Academic Argument: Matchbox Twenty - More Than You Think You Are

As I have previously discussed in some of my posts, many of the popular alternative rock songs from the 90's and early 2000's all revolve around the common themes of love, relationships, regret, etc.  But times change, cultural views constantly shift.  Today there is a much more different view of these themes in society; divorce and adultery are much more common, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues have taken a prominent role in the media, and technology plays a big role in relationships.  With all that said, are these themes that are spoken of in a much more generic sense in the songs still relevant and applicable to today's society?  I would argue that they are and can be applied to all of the situations that I previously mentioned even if the lyrics don't mention those views verbatim.  This week I'll look at Matchbox Twenty's 2002 album, More Than You Think You Are, and see how these themes play out within it.

If you've ever heard someone say that times change, it is certainly true. According to the study done by Gábor Orosz and his team on the effects of declaring a relationship Facebook official, "22% of the Americans reported that they first met online, which is approximately the same proportion of couples who met in bars."  To be honest I was kind of surprised that this statistic wasn't higher.  It seems like almost everyone has a ton of "friends" who they know from online but never actually talk to or hangout with in person.  Facebook was created in 2004 and was one of the earliest social networking sites.  That was essentially the start of the modern social networking movement.  Before then, people didn't really meet online or casually stalk someone's profile after meeting them in person, but today all of that is commonplace.  More over, the youth of today's society aren't really used to a world without social networking.

Besides just how the ways in which we date have changed, our overall view of relationships and love has changed as well.  Throughout the 20th century, the divorce rate steadily grew.  In the early 1900s the divorce rate was in the teens; one out of every two marriages that happened in the 90s has ended in a divorce.  Gay marriage, which was previously unheard of, was officially legalized in every state by the Supreme Court's ruling of Obergefell v Hodge in 2015.  In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state in the US to legalize gay marriage and since then, the LGBT movement has gotten a lot more publicity from the media.  In her book, Love, In Theory, E. J. Levy shows that, in today's society, love stories can come in many different shapes unlike the classic cookie cutter Nicholas Sparks stories; she tells of a gay brother at his sister’s second wedding while dealing with his father’s mistress being in attendance, a lesbian student who turns out to be bisexual and falls for a male professor, as well as a straight female college professor who falls in love with a man who is her polar opposite. All of her stories shed light upon a different view of love in today’s society that might once have been seen as a little out there.

Alternative albums of the 90s and 2000s showed these themes, at least on the surface, only in a very straight forward way.  That's not to say that other views of these themes aren't normal, but rather that this is simply the common way that they are portrayed in most alternative songs.  The vast majority of songs in the alternative genre are a guy singing about a girl.  Matchbox twenty is no exception to this.  

"Cold" is a song off the album that deals with a relationship full of mistrust, jealousy, and a failing relationship.  The song opens with a harsh sounding electric guitar and then brings in an almost eerie sounding piano and guitar which creates a darker mood.  Through the lyrics, Rob Thomas, then tells a girl in a somewhat accusatory tone that he thinks she cheated on him but that he doesn't want her to leave.  In the study of the effects of declaring a relationship on Facebook, it is shown that once a couple "goes public" on Facebook, there is then an increased sense of jealousy and a stronger tie to the significant other (Orosz et al.).  While Facebook wasn't around when this album was written, it is easy to incorporate the much more modern issue of Facebook jealousy to the message of the song.  Once two people become Facebook official, it is obvious to the public that they are off the market but it also makes it easy to read into online interactions between one significant other and someone outside the relationship as a threat to that relationship.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard my friends talk about a fight that they were in because their girlfriend saw another girl post a picture with them or similar issues.  Modern cultural norms like technology and social networking don't discredit themes from older works, but rather add new perspectives to them.

