Goo Goo Dolls: ‘Our First Fortunes Sort Of Escaped Us’

Zooming in from NYC, Goo Goo Dolls’ co-founder/bassist Robby Takac discusses how lightning struck repeatedly for his band, their Lime Spiders cover, the evergreen, international smash hit that is Iris, social media as a mixed blessing and so much more.

So how’s album #15 coming along?

“Good, man, we’re on our way, you know? John’s got a few songs bubblin’ up, I got a coupla songs bubblin’ up...

“It’s been tough. We planned on taking most of last year off, and just do enough shows to sorta keep the lights on, if you will. But it got to be a really busy year for us, actually, so there was a lot less time for us to work on our music than we had thought. So we’re consciously putting some time aside between these tours that we’re doing of South Africa and, of course, the tour of Australia, which is coming up soon.”

When Goo Goo Dolls met Lime Spiders

“Probably my favourite memory from any Australian tour we ever did was the first time we came over. We were playing smaller clubs, and on our Boy Named Goo record, we had covered a song [Slave Girl] by an Australian band called the Lime Spiders.

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“And the singer from that band [Mick Blood] – like, he had no idea that we had recorded the song [laughs], and someone turned him on [to the Goo Goo Dolls cover], and they got a few cheques. And so, yeah! They were really happy. And he came to me after the show and gave me a lot of Lime Spiders 7-inches.”

Tips for staying sane on tour

“The time between [shows] is the hardest part, quite honestly; if we could compact it all, it’d be easier. You’ve just gotta find things that you’re able to do while you’re travelling – that can fill those holes, you know? Like, John [Rzeznik]’s really into working out, and so he’s finding gyms all over and he’s doing the things he needs to do to stay healthy. And that’s sort of his way of doing things.

“Mine is more: I like to kinda walk around and see things, you know? Wander around and experience as much of the local stuff as I can get in the few hours I have in most of the towns I’m in.

“But, yeah, we just keep busy while we’re out there [on tour], ‘cause, as they say, idle hands are the devil’s workshop, right?”

On performing at the 2024 Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation’s New York Gala

“That was crazy, ‘cause – baseball legends all over the place! And maybe a dozen times a year, we actually do a little stripped-down acoustic show – and that was one of those – so that was kinda fun for us, too, ‘cause it’s just a little bit different from what we do most nights. So, yeah! It was great. They raised a whole bunch of money and do a whole bunch of great stuff for people [Safe At Home provides critical services for youth impacted by violence, abuse and trauma in schools], and so it’s all good.

“We’ve been doing this a long time. Everyone’s always been pretty good to us, and so if we can help out with these things, we love to.”

On Iris achieving Diamond certification in the US

“We live on the border of Canada and I always remember Diamond [certification] in Canada was a million copies or something. I’m not even sure [how many units you need to shift to achieve Diamond certification in the States], quite honestly. You know what? Let me look [it up] now because I am curious. [Reads what he’s Googling] ‘Diamond status in the US’ – let’s see. Aaaah. Ten million, woo-hoo! Yeah, ten million copies; that’s cool.”

**“It became the standout track on that soundtrack”**

“John wrote it with an acoustic guitar in his hotel room and did, like, a little demo. And that record wasn’t made for the Dizzy Up The Girl record [1998]; it was made for the soundtrack of the City Of Angels movie. And so Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morissette and U2, and I’ve forgotten about some of the big ones [Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, Sarah McLachlan, Eric Clapton etc.]. There were huge, huge acts on this record. They asked us to be on it, and so we were just happy to be on it.

“But we had recorded the version that you know, and it was rejected by the movie [laughs]; they didn’t like it. So John ran and just recorded it on acoustic guitar, and that’s what they ended up putting in the movie. And so we just said, ‘You know, we did all this work on the song. Could we at least put it on the soundtrack?’ And they were like, ‘Sure’. And then it became one of, if not the standout track on that soundtrack. And that was right prior to our album [Dizzy Up The Girl] coming out.

“So it was a huge step for us, but I think we thought – being in that crowd of huge bands and artists – that there was no way we were gonna get noticed. But, yeah! It worked out amazing for us. And then we were able to put it on our Dizzy Up The Girl record and had a massive hit on that record before we even put it out. So it was really great for us.”

Fave Iris sync?

“You know what? I haven’t seen it yet, but Iris just got used in the Deadpool & Wolverine movie and I hear it’s really great. It’s actually streaming right now, so I may watch it when we’re done here.”

**On those endless Iris covers**

“If you type the song title into one of the social media platforms, it’s just endless streams of kids singing the song. It’s pretty awesome, you know? It’s flattering. It’s pretty amazing to see.

“I think social media – like, when something takes off: you know, if Lizzo sings your song, or Phoebe Bridgers’ Iris cover, or whoever – Doja Cat [laughs] – whenever that kinda stuff happens it’s like, all of a sudden, this whole new group of people…

“I could say the same thing about this Marvel movie that we were just in [Iris features in Deadpool & Wolverine], like, all of a sudden you can see your streaming numbers go up immediately from that kinda thing. It’s mind-blowing how quickly you can reach these folks.

“I have a 12-year-old daughter who talks about Spacehog because they’re on the soundtracks that she listens to. So I think that [social media] is such an amazing outlet to get to people.

