Album: Gutterflower (2002)

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Songfacts®:

• This vengeful alt-rock number takes aim at the artificiality of fame seekers in Los Angeles. Lead Goo Johnny Rzeznik relocated to La-La Land after touring in support of the band's previous album, Dizzy Up The Girl. It was a far cry from his blue-collar neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. "I was experiencing an awful lot of culture shock living in Los Angeles," he told Newsweek. "I just get really tired of all this manufactured nonsense that's going on. I just think that there's so much amazing stuff out there that's not getting the chance it deserves."
  
• The pivotal moment that inspired the song occurred when Rzeznik took a stroll down Melrose Blvd. in LA "and got really offended by people who were uncomfortably cool, just like very affected." He continued to Billboard: "It's become really obvious that people trying that hard are trying desperately to conceal some kind of hole in themselves. I just laugh at them now, but it used to make me incredibly angry."
• The 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred in the midst of making the album and caused Rzeznik to reassess his mindset. "I had all the music written and then I was writing the lyrics and September 11th happened and I kind of had this paradigm shift about where I was focusing my attention," he explained to Newsweek. "It was kind of like, 'Wow - what about my family, what about being in love' - the thoughts got a lot closer to home."
• Gutterflower, the Goo Goo Dolls' seventh studio album, was hotly anticipated after the success of Dizzy Up The Girl, which sold 4 million copies and issued the smash singles "Iris" and "Slide." Living up to that level of success was bound to weigh heavily on the band. Ahead of Gutterflower's release, Rzeznik explained how he dealt with the pressure: "You have to stay in touch with why you write a song. Why do I need to do this? It's my right to do it and it's my privilege to make a living at it. I have a really good life. It could end so quickly that it's something you try not to attach yourself to. If the album doesn't do well, I wouldn't be so devastated that I would crawl under the sink and just drink scotch and Drano."
  
  While the album didn't reach the commercial heights of Dizzy Up The Girl, it achieved gold status with 700,000 copies sold and topped out at #4 on the albums chart.

Comments: 3

• Chelle from Hilo, Cagood interpretation, sara... i love this song... speaks to me on so many levels... yeah, i totally think it's about how modern life has led to such a disillusioned generation, scrambling to find meaning in the superficial things that society deems valuable...
• Deuce from Salt Lake City, Uti think this is just about the troubles of growing up but in a beautiful way, like a beautiful struggle. means all the hard things we go through and how they can make us that much better in life
• Sara from Quinton, OkI think this song is more about the youth of America in general, not just the ones who have a bad homelife.
  
  "When you're all wrong in the back of your mind again/How does it feel" is mocking, ooh, everything's so bad for you when in reality a lot of people are a lot worse off than you are.
  
  "When you drop down everything's all the same" is like, look at me and my life, look at these people. We're all the same inside, so don't act like your life is so bad or whatever.
  
  "Saccharine caffeine nicotine gum/Yeah it tastes sweet but it's not for long/And I just think you thought it would be" is saying, you can't fix your problems with any of these things, like drugs or alchohol or anything like that. You have to fix yourself because eventually whatever else you try will wear off.
  
  "When you're looking for truth on the cover of a magazine/How does it feel/When you find out what you're not gonna be/They give you your image and the things you believe/Open your eyes tell me what did you see/And I just think you thought it surreal" is like, don't believe what the media tells you about who or what or how you should be, they're wrong. Don't be blinded by what you think you *should* be, realize who you are.
  
  "How does it feel when you're out on your own/And now it's too late to come home/And it's hard to be free when you're down on your knees/Take it easy till you make it alone/Now you're a supermarket punk rock television comedy/ Out on the scene/Yeah I bit down now there's no hand to feed" is saying, don't drop the people around you because eventually you'll want them back or you'll need tham and you'll already have screwed up your relationships.
  
  "And all the beautiful images lining your wall/Pop radio screaming down the halls/Now you think you found something real/When it's all about money and the things that you need/Live a big lie and they all believe/Now I just find that somehow obscene" is a lot like the first couple parts, talking about how nothing can fix you except yourself and you don't need to measure up to what the world says you should be.
  
  Basically, the song is about being who you are and not relying on anything to fix you and yet still holding on to the people who love you. It's trying to tell youth especially how to be happy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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