"Bright Lights," one of the hit singles off this album, tells the tale of a girl leaving her boyfriend to pursue her dream of being an actress in New York City.  A quiet and comforting piano breaks the silence while Thomas recalls how the girl left but goes on to say that he still wants her to come back so they can be together.  The song almost seems like a broadway performance as it starts out quiet but then grows while the lyrics tell a very clear story.  The second line of the song is "took all except my name," which shows that this is the girl he wanted to marry.  While the lyrics don't suggest that the couple in the story were married, the message could be taken as she left his name behind which would hint at a divorce.  The lyrics from this song could easily make up one of the stories out of E.J. Levy's book, Love, In Theory.  The point is, whether or not the lyrics specifically say it, the listener can easily relate the straight forward themes presented in the alternative music to the much more modernized scenarios that play out in society today.

One of my favorite songs off this album is "Downfall."  It has a classic Matchbox Twenty sound that relies on a steady drum beat throughout with a little bit of piano and guitar layered on top.  Rob Thomas pleads to the girl to give their love a chance.  He thinks about how this girl should be with him instead of this other guy.  He doesn't say that she should cheat on her boyfriend but that's definitely one way they audience could take it.  At the end of the second chorus, Thomas is joined by the sound of a choir in the background.  In my opinion, I see the choir as serving two main purposes: firstly, it shows that Thomas is pleading to this girl, begging her almost, to give their love a shot, and secondly, the choir is a large group of people which brings in this sense that many people can relate to this feeling because they all sing it with such emotion that it creates a sense of empathy.  Once the choir fades out, we’re left with a lone, quiet piano behind Thomas’ vocals. If you listen to the song all the way through, that one part that lasts all of maybe 10 seconds serves to capture the emotion of the entire song. It makes for my favorite moment of the entire album. This song was one of the 5 singles released from the album. It wasn’t shown much love on the charts but I definitely recommend you listen give it a listen.

Many more songs off the album continue to hit different themes of relationships and love. “Disease” has a harsher sound to it relying on a heavy electric guitar sound that matches the tone of the lyrics. Thomas talks about a girl who he loves even though he knows she is bad for him. He struggles through the relationship and wrestles with the idea of ending it or pushing through. Another song with similar meaning is “Feel.” It also has a strong electric guitar presence. The guitar coupled with the lyrics show a feeling of anger as he tells of a girl who treated him poorly in a relationship. The song opens with a lone guitar sound played only on the left side before coming in on the right as well. That brief opening creates a sense of physical feeling to connect to the song which I thought was very clever on Matchbox Twenty’s part. On a different note, “Hand Me Down” is one of the slower ballads from the album but actually has a positive meaning that preaches being faithful in a relationship. It has a steady, but soft, drum beat throughout the song with a soothing steel guitar and soft piano on top.

Matchbox Twenty, like a lot of alternative music, touches the surface of these themes with their lyrics and lets the audience take the rest of the meaning by adding their own personal experience to the music.  They sing about themes that are timeless even though the scenarios that they play out in may change.  In an interview about the band, Thomas said, "We were making these albums and speaking from our heart, and so you could never take us down if we were starting from that point."  They made music that meant something to them and allowed others to relate to it.  Their songs tell stories that the audience can interpret in a way that lets them relate it to their own personal triumphs and tribulations.  Whether a song is from 1990 or 2000, most alternative songs have a message that can transcend time and changing cultures.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Jay S. "This Is How a Solo Album Breaks." PopEntertainment. PopEntertainment, 3 May 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Levy, E. J. Love, in Theory: Ten Stories. Athens, GA: U of Georgia, 2012. Print.

Orosz, Gábor, Ádám Szekeres, Zoltán G. Kiss, Péter Farkas, and Christine Roland-Lévy. "Elevated Romantic Love and Jealousy If Relationship Status Is Declared on Facebook." Frontiers in Psychology Front. Psychol. 6 (2015): n. pag. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Academic Conversation: A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay (REVISED)

This week I decided to take a look at an alternative rock band that has a somewhat different sound than those that I have reviewed in my previous posts. Coldplay, while still in the alt rock category, can also be considered a part of the Brit Pop genre. The difference in their roots gives them a noticeably different sound than the previous bands who have had their roots more in rock music as opposed to pop. Their second studio album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, was released in 2002 after the success of their debut album, Parachutes.