“The whole social media thing has really been great for us. We had been – I’m not gonna say personally, but we – as a band – have been pretty involved with social media. And the internet, actually, pre-social media, since probably – I don’t even know, the late-‘90s? A lot of fans found a community there and so, you know, our presence was pretty good on the web to begin with.”

Is aligning your music with brands still considered 'selling out'?

“I remember The Doors – remember that whole thing? They used Light My Fire in a Coke commercial or something; there’s all these lawsuits…

“I dunno, man, I think people are just trying to figure out how to get their music out there these days and, yeah! There used to be big price tags attached to stuff, too; you know, if someone was gonna use your music in a commercial or in a movie, they were pulling out the chequebook, you know? But now it’s less and less of that because they know the value of it, and so you’ll get a little sync licence [fee] or something, but they know if your song gets chosen to sell some pharmaceuticals out here in the United States, people are gonna know your song [laughs]. Are they allowed to sell pharmaceuticals on television in Australia?”

Like Aspirin and stuff?

“Noooo, noooo, like psychotropics and cholesterol medicine – it’s crazy. Just all sorts of prescription medicines; I would say, 50% of our commercials on television now are prescription medicines, yeah, yeah – it’s nuts! But they hook a song up with it, then it gets played on the television. And, I mean, we’ve never done it, but it gets played on the television – hourly, for years, ha!”

Has I Want A New Drug by Huey Lewis & The News soundtracked any such ads yet?

“[Laughs] Do you remember that song called Magic by the band Pilot? [Sings] ‘Oh, oh, OH, it’s ma-gic!’ – they use that on one of them. ‘Oh, oh, OH, O-zem-pic…’ – it’s a brand name. And I bet you that song is on every television station in America. It’s crazy. My kid knows it! If I went downstairs and asked her to sing it for you, she could. She would sing the [Ozempic] drug song, but you’d recognise it [laughs].”

“There was a mystique surrounding musicians back then”

“If you go back to the ‘70s – you never saw Led Zeppelin unless they were shot from below, looking like Gods in front of their aeroplane, you know? There was a mystique surrounding musicians back then when we were kids. And we saw that change drastically through hair metal and punk rock, and all of a sudden, that wasn’t the thing anymore. And when social media came along, it was all about access and then reality television came in and all this stuff; people just got used to being able to know what’s going on in your life.

“And we’ve always just kind of been a band [laughs]. We’re not all that scandalous or anything; we’re just out making music and doing our thing. But, yeah! It is much different than it used to be. Even in the time that we’ve been in it, it’s changed an awful lot, for sure.”

“Wow, what we do could have some legs!”

“When our band started in the ‘80s, I don’t think we thought what we did was the type of thing that could go out and [take over the world]. ‘Cause our favourite bands were very fringe. I mean, we liked Kiss and Rolling Stones and stuff, but we also loved the smaller bands, the more indie groups of the time and the kinda microscopic alternative music scene that was in the mid-‘80s and early-’90s.

“But in the early-‘90s, that all changed, and alternative music became all the rage. And, at that point, we were like, ‘Wow, what we do could have some legs!’ So, we looked at things a little bit differently. But I would say for the first seven or eight years of our band; we were just driving around in a van. I think we were just lucky to be able to do it and couldn’t wait ‘til we were making $1,000 a night and didn’t still have to borrow money when we got home, you know? [laughs]

“So, I mean, I don’t think we were thinking about taking over the world or anything at the beginning, but maybe we were thinking about taking over our little corner of it.”

“There was a lot of drinking and extracurriculars going on back then”

“We were kids, you know? There was a lot of drinking and extracurriculars and stuff going on back then. So our tour manager and manager at the time, who was a straight-edged kid I’m friends with to this day – he just made sure that we found somewhere [to stay, post-show]. And usually, we were hoping it would be somebody’s parent's house because then you’d have to be quiet when you got there – maybe get a little bit of sleep – and they send you on your way with a cooler full of sandwiches or something like that, you know?

“As opposed to showing up to somebody’s house where they were gonna party all night until ten in the morning, yeah. We did an awful lot of that [couch-surfing]. But right around the Superstar Car Wash record [1993], all that started to change. There was still tour support back then, so the label – Warner Bros. – was pretty good about supporting us and then billing it back to us, of course [laughs].”

“Our first fortunes sort of escaped us”

“There was a point in our career back in the ‘90s where we had sold a million records and we were like, ‘Aaaah, here we go!’ And they [the label peeps] were like, ‘Well, yeah, except for your bill’s not paid off yet.’ And we were like, ‘Oh.’ You know? You wait for lightning to strike again. And for most people, it doesn’t, but for us, luckily enough, we’ve been able to weather the storm here and stick it out. And then everything worked out for us.

“We always kinda laugh and say, ‘Our first fortunes sort of escaped us,’ you know? It’s just because we signed some bad deals and weren’t wise. But, I’ll tell you what, at the same time, if we hadn’t made the moves that we did, I might not be sitting here talking to you right now. Ultimately, all roads lead to where you are today. So I guess I can’t really complain about it too much.”

Goo Goo Dolls will tour Australia in February and March 2025.