Happy Birthday: John Rzeznick

You know him best as the voice of The Goo Goo Dolls, but in case you don’t know his name, it’s John Rzeznick, and today’s his birthday. To celebrate the occasions, we’re rolling out our official Goo Goo Dolls playlist, of course, but we’ve also thrown together a list of 10 cover songs performed by the Goos over the course of their long career. You’ve probably heard some of them, but unless you’ve really dug deep into their back catalog, we’re guessing you probably haven’t heard them all, so give ‘em a spin and try to have as much fun listening to them as the band had recording them.

 

1. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (Blue Oyster Cult): In a quote on the fan site GooGooFans.com, John’s bandmate Robby Takac spoke about the Goos’ decision to tackle highly recognizable songs on occasion, like, say, a certain track by Blue Oyster Cult. "We like to 'take the piss' out of classic songs,” said Takac. “We thought it was funny to play Don't Fear the Reaper five times as fast, and cut out everything but the three chord structure. To me, that is hilarious. But it also allowed us to work on cover songs that fit what we did. Then we 'put the piss' back in them, if you will. So instead of making fun of them, we made them our own".

 

 

2. “Down on the Corner” (Creedence Clearwater Revival): Tom Fogerty might be rolling over in his grave, but we like to think that John Fogerty has enough of a sense of humor to have enjoyed this take on the classic Creedence track.

 

 

3. “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” (Prince): Lance Diamond took lead vocals on this Prince cover, and while it’s more rockin’ than funky, Diamond makes it sparkle.

 

 

4. “Slave Girl” (Lime Spiders): This Australian band isn’t terribly well known in the States – they got a little bit of exposure on MTV’s “120 Minutes,” but that’s about it – but they certainly ended up racking up some royalties as a result of having one of their songs covered on A BOY NAMED GOO.

• SPOTIFY: Listen Here

 

5. “Give a Little Bit” (Supertramp): This track originally led off the band’s LIVE IN BUFFALO album, and while it may seem odd for a band like the Goo Goo Dolls to cover a soft-rock standard, they rock it up nicely.

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6. “I Wanna Destroy You” (The Soft Boys): Robyn Hitchcock’s old band gets introduced to a new audience with this cover.

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7. “Don’t Change” (INXS): An early classic by Michael Hutchence and company gets a new lease on life.

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8. “American Girl” (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers): More poignant now that Petty isn’t with us any longer, but it was always a solid rendition.

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9. “Rough Boys” (Pete Townshend): Arguably the best cover on this entire list, the Goos really deliver the goods.

• SPOTIFY: Listen Here

 

10. “Catch Me Now I’m Falling” (The Kinks): This is a hard-to-find rendition of a Kinks classic that may not be known to many nowadays, but it appeared on the band’s 1979 album LOW BUDGET.