No one who writes music just writes a compilation of random words and hopes that when they're sung over music it will make sense. Every album, every song, every line says something. There is always a theme for music. As is the case for many alternative rock songs and albums, the theme from A Rush of Blood to the Head is all about love, regret, and relationships with a few exceptions in some songs. As the RollingStone review says of the emotion in this album, "[Chris Martin] still [has] plenty of angst to vent, though, wailing about death ("Amsterdam"), war ("A Rush of Blood to the Head"), and lost love (damn near everything)." While I do agree that the theme of love can be found in most songs on the album, I would argue that "A Rush of Blood to the Head" isn't actually about a literal war but rather is about the love of a girl.

While I was listening to the album and thinking about how I could talk more about its themes, I found an journal article that helped me get a better background on the theme of love and relationships. The journal that I found, Interpersonal Variability of the Experience of Falling in Love, suggests that some people use love to make sense of their lives so when a relationship goes wrong and is broken off, would rather struggle to keep the relationship alive instead of letting love fail. That's something that I think is very applicable. All around, in movies, songs, and even in other friends' relationships, you can see people fighting for to keep relationships alive. That idea plays out well in "A Rush of Blood to the Head." It starts out slow with just Chris Martin and a soft acoustic guitar in the background and it stays that way throughout the whole first verse. I see this as kind of the calm before the storm. It then picks up a little bit in the pre-chorus with a steady drum beat added in and then reaches its peak at the chorus where it pretty much stays for the rest of the song. In the beginning, he is quietly contemplating his relationship with this girl before he goes all out to fight to keep the relationship alive. He goes on to say in the chorus, "Said I'm gonna buy a gun and start a war / if you can tell me something worth fighting for," (now you can see where the confusion about war mentioned in the RollingStone article comes in). However, he isn't talking about a literal war, but rather saying that if the girl is willing to give it a shot, then he will go to the ends of the earth and start a (metaphorical) war for their love. A similar theme can also be found in the emotionally gut-wrenching "Warning Sign." It also revolves around a broken relationship like in "A Rush of Blood to the Head," except for this one isn't as much about him fighting for the relationship as it is him nostalgically looking back on the relationship realizing how special this girl was. The same basic melody stays relatively the same throughout the whole song and it basically just jumps right into that melody which is kind of how the meaning of the song is. He doesn't waste any time beating around the bush; he just goes straight ahead and pours out how he feels. Before the lyrics come in, you can here a cello behind the guitar that sets the tone for a very somber song. The message behind the lyrics is essentially summed up in the cliché, "you don't know what you have til it's gone." Martin regrets letting his relationship with this girl end because he can see in hindsight that she was special and could have been the one for him. Another song that goes along with the theme of regret in relationships is "The Scientist" which is arguably the most popular song off this album. In it, Martin deals with the pain of hurting someone who he loved and ruining the relationship and wanting to start over. He constantly repeats the phrase "take me back to the start," which emphasizes his want to have a fresh start with the girl. Throughout the entire song he pleads to this girl that he is sorry but at the same time he is trying to work his way through what went wrong. The title of the song is kind of cryptic at first because it's not like he's singing about a scientist or anything so there isn't any concrete reason for the title directly stated in the song. However, if you listen to the meaning, he is trying to reason his way through what went wrong in the relationship much like a scientist sees a problem and has to work his way through it. I think the lines in the song that best contributes to the meaning of the title come when Martin says, "I was just guessing at numbers and figures, pulling the puzzles apart."

The theme of love and regret is very common among many alternative songs and I think a big reason for that is because it is something that everyone can relate to; everyone can say that they've looked at a girl (or a guy for the lady readers out there) and thought, "wow I really like that girl," or thinking, "I wish it would've worked out between us." One of the more iconic songs off of this album, "Clocks," revolves around these themes. Although the lyrics can be somewhat ambiguous, as they are in many alt rock songs, it's still simple to pick out the overall message in the song. It starts out with quite possibly the most recognizable piano riff of all time and then building on that piano with a steady rock beat. Martin then brings it back down with his emotional and comforting voice. He reflects on the fleetingness of time and how you have to make the most of time or else you will live with regret when he says "confusion that never stops / closing walls and ticking clocks." He then goes on to talk about the regret of not saying all he should have to save his relationship.

