A
BOY NAMED GOO shows that the
Goo Goo Dolls have soaked up all the elements necessary to make them a great guitar band. The album's title clearly harkens back to Johnny Cash's
A Boy Named Sue and its narrator's search for the people who named him; but the
Goo Goo Dolls are not taking that path. They already know their past (straight-ahead post-punk), and
A BOY NAMED GOO plots out their present.