Girl Right Next To Me – Goo Goo Dolls
If the only thing you know about the Goo Goo Dolls is “Name” and “Iris,” and that they have a terrible name, then you’re seriously missing out. I’m not saying those two songs are bad (in fact, I love them both!), but they suggest a band occupied solely with bombastic, sappy, acoustic balladeering. Which couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Goo Goo Dolls, up until they struck gold with “Name,” they were a garage-rock band, deeply influenced by The Replacements and the more poppy side of late 80’s punk. This track is from their 1993 record Superstar Car Wash. It’s full of midwestern mid-90’s rock goodness: big, jangly guitars, a nice heavy bass line pushed up front, and far less polish than their later stuff.
For some other fantastic stuff of their’s check out “Slide,” “Ain’t That Unusual,” and “Stop the World.”
Sadly, in the last decade the band has turned into the previously-incorrect caricature, releasing records that steadily amped up the compression, producing punchy songs with absolutely no heart.