The seventh song off the album, "Green Eyes," is probably the song that is most clearly about being in love. However, unlike some of the other songs off this album, this song presents a more idealistic view of what love should be like in a relationship. The constant strum of the acoustic guitar in the background gives this song a sound that is somewhat of a mix of country and soft alternative, Through the lyrics of the song, Martin tries to show the positive side of being in a relationship. He opens the song with the lyrics, "honey you are the rock upon which I stand." This immediately sets the tone of the song to be about a relationship that helps him to be a better person. While he starts out by saying that the girl helps build him up, the end of the first verse is him suggesting that this girl is perfect and he is lucky to have her in his life. Throughout the entire song, the steady strum of the acoustic guitar is constant, it's always there. Just like the acoustic guitar in the song, this girl is his rock, she is steadfast and always there for him. She helps him forget about all of his burdens and problems. "In My Place" is sort of a combination of this idealistic view of love presented in "Green Eyes" and the more regretful view that was presented in the previous songs. The entire idea behind this song is that he is struggling with certain aspects of himself that he wants to change but he just can't. Over the sound of an electric piano that almost sounds like an organ, he first says, "I was lost, I was lost / crossed lines I shouldn't have crossed / I was lost, oh yeah." As he is trying to change himself he realizes that he hurt the girl he loves as he was trying so hard to change. He later recognizes that she loved him and didn't want him to change because she accepted him. In the chorus he realizes that he shouldn't have tried to change and that he wants to wait for the girl to come back to him.

As I said earlier, music always has a meaning. Whether its cryptic and ambiguous or blatantly obvious through the lyrics, the writer always intends for something to be taken away from it. The theme of love, relationships, and regret is used a lot in alternative music and Coldplay did a great job of showing a well rounded view of that theme in A Rush Of Blood To The Head. If you haven't listened all the way through this album, I would definitely try it next time you're on a road trip or just sitting down to crank out some homework for an hour I promise you won't regret it.

Cultural Criticism: Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers (REVISED)

The Red Hot Chili Peppers is a band that I’ve been hoping to be able to do a post about since my blog was just an idea and now the time has finally come. While some of their earlier albums might be considered more of the classics, I chose to look at Stadium Arcadium from 2006 (the ninth album from the band). I know this a little more recent than some of other albums on my blog but this one was released in the 2000's and it does come up on the almighty "90's, 2000's, and Today's Hits" pandora station quite a bit. More than just the album, however, I’ll be looking at how the album functions within the boundaries of culture.

When the Red Hot Chili Peppers started, the use of drugs was very apparent in their music. In fact, during their early years, they were given a $5,000 budget to make a demo and two of the leading members decided to put $2,000 of it towards heroin and cocaine (I find it kind of funny that it led to an argument among the band members over how much of their budget should go towards drugs). Just about every song on their early albums referenced drugs. One song on this album where the drug reference is apparent is “Snow (Hey Oh).” The song kind of hints at two themes. The first, and more obvious, is that snow is a clear reference to cocaine as the lyrics make obvious drug allusions. The second theme of snow is a more philosophical theme that plays off the idea of drug use. The song talks about the purity of snow and how another layer of snow falls and brings a fresh new start. Particularly, it's talking about overcoming drug addiction which much of the band had dealt with and turning away from those drugs. In previous albums, the references towards drugs were more about using them to party (the idea of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll), but in this album there is a more positive message about getting clean. "Snow" starts out with a really cool guitar riff that plays over and over throughout the entire song with a steady bass strum played on top. In the first verse, its just him alone with the guitar as he contemplates his past drug use. Then in the second verse on top of the guitar comes in a drum beat and an high pitch electric piano that almost sounds like a flute. That change in instrumentation from the first to second verse is shift from seeing how drugs have messed him up to seeing that he can have a fresh start. This album, and particularly this song, is basically a coming of age of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In society, the older generations always think of the youth as being wild and out of control. I like to think of it with the classic Scooby Doo line saying, "those meddling kids are up to know good." In their previous album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers were "those meddling kids," but now they've grown up and matured. It's representative of culture how every generation will grow up and mature and eventually run the world, but every generation goes through that wild youth phase.

