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.