JOHN RZEZNIK
The Goo Goo Dolls frontman escaped blue-collar intensity via the sonic pathways of early Genesis.
“I had four older sisters and by default I listened to their music collections. One of them was into original Genesis and my first memory of hearing them was The Carpet Crawlers. I remember being a little kid and so struck by this great hook. I grew up listening to AM radio, which was all Raspberries and The Archies, so I’d never heard anything like this.
Living in Buffalo, New York, it was all heavy industry, steel and auto manufacturing. The backdrop of these very intense industrial monuments everywhere really coloured my world view. Listening to Genesis took me away from this briefly, and I didn’t know the terminology at the time but what I was really enjoying was the production. Their music is a journey through emotion: wow, we’re going here and we’re gonna stop here, then we’ll check this out, and where’s this song gonna take me? I soon started playing an instrument… but it wasn’t very prog. I was a Polish Catholic boy from the East Side of New York. We take accordion lessons!
Another thing I loved was Peter Gabriel’s voice.
It was beautiful, with this rough, reedy quality, a grit that added so much weight. When he left the band, I followed what he was doing for the next four albums because it was so daring and modern. I still listened to Genesis, but by this point I was too cool being a punk rock kid. I’d listen to Follow You, Follow Me then I’d hide the album [And Then There Were Three…] under my bed.
My favourite album is The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. It’s a young man’s story, when life is utterly terrifying and exciting at the same time. I truly didn’t understand a lot of it but Gabriel has this constant yearning and melancholy dissonance that struck a chord in my heart. Then my second favourite album is Duke.
It took a lot of cutting edge and progressive elements and distilled them down to a great pop record.
Genesis’ songs are so complex and well-written, each track is like five songs so you can listen like a little thief. Have I taken a melody or two myself? I might have done…” JK
Miracle Pill is out now via Warner Bros. For more, see www.googoodolls.com.
“I’d listen to Follow You, Follow Me then hide the album under
my bed.”