The song, “Dani California,” which is one of their staple songs, is centered around a girl named Dani.  In an interview, Anthony Kiedis said that Dani is the embodiment of every girl who he has ever had a relationship with.  He actually sings about Dani in a few other previous songs like "Californication" and "By The Way."  Aside from just telling the story of a girl's life, "Dani California" also speaks to a movement of nonconformity and individualism.  In the first verse of the he says, “in Alabama she was swinging hammer, price you gotta pay when you break the panorama.” In this situation the elusive Dani is in a prison in Alabama for going against the status quo. This is a direct reference to an incident in the Alabama prison system in 1995. The newly appointed state prison commissioner brought back the chain gang as a punishment for inmates. Critics called it inhumane and were even more appalled when he made the criminals wear the classic black and white striped prison garb as a way to humiliate them and break their spirits.  The sound of "Dani California" is definitely an interesting one and it definitely adds to its message.  It starts with a pretty basic steady drum beat and then an electric guitar and bass come in and mimic the beat of the drum.  You can definitely hear the funk roots of The Red Hot Chili Peppers through the guitar sound.  Later in the first verse you start to hear these strange electric sounds that sound kind of like a laser gun in a space movie but they don't take away from the dong because they're not overdone.  Those weird sounds do a lot to contribute to the nonconformity theme of the song just by adding in something extra that isn't really a normal sound for an alternative rock song.  This song reminds me a lot of the hipster movement in today's culture.  A lot of young teens consider themselves to be hipster and I think that they could identify with Dani because she is just going through life trying to do her thing without being confined to the social norms of culture.

With 2 discs, 28 songs, and 2 hours and 2 minutes of audio, this album is a little two long for me to be able to talk about even half the songs in detail but there are a few others that I particularly like and want to at least talk about those too.  "Hard To Concentrate" and "Death Of A Martian" are two songs off the album that didn't really make it big like the two songs I previously discussed (possibly because they're on the second disc which didn't receive nearly as much attention as the first disc) but I still like them nonetheless.  "Hard To Concentrate" has really cool sound that revolves around the bongos with a little guitar but just as an accent to the bongos.  This song in particulars shows the growth and maturity of the Red Hot Chili Peppers seeing as they used to sing about wild parties with tons of girls and in this he sings about settling down and starting a family.  "Death Of A Martian" is the last song on the album and at first listen it might seem a little strange.  Initially it just sounds like they're singing about an alien which if makes sense because they're talking about Martian but that's actually not what its about.  The bassist of the band had a dog named Martian who all of the members loved so it was a tough loss when she died.  Kiedis' dog also died during the recording of this album and his dog had helped him a lot when he was trying to get over his addiction so there is a lot of emotion in this song.  Towards the end of the song there's a pretty cool part towards the end where the band is just rocking out in the background while he is basically just speaking the verse but it actually sounds really cool.

Stadium Arcadium marks a change in the lifestyle of The Red Hot Chili Peppers from a crazy wild youth to a mature coming of age.  They definitely had a lot to say about it in this major 2 disc album from talking about nonconformity to overcoming addiction, settling down with the girl you love to dealing with the loss of a beloved dog.  Apart from "Dani California" and "Snow," this album didn't get shown too much love by critics but theres definitely quite a few gems in there.  All in all, I'd call Stadium Arcadium a great alt rock album for millennials and really any generation.

Genre Analysis: Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon

This week I decided to look at Vertical Horizon’s 1999 album, Everything You Want.  You may not know many Vertical Horizon songs but if you’re a true millennial then I guarantee you will recognize the single that shares the name with the album.  Vertical Horizon is the epitome of a 90’s alternative rock band which is why they fit perfectly into this week’s theme of a genre analysis.  My goal for this week is that we can talk about the music and the roots of the genre and hopefully gain a better appreciation for this album.  

