Got Goo?

We all have our guilty pleasures. I’m not afraid to admit that I own some albums that blew the minds of friends who consider me someone with respectable taste in music. Sure, I can understand people who turn their noses up at *Nsync. But I lived my “coming of age” during the late 90s—so it is only expected that I own a scary number of boy band albums and matching ticket stubs to boot. Anyhow, we all have some musical love-affairs that we prefer to keep on the QT. However, I am a strong believer that the Goo Goo Dolls should not be one of them. A friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, has a high regard for my musical standards. I’ve even turned him on to some inspiring artists such as Josh Ritter and Regina Spektor. But I want to know why it is so hard for him to believe that I truly think Dizzy Up the Girl is an important album? Maybe “important” is too strong of a word. But nevertheless, this album is damn good in my opinion. It’s one of the classics that I can play regardless of any particular mood. Who doesn’t (perhaps secretly) adore “Iris” and “Slide”? This album is chock-full o’ hits. “Baby’s Black Balloon.” Hello?

Since about my freshman year in college I’ve been pop culturally-inept. (Oh, the year of my reality-TV overload--brought on by my smut-addict of a roommate. “Bachelorette.” “Joe Millionaire.” “Real World.” Need I say more?) It didn’t take long for me to detest all things “popular.” (This includes most sorority girls. Sorry.) So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I didn’t follow the Goo Goo Dolls’ somewhat recent comeback attempt. I did notice their cover of “Give a Little Bit” taking the pop culturally-savvy group by storm. This was enough to keep my Goo collection limited to recordings that predate my aversion to pop culture.

So the cat is out of the bag. I think everyone’s music collection should be a little Gooey. In fact, “gooey” should be a term to stand for music that has substance and relevance but is under-appreciated by the music snobs of this world.