Tommy Keene was an underground power pop legend from Maryland who started culling his dedicated fan base in the 80s with his catchy and crunchy tunes. Bouncing between Cheap Trick and The Replacements, his sound has influenced many other artists in the genre. Despite never having had chart success himself, he has helped others to do so. For example, Keene played guitar on "Broadway," which was a hit for the Goo Goo Dolls in 1998. The prolific artist recorded nine studio albums before passing away unexpectedly at the age of 59 in 2017. "Back To Zero Now" surfaced on the 1993 compilation record, "The Real Underground," as a previously unreleased track.
If you only know the Goo Goo Dolls for their material since their monster hit "Iris," you'd guess their earlier records were done by a completely different band. The Buffalo-based band started out as a garage and punk outfit in 1986 with the raspy vocals of bassist Robby Takac singing lead on most of the songs. The more radio-friendly voice usually associated with the Goo Goo Dolls is guitarist John Rzeznik, but you didn't hear much of his singing until the third record, "Hold Me Up." Early records by the Goo Goo Dolls also featured numerous amped-up cover tunes and a couple guest vocalist spots for Buffalo area lounge singer Lance Diamond, who happened to live in the same apartment building as Takac. By their fourth record, 1993's "Superstar Car Wash," Takac and Rzeznik were sharing vocal duties about 50/50 and the songs became more focused. They still had a punchy hard rock sound, but the hooks in these tunes were amazing. "We Are The Normal" featured lyrics written by their idol, Paul Westerberg (The Replacements), and started getting the band some decent airplay. The breakthrough record would come next, "A Boy Named Goo," in 1995 thanks to a DJ that started spinning a very atypical Goo's track called "Name." Featuring Rzeznik on vocals, this acoustic-driven rock tune would lay the foundation for the Goo Goo Dolls that was to prevail through the 90s. "Name" went to #5 and the next single, "Naked," got to #47. Then the band recorded "Iris" for the film City of Angels - it remains the longest running #1 song ever on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Chart (an astonishing 18 weeks). The Goo Goo Dolls crank out generic pop rock now, catering to the trendy sounds of the day. They still make records and draw huge crowds, but haven't seen the top 40 since 2005 when "Better Days" hit #36. "Girl Right Next To Me" goes back to my favorite Goo's record, a masterpiece of 90s rock, "Superstar Car Wash."
Ryan Cabrera broke away from his first band, Rubix Groove, to release his first solo album, "Take It All Away", in 2004. Produced by John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, the album spawned several charting hits: the title track went to #15, the acoustic ballad "True" went to #18, and the third single "40 Kinds of Sadness" went to #47. His sophomore effort, "You Stand Watching", failed to generate a major hit but managed to climb up to #24 on the Billboard Top 200. To switch things up, Cabrera changed his image for the third record, "The Moon Under Water". His sound didn't change much - he still churned out plenty of sweet pop rock songs - but the record stalled at #177. "The Moon Under Water" deserved better. Not only did it contain "I Will Remember You", a song that got high profile airplay on TV in 2006, but lead single "Say" is one of the catchiest song he's ever done. Cabrera is now involved in a new project called Beyond The Sky for those keeping track.
