Coming to Billings: The Goo Goo Dolls

Published: March 31, 2010

The Goo Goo Dolls, whose string of hits place them firmly in the pop/rock firmament, perform May 26 at the Shrine Auditorium in Billings.  

Early in their career, the Buffalo natives were frequently dismissed by critics as imitators of the Replacements; however, they refined their sound enough to become one of the most popular adult alternative rock bands of the latter half of the ’90s, selling millions of records to audiences largely unfamiliar with their roots as a bratty punk band.

Released in 1993, Superstar Car Wash was the Goo Goo Dolls' artistic breakthrough – a finely crafted pop/rock record. A Boy Named Goo, released in 1995, boasted the acoustic-driven ballad "Name," which landed in Billboard’s Top Five and helped generate platinum sales for the album.

The band contributed the ballad "Iris" to the soundtrack of the 1998 romance “City of Angels”; the smash hit spent nearly a year on Billboard's airplay charts, including an astonishing 18 weeks at number one, and was nominated for three Grammys.

The band's next album, Dizzy Up the Girl, completed the Goo Goo Dolls' transformation into mainstream pop/rockers who happened to have alternative roots. Hits from the record included "Slide," "Dizzy," and the Grammy-nominated "Black Balloon."

The trio has since released a career retrospective, Ego, Opinion, Art & Commerce, as well as Gutterflower, the CD/DVD combo Live in Buffalo: July 4, 2004 and Let Love In in 2006. The tour coincides with the release of a new album, Something for the Rest of Us. (All Music Guide)

Tickets are $29.50-$39.50 and go on sale April 9; call 800-515-ETIX or jadepresents.com.