Everything You Want was the band’s first actual major record label album.  Vertical Horizon actually started out as the duo of Matt Scannell and Keith Kane who started the duo in college at Georgetown.  They started out with a couple indie albums before getting a record deal to produce bigger albums.  Alternative rock, in general, is a result of underground indie bands becoming more popular and bringing this genre with them into the spotlight.  Being just a duo at first, their original album, There and Back Again, had a very strong acoustic presence which evolved in their more recent albums to include other instruments and band members while still keeping that simple yet strong guitar sound.  That semi-simplistic rock sound with a strong acoustic (and really just guitar in general) focus is very representative of most alternative rock bands.  

The four singles released from this album are “We Are,” “Everything You Want,” “You’re a God,” and “Best I Ever Had.”  Each of these singles did pretty well on the charts and when you listen to them it’s not difficult to see why.  “We Are” is definitely one of their more straightforward rock songs that deviates a little bit from their normal alternative sound.  Content wise it is similar to the rest of their songs but it definitely has a harsher guitar sound.  “Everything You Want” is the classic Vertical Horizon song that everyone knows or can at least hum along to.  “Everything You Want,” “You’re a God,” and “Best I Ever Had” are all relatively similar in that they all have that very distinct acoustic sound.  “Best I Ever Had” is on of the softer songs on the album; it basically revolves around the acoustic guitar with a hint of keyboard.  The whole song is kind of at the same tempo in that it never really reaches a climax; but that doesn’t take away from the song at all because it sticks to its soothing melody and focuses on lyrical content.

From a lyrical perspective this album fits in with the rest of the alternative rock genre.  Each song is an individual story but there is a common theme that weaves through each of them.  This album heavily revolves around love, relationships, breakups, and all that other mushy stuff.  However, it's not one of those albums that you would make fun of your friend for if you walked into his room and found him listening to the album alone.  A lot of alternative music seems to deal with similar topics.  Most alternative bands are mostly male so it makes sense that they often times sing about a girlfriend or a girl from some former relationship.  In my last post I was talking about the Goo Goo Dolls' album, Dizzy Up The Girl which is another classic alt rock album.  When listening to the Goo Goo Dolls' album you will hear a lot of similarities in lyrical content.  Also much like the Goo Goo Dolls, Vertical Horizon has a sort of soft rock sound in their vocal delivery.  

Alternative music came up as a reaction to the mainstream rock from the late 80's.  The alternative bands of the 90's reacted by essentially creating their own new genre.  This new genre still had its roots in rock and roll music as well as the other music from these band members' childhoods.  Earlier I said that Vertical Horizon originally started out as the duo at Georgetown University; well during their time in college they often just played small gigs at local bars and stuff like that.  Because they were just starting out they didn't have that many songs of their own to play so they usually played a lot of Simon and Garfunkel covers.  That is one of their main influences and how the band came to get its simplistic, heavily guitar centered sound.  This sound is especially present in "Give You Back" and "Shackled."  However, you can still hear the rock roots in these songs when you get to the choruses which are much more elevated and energized as opposed to the more laid back verses. 

Vertical Horizon is one of the bands that perfectly encapsulates all of the aspects of the alternative rock genre as a whole.  From a lyrical, instrumental, appearance, and stylistic standpoint, they exemplify all of the best qualities of alt rock.  Everything You Want is the ideal album to discuss when talking about alternative music as an entire genre.  Even though most people may have only hear one or two songs off this album I would strongly recommend listening through the whole thing because there really aren't any weak links.  I obviously have a few favorites on the album that I am partial towards, but other than that each song is just as strong as the last.

Album Review: Dizzy Up The Girl - Goo Goo Dolls

The Goo Goo Dolls are one of the classic bands that just has to be brought up when talking about 90’s and early 2000’s alternative and alternative rock (although the Goo Goo Dolls lean more towards alt rock).  This week I’ll be looking at their 1998 album, Dizzy Up The Girl.  This is their biggest album to date as it was the first album released after the band went big with the song “Name” off their 1995 album, A Boy Named Goo.  

