Contributed by: Bill Reiser
From David Gates; Newsweek, 10/5/98:
"Even rock-crit meanies root for the Goo Goo Dolls, who started in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1986 and paid dues until their 1995 double-platinum "A Boy Named Goo." They've morphed from a punk group with pop hooks and melodies to a pop group with punk roots; on "Dizzy Up the Girl," they're a raspy-textured guitar band, best on chugging rockers harking back to the Ramones. But it's so put-together: calculated quiet episodes, predictable climaxes, canned "attitude." The ballads with strings and acoustic guitar are pure corn syrup: "What you feel is what you are/And what you are is beautiful." And the hit single "Iris" sounds like Billy Joel's intolerable "Piano Man," complete with theatrical shifts from singing to belting. A band that's soldiered on so long must feel vindicated by success--and a naysaying critic can't help feeling mean. We may both get over it."