Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~95 minutes
Release: Not scheduled
Neil and Chris dive into A Boy Named Goo by the Goo Goo Dolls, the 1995 album that sold two million copies in the US, made absolutely no impression on the UK charts, and somehow still managed to leave most people unaware it existed. This is the record that contains Name, the song that accidentally became a hit when KROC radio put it on rotation mid-way through filming a completely different music video. The band had to drop everything and rush out a new video instead. Classic.
Neil makes no secret of his deep affection for this era of the Goo Goo Dolls, insisting that this album and its predecessor Superstar Car Wash represent two of the greatest guitar records most people have never heard. Chris, who was firmly in Offspring and Green Day territory when this came out, admits he's surprised he missed it entirely at the time. The album sits right at the pivot point where John Rzeznik's pop songwriting instincts were starting to surface beneath a still-scrappy, punky exterior, and both hosts find that tension genuinely compelling.
There's also the grim business reality behind the record. Despite the album's success, the band received essentially nothing due to a punishing Metal Blade contract that swallowed royalties and charged studio costs back to the band. They ended up touring relentlessly with Bush and No Doubt just to cover their legal bills while fighting to get out of the deal.
The hosts spend time with Name, breaking down its unusual guitar tuning where Rzeznik replaces the B string with a second high E string to stop it snapping under the tension of the open tuning. The track was written about MTV host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, who Rzeznik found genuinely inspiring. Naked also gets attention, with both hosts flagging it as a standout alongside Name. The production throughout, handled by Lou Giordano of the Fort Apache Boston scene, gets praise for keeping genuine rough edges while still sounding considered.
A Boy Named Goo sits in a strange blind spot in music history. Too polished for the band's original punk fanbase, not yet famous enough for the Iris crowd, it was heard mostly by people who stumbled across it sideways. Neil's argument throughout is simple: the songwriting is exceptional, the production has aged remarkably well, and this record deserves far more attention