Music/Lifestyle:
Just read an entry from a fellow blogger about the band , the Goo- Goo Dolls. Here is the complete blog for your enjoyment. I also have a story about the band with a different take.
I just moved to LA and was trying to establish myself as a Personal Fitness Trainer. Through a series of contacts, I met Johnny Rzeznik who needed a trainer to get him into shape for an upcoming tour. He wanted to look cut without bulk. Johnny was willing to work hard as this was going to be a very important tour. The mega hit Iris just broke which put the Goo-Goo’s on the map even though they were a band under various heavy metal incarnations for 10 years.
Johnny was a very sincere dude as his life story was unique. As I remember it , his parents died when he was a youngster and he was raised by his two sisters. His ties to his family and Buffalo , NY. were strong.
We started training in the Angel City Gym, a West Hollywood, Ca. boutique gym with an exclusive Hollywood clientage. The facility was pretty with a waterfall in the middle but it was no-nonsense towards working out. John needed to sweat.
I had John training 3 days a week but the tour was coming up soon so the regiment was cranked up to 5 days a week and we took it outside to a park in Santa Monica, Ca. Workouts were tough with lots of intervals and sprints. He needed to cut pretty quickly.
His bass player Danny tried to work out too but after a few sessions decided it was not for him as the commitment was not present. However, Johnny was all in and the results were getting real. He was looking the part.
The tour dates were approaching, Johnny was happy with the results but he wanted to continue the workouts throughout the tour. He asked me would I come with him. I thought about it, thinking it would be about for two weeks. Johnny said no, the tour would last two years throughout the US and Europe.
While it sounded exciting , I just moved to LA and did not want to leave. I thanked him but declined. Sometimes I imagined what would have been, hitting the road with the band, working and hanging out with the Goo-Goo’s. Glad I didn’t.
As a side note Johnny told me about his writer’s block that he had for about two years before the hit Iris. He could not write a lick but Iris was put to paper in about two hours on a napkin. Interesting story , not sure it was true, but rock and roll bands are a different breed.
Never heard from Johnny again but enjoyed my brief company with him and glad for his success.
Keep smoking
“Iris” is a song by American alternative rock band Goo Goo Dolls. Originally written for the soundtrack of the 1998 film City of Angels, the song was later included on the band’s sixth album Dizzy Up the Girl. “Iris” has contributed greatly to the band’s success. The song’s time signature alternates between 44 and 68, and features an unusual guitar tuning in which most of the strings are tuned to D, lending the guitar a chorus-like effect. Besides becoming one of the biggest alternative rock staples of the 1990s, “Iris” also remains one of the biggest crossover hits in the history of popular music, crossing over from modern rock radio to pop and adult contemporary radio, reaching number one on all of these formats and becoming the most played song of 1998 for all formats. “Iris” has become known as the Goo Goo Dolls’ signature song, with critics describing it as a “ubiquitous” staple for the band’s live sets. “Iris” is a power ballad. In a 2013 interview with Songfacts, lead singer John Rzeznik explained how he wrote the song:
Upon its release, “Iris” became second of a string of hits from the film’s soundtrack, City of Angels: Music from the Motion Picture. (The first was Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited” and the third was Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”). The song debuted at #66 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart on April 18, 1998, and eventually spent a record of 18 weeks at number one in Hot 100 Airplay. However, it was not allowed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 because no commercial single had been released. In December 1998, just after the song’s airplay had peaked, the rules changed to allow airplay-only songs onto the chart. As a result, the song debuted and peaked at number 9 and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks. On the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, “Iris” peaked at number eight. The song was the band’s 2nd number one hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, following their 1995 hit “Name.” “Iris” stayed at number one for five weeks on the Alternative Songs chart and also hit number one on the Mainstream Top 40 chart for four weeks. The song spent a then-record 17 weeks at number one on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart (beating No Doubt’s 15-week run at number one with “Don’t Speak” in 1996–97). The Goo Goo Dolls performed “Iris” on October 20, 2001, at Madison Square Garden as part of The Concert for New York City to raise money for victims of the September 11 attacks. The song was also a major international hit. “Iris” spent 31 weeks on the charts and peaked at number five on the Irish Singles Chart; it is the nineteenth biggest-selling single there. “Iris” initially peaked at number 50 in the UK in August 1998, before rising to number 25 the following year. On 2 October 2011, after performances by auditionees on The X Factor, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3. In May 2013, the song charted at number 12 after it was covered by Britain’s Got Talent contestant Robbie Kennedy. This song was also used in the production of The Bear by Anton Chekov performed by Rebecca Gove and Ioannis Bakogeorgos. Besides the song’s success on the charts, “Iris” enjoyed critical acclaim. At the 41st Grammy Awards, “Iris” received nominations for “Record of the Year” and “Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.” The song also garnered Johnny Rzeznik a “Song of the Year” nomination. The single was certified Platinum by the RIAA on August 18, 2008. The song was used frequently in the British comedy Gavin & Stacey. The song was ranked at number 39 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 100 greatest pop songs. In October 2012, “Iris” was ranked number one on Billboard‘s “Top 100 Pop Songs 1992–2012” chart, which ranked the top songs of the first 20 years of the Mainstream Top 40/Pop Songs chart. The list also featured the Goo Goo Dolls’ hits “Slide”, ranking at number nine, and “Name” at number 24. The Goo Goo Dolls are the only musicians to have three songs on the list, two breaking the top 10 and all three falling within the top 25. They are also the only musicians that have back to back singles (Iris, 1998 and Slide, 1999) featured on the list. Please kindly leave your comments below and follow the site. And visit and follow our Twitter @RocknClub & Facebook page Rock Club. |
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