The Goo Goo Dolls

The band was formed by John Rzeznik on lead vocals and guitar, Robby Takac on the bass guitar and George Tutuska on the drums. The band took their name from a toy advert the band saw when they were preparing for a gig in the same evening, and to this day Rzeznik swears blind that if he had five more minutes then he would have picked a better name.

However, this was the late 80's leading into the early 90's. A banner time for bands with really stupid names. This was the age of Foo Fighters and and The Lemonheads, and the Goo Goo Dolls became one of the biggest names in American rock by their fifth album "A Boy Named Goo".

The album was the first on their indie label Metal Blade to go double platinum and suddenly, the band had the whole of the music world at their feet. And they were going to get even bigger.

Soon after, they were asked to write a song for the motion picture "City of Angels", and despite Rzeznik going through a serious period of writers block, the song he came up with was "Iris". A worldwide hit that's still on the radio to this day, this turned them into one of the biggest bands in the country.

They remain at this level to this day, their last four albums having debuted in the top ten and "Iris" is still a staple of radio playlists and American Idol auditions. They may not be the coolest band around but they remain at the top of their game, able to pull off a killer live show in front of any crowd they find themselves in front of. Highly recommended.