The Goo Goo Dolls is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by vocalist and guitarist John Rzeznik and vocalist and bass guitarist Robby Takac. Since the end of 1994, Mike Malinin has been the band's drummer, a position previously held by George Tutuska. Some of their most popular songs include "Name" from 1995's A Boy Named Goo, "Iris" and "Slide" from 1998's Dizzy Up The Girl, which produced five top-10 singles, and "Here Is Gone" and "Big Machine" from 2002's Gutterflower. The Goo Goo Dolls have 14 top-10 singles and have sold nearly 9 million albums in the United States alone

The band's original line-up included John Rzeznik (vocals, guitar), Robby Takac (vocals, bass guitar) and George Tutuska (drums, percussion). In the beginning, John would not sing, due to his shyness. Takac and Tutuska had been long-time friends in school and met Rzeznik while he was playing in the band The Beaumonts with Takac’s cousin. The trio picked their name from a True Detective ad for a toy called a Goo Goo Doll. "We were young and we were a garage band not trying to get a deal. We had a gig that night and needed a name. It's the best we came up with, and for some reason it stuck. If I had five more minutes, I definitely would have picked a better name" John stated. With Takac as their lead singer, the band released their first album, Goo Goo Dolls in 1987 on Mercenary Records, but was picked up in 1988 by Celluloid Records, a larger record company. The band released its second album, Jed, in 1989 after moving to Los Angeles.

The band released its third album, Hold Me Up, in 1990 and featured Rzeznik as the lead vocalist on five tracks, including the single, "There You Are" – as well their then concert favorite, Two Days in February. Despite being earlier dismissed as having a sound too similar to The Replacements, as well as being embraced by local college radio and punk scenes (including playing such venues as CBGB), the Goo Goo Dolls' third release had incorporated elements of heavy metal, pop rock, and punk rock. In 1991, the song "I'm Awake Now" was recorded for the soundtrack of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Superstar Car Wash, released in 1993, received significant media attention. The critical success and encouraging sales of their last album resulted in a larger budget from Metal Blade Records. The album was partially recorded in Metalworks Studio in Mississauga, Ontario. "We Are the Normal" (the single for which Rzeznik asked frontman Paul Westerberg of The Replacements to write the lyrics), received a major push toward play on college and independent radio, while its video was displayed on MTV's 120 Minutes program. "Fallin' Down" made it onto the 1993 soundtrack of Pauly Shore's hit film Son in Law.