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.

Ranking the Goo Goo Dolls' songs

The Goos are, depending on the day, my second-through-fifth favorite musical artist.
They have some wonderful songs, portraying an emotional honesty and rawness that has always drawn me in. Here are my rankings in three categories. The band members are Johnny Rzeznik [REZ-nik], guitar and vocals, Robby Takac, bass and vocals, and Mike Malinin, drums.

Notes: The only caveat to this list is that I do not know any songs from the first release because I don't have enough money to buy it just to add it to my collection. Also, songs written by Johnny that aren't GGD songs are not under consideration. So, for example, songs from the movie Treasure Planet are not eligible. I included the duets in my considerations for the list of Johnny songs. Johnny and Robby's songs are ranked separately because they are, in general, two verydifferent kinds of animal.

Favorite Songs written by Johnny Rzeznik:
To be honest, I'm ranking these largely from my gut reactions. I will say, though, that, in order to determine which are the best, and figure my gut reactions out, I asked myself if the song was the best of what Johnny's songs typically offer: emotional honesty, passionate expression, and rawness. (Album on which it appears in parentheses.)

1. Black Balloon (Dizzy up the Girl)

I can never get sick of listening to this song. It's largely assumed that this song is about the emotional turmoil of one's feelings for a girl who is addicted to illegal drugs. (I agree.) Many would put Iris in the top spot, but I feel that Black Balloon speaks more to emotional struggle... Johnny's really good at tapping into emotional struggle and how it affects us.

2. It's Over (Gutterflower)

A song few know because it was never released as a single, probably because it is not very radio friendly. If you've ever had an intimate relationship end on someone else's terms, you may be able to relate to the strong shift in Johnny's vocal delivery and the guitar effects used between the verses and the choruses.

3. Truth is a Whisper (Gutterflower)

From the foreshadowingly-downplayed mood of the musical introduction, the listener can sense that he/she is about to be taken on quite the emotional ride. Such a perfect way to close an album. Imagine yourself with shoulder-length straight hair, really letting the mood of the song dictate how you would sing this song, falling down over your eyes and across your cheeks as you jam, and you will know what I mean.

4. Iris (Dizzy up the Girl)

Johhny sure can write a soundtrack song, can't he? If you don't know this song or why people love it, you probably lived under the proverbial rock in the late 90s. If you did, watch "City of Angels." Then, listen to Iris. It's a wonderful song. Case closed.

5. Notbroken (Something for the Rest of Us)

Johnny knows how to make emotions match the words that he writes. Say these words to yourself. "...if the world has worn you down/And I'll be waiting/So please come home" ...Did you do that? Good. Now, listen to Notbroken.

Just missing the cut... Naked, Name, Let Love in, Here is Gone, Two Days in February

Favorite Songs written by Robby Takac
Robby's scratchy voice turns many off, but, early in the band's career, his voice drove their punk leanings and helped them to get signed. Robby typically is very blunt... He gets right to his point, both musically and lyrically. I believe that if someone with a little bit smoother voice performed his songs, people would pay more attention as they could relate to a lot of things that he talks about with his lyrics. With that in mind, I'll just give you some lyrics as evidence of how he keeps it real.

1. Up, Up, Up

"Are you listening now?/Are you feeling that way?/Aren't you terrified?/Of breaking up, too tired to try again?/Are you happy now that you've shut yourself down?/Aren't you paralyzed by all the nonsense that's gone down?/I know you're gonna see these things someday"

2. Amigone

"Every time you point your finger/Three more point right back at you/I'm not saying that there's something wrong with life/Cuz that's a sad excuse"

3. January Friend

"Let’s pretend/My January friend/I’m wantin’ you again/I wanna touch you/Every single heart that beats pretend"

P.S. The Goos are from Buffalo, NY...

4. Slave Girl

This song is just kinda humorous to me. "Let me tell you 'bout a girl I know/I drag her around wherever I go/This little woman drives me insane/She's tied to my ankle with a ball-and-chain."

5. Out of Sight

Very old GGD song: "You really thought you had me/Thought you'd put me in my place" ...And elsewhere... "You tell me you got a wife/I heard she's fat/You got a kid/An' I got a cat"

Just missing the cut... Now I Hear, Laughing, Sex Maggot

For funsies, I'll rank the covers:
1. Never Take the Place of Your Man

This is an old Prince song. Lance Diamond's vocals somehow fit really well with the raw, hollow sound of 80's Goo guitar.

2. Down on the Corner

Pretty decent cover of CCR's classic. Again, Lance Diamond, a local radio personality at the time, provides the vocals.
(Distant) 3. Give a Little Bit

Okay, so, I'm pretty much just putting this one on here because I think that it's lame and wanted to make a little fun of it... I could be doing this for catharsis, I guess, because this work is about the only thing that the band has ever done that I don't like.

Coming soon, I'll rank the albums and give a detailed breakdown.

Special thanks to Paul Green for his encouragement.