Warner Bros / Wea
2002
Gutterflower
About This Album
Prior to "Name," nobody would ever have picked the Goo Goo Dolls to be stars. Not only were they saddled with a terrible name (there must be worse names in the history of rock, but outside of Dumpy's Rusty Nuts, I can't think of one off the top of my head), they were either seen as lovable ragtag group of ne'er-do-wells (by their fans) or shameless Replacements obsessives (by critics), and both rightly saw the group as simply too modest for the big time. But that modesty paid off, since it was the quality that gave their big hits ("Name" and "Iris") humility. Since they arrived in an era where singles could stay on the charts for a full year, if not more, and stay on the radio for even longer, these two hits gave the impression that the Dolls were bigger stars than they really were, even if they sold many, many copies of A Boy Named Goo and Dizzy Up the Girl. So, Gutterflower, their first album in four years, was treated with the utmost care, crafted and polished on the level of a superstar release -- thereby giving a glossy sheen to a record that, at its core, is another Goo Goo Dolls album. Yes, there may be some darker currents roiling underneath the surface in Johnny Rzeznik's lyrics, but when the production glistens like this, it takes some deliberate, intensive listening on the part of the audience in order to discern it.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,5,8 and 12)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.