best Songs: Iris, Black Balloon, Hate this Place, Bullet Proof, Slide

1. Gutterflower (2002)

I love everything about this album... heck, even the design on the CD itself is cool. Gutterflower, to me, is artistic, pleasing, and an album to which one can rock out and get into or play in the background while filling out paperwork. There is enough variety in style to keep the listener interested, and enough similarity for the listener to be sure that he/she is still listening to the same band. If, from reading my comments here, you are tempted to listen to only one Goo Goo Dolls album, let it be this one.

Best Songs: This album is here because there is no drop-off. None of these songs is great as "Iris," "Black Balloon," "Naked," or "Name," but every one of them is within two or three ticks in quality of the others on this album. My personal favorites are: It's Over, Truth is a Whisper, What a Scene, Big Machine, and Up, Up, Up

Members of the Goo Goo Dolls: First Release - Superstar Car Wash: Johnny Rzeznik, vocals and guitar; Robby Takac, vocals and bass; George Tutuska, drums. A Boy Named Goo - present: Rzeznik and Takac, same rolls; Mike Malinin, drums.