The band is a trio from Buffalo, New York consisting of the lead guitarist/vocalist, Johnny Rzeznik; bassist, Robby Takac; and drummer, George Tutuska (replaced by Mike Malinin in 1995).  Part of the reason that I think the Goo Goo Dolls fit so well into this genre and time frame is because they don’t have a lot of other members like a keyboard player or a DJ.  The mix of just guitar, bass, and drums allows their songs to be centered around a strong guitar melody which is very apparent in Dizzy Up The Girl.  One of my favorite songs on this album is “Acoustic #3.”  It is a relatively short song at only 1:53 which is kind of odd for a current song but that doesn’t take away from its quality.  It’s a simple acoustic song (I’m sure you could guess that from the title) with a really strong lyric.  I think it really highlights how the Goo Goo Dolls have a simplistic sound that focuses on vocals and guitar.

Four major singles also came from this album: “Iris,” “Slide,” “Black Balloon,” and “Broadway.”  “Iris” and “Slide” are too of the most iconic songs of the 90’s.  Sometimes songs that are popular are overplayed and aren’t actually anything special from a musical standpoint.  That’s not the case for the Goo Goo Dolls’ singles.  Both “Slide” and “Iris” are characterized by an infectious guitar melody with lyrics that are both catchy and meaningful.  “Black Balloon” is another one that I really like because it’s kind of like the popular song that flew under the radar.  A lot of people who aren’t hard core Goo Goo Dolls fans or just really into 90’s music probably don’t recognize the name, but when it gets to the chorus you’ll be humming along.  Out of these singles, “Broadway” is the one that got the least airtime on radio stations but it’s still just as good as the others in my opinion.  While the other songs are really catchy and you could just sing along without really understanding the lyrics, this is the song where the lyrics really tell a story and it is hard to listen to the song without being drawn into that story. 

The majority of the songs by the Goo Goo Dolls are written by Johnny Rzeznik who also does lead vocals.  However, Robby Takac usually likes to write a few songs and take the lead on those.  In Dizzy Up The Girl, Takac has three songs: “January Friend,” “Amigone,” and “Full Forever.”  If you’re just playing the music for background noise while doing homework or something, you might not notice the difference; but if you’re paying attention to the music while you listen it should be pretty easy to catch the difference.  I would consider most Goo Goo Dolls songs to be alternative rock ballads.  The Takac songs, on the other hand, are more heavy rock.  While the guitar in the Rzeznik songs is more subtle and warm, the Takac songs have a much harsher sounding guitar focus and overall his songs sound darker. (The song on the left is "Broadway" and the one on the right is "January Friend" so you can hear the difference for yourself).  In the SputnikMusic review of this album written by the author under the pseudonym “Sendor,” it is pointed out that Takac songs are generally just filler songs to make the album longer.  In the case of “January Friend,” and “Full Forever,” I completely agree.  However, “Amigone” is actually a pretty solid song.  It is still a little darker sounding but the vocals don’t seem as harsh and heavy metal-esque as some of the other Takac songs.  All in all I would say that the Takac songs are the weaker points in the album but they don’t take away from this album being one of the best in the 90’s.

Dizzy Up The Girl was the sixth album released by the Goo Goo Dolls.  Up to this one none of their albums had really made it big.  After the success of “Name” on their previous album, there was more hype around the new album in ‘98.  With the chance to become big, the Goo Goo Dolls created this album which is more mainstream than their others.  While many artists lose their genuine sound when they go mainstream, the Goo Goo Dolls thrived in the mainstream sound environment.  They still kept a lot of their original sound qualities while releasing more radio singles.  Their mainstream sound led to some of the best music that they’ve made.  After Dizzy Up The Girl came the Gutterflower in 2002 which had a bit of a darker sound to it (it still did pretty well on the charts).  In 2006 they returned back to their classic Goo Goo Dolls 90’s sound with Let Love In.   Overall I think that it’s hard to leave the Goo Goo Dolls out of the conversation when discussing the best 90’s music.  They’re the classic alternative and alt rock band and in my opinion their best work came off their 1998 album, Dizzy Up the Girl.