-Joseph's drinking continues for years and does the abuse.

" My mother was a really really brilliant woman and a great artist she was just really funny.

She was a pistol. *Laughs*

-Age 12- John's mother buys him a guitar. She also gives him money for music lessons.
John uses that money for beer. He performs concerts with friends in the living room.
"We'd put colored party bulbs, and then we'd like drink beer and play.
Well now I really sucked at baseball and basketball I couldn't fit in."

Age 14- John confronts his father and tries to stop him from hitting his mother.

"He hit here, and then I hit him and then she hit me. [laughs]
"�I�m defending you, what the hell are you doing?� And then she�d.. and then she�s like, �That�s your father.� You know? �You respect your father.�
"And I was like, well, I don�t."

Age-15- John begins acting in outrage against his father.

" Don't look at me and don't talk to me"

- He steals from his dad's wallet..and vandalizes property.

"I sorta turned on everything"

1980- John's father is hospitalized for his alcoholism.
Days later, Joseph falls into a diabetic coma.
"I didn't visit him. I didn't let myself think about it."

-Joseph Rzeznik dies

-"I didn't let myself think about it. I just let it go."

-John will not be prepared for what happens next.

"Angry young and full of shit!"

Age 16- Following his father's death, John becomes more and more rebellious.
He skips school. He spends his nights playing guitar in his friend's punk bands.

"I just wanted to drink and hang out with some people who I had finally made

friends with...who related to me."

- He rarely comes home.

"I was just staying away."

- John's mother becomes increasingly depressed after Joseph's death.

"She was really, you know uh. Really lonely without him around.
"It was the first time in my life I�d seen my mother�s frailties exposed. And I think she
needed something to hang on to. And, you know, it wasn�t going to be us unfortunately it
wasn�t going to be any of us."

-John is asleep on the sofa after school.

"*sigh*

I woke up and I heard this really weird noise. She was sitting right there

*tearyeyed*

and turning blue and convulsing."

- John's mother suffers a massive heart attack.

"I, I didn't know what to do I was kinda freaking out."

-John's mother dies on the floor right in front of him.

"I felt like the blood in my body was cold. You know what I mean? I had no warmth in my..in my. in my body.
"What am I gonna do? Ya know?
"What am I gonna do?
"Where am I gonna go?
"What�s gonna happen to me?"

- Both of John's parents are dead. His oldest sister is his guardian.

Age-17 John moves into his own apartment and gets a job washing dishes.

"I'll take care of myself.
I'll be all right."

-But at night John sleeps with the television and the lights on...

"I didn't wanna be alone you know."

...and he begins drinking heavily.

" I would just drink and drink
*laugh*
and drink and eat drugs and drink and
umm we'd take speed and drink, and we would take acid and drink. We'd just keep drinking."

- The drinking and drugs would add to John's depression.

" I didn't know what I was gonna do with my life."

- June 24, 1983, John graduates from High School and becomes an apprentice to a plumber.

"I dug a ditch for a day and I was like sshhh forget this I'm going to college. *Laugh*"

-1985 Buffalo State College

"Yeah I was gonna be a social worker of all things how ironic huh. *Laughs*"

-April 1986- John meets 21-year-old bassist Robby Takac. John credits Robby as the first
guy to see the potential to be a musician.

"I thought he was just a freak. I thought Robby was just a freak the first time I met him.
I thought oh man it's this heavy metal guy. It was the brother I never wanted."

-June 1986- John and Robby decide to form a band they called themselves

"The Sex Maggots"

" Oh I I don't want to talk about that you know it was just a stupid name."

- A week later the band is asked to play at a major venue.

But only if they will change their name.

"So we came up with a really cool name like Goo Goo Dolls, that was smart. *Laugh*"

-They open for every major punk act that plays in Buffalo.

"We were completely wasted all the time but we knew what we wanted to do!"

-Aug. 1986 NYC- John and Robby distribute their demo tapes to major record labels.

"You know we cornered another guy and forced him to take the tapes.
He called back later and like reamed me on the phone.
"You guys suck so bad, why don't you take a few years off and learn how to play your instruments."
I was inspired by that because this guy hates us that much someone will like us that much."

-They were kicked out by several major record companies. Within a few years the band
will have the #1 song in the country. But in the process John will hit rock bottom.

"The oldest whore on the block always had some respect you know because she was able
to hang on to her corner longer than anyone else. You know. She didn't get sucked under.

-1986- after four months of distributing their demo tapes The Goo Goo Dolls finally
get noticed. A small record label signs the band.

-1988- The Goo Goo Dolls are sent in their 1st national tour. But they receive only
$5 dollars a day and live on peanut butter sandwiches and milk. John keeps his job as a
hot dog vendor. Over the next 6 years The Goo Goo Dolls release 4 albums. But they
are played only on college radio stations.

"I guess that's what's called paying your dues."

-After seven years of paying their dues The Goo Goo Dolls finally get their big break.
1993- The Goo's receive a distribution deal with Warner Brother Records. March- the Goo
Goo Dolls release their fifth album "A Boy Named Goo" An unexpected track on the
album begins receiving major radio airplay.

"It's the one slow song on the album, the one slow song."

- Within weeks "Name" hit the top 5. The success of "Name" launches the album into
double-platinum status. January 1997- the band plays more than 400 sold-out concerts.
"You know, the first time I heard the song I was in the car. I heard "Name" in the car.
I thought I was gonna get in major shit for it and I did."

- The Goo Goo Dolls came under attack by critics.
SELLOUT--SISSY--DRAB--DEPRESSING--NAME SUCKS�..
"The minute you stick your head up someone is gonna try and shoot it off."

-John begins to doubt himself as a singer and songwriter.

"Am I supposed to be a songwriter?
Is this what I am supposed to do?
I feel like such a fraud."

-After finishing the tour. John takes an indefinant leave of absence.
"I was down inside myself and I really had a lot of unresolved crap going on in my
head and I, and I, and I hated my self for it."
-John is so depressed that he's unable to write songs for The Goo Goo Dolls
upcoming album. Robby tries to motivate him but is unsuccessful.
"I dug myself a hole and everyone was like you gotta come out now I was like I ain't comin' out. *Laugh*"

-John seeks therapy but still has trouble writing.

"The one thing that I haven't completely screwed up in my life has been taken away from me."

-January 1998- John receives a phone call from his manager. John is asked to write a song for the movie "City of Angels." It's about and angel that becomes human. John writes "Iris" in one hour.

"He gave up everything just to feel what love felt like.
To know who he is we've all felt that way-to do anything, to give up anything." (Isn't that the sweetest thing you have ever heard?)
-Within months "Iris" is the #1 song in the country.
"Iris just went *kaboom!* and it answered the question in my head-
yeah maybe I am supposed to be a songwriter."

-The success of "Iris" boosts John's confidence to finish the next album.
"There are a lot of people who aren't going to like what you do but, ultimately it doesn't matter."
-John credits "Iris" as a song "sent to help me out".

"You have to love what you do. What is outside your sphere of influence outside your sphere of control. What you don't have control over you have to just forget about it. It's just the way it is. Where I am right now is amazing. I'm not whining about the way I grew up. I'm not bitchin' about it. I'm not a victim, I'm just stating a fact."

-September 22, 1998- The Goo Goo Dolls release their 6th album "Dizzy Up the Girl". "Iris" drives the album to multi-platinum status.
"I like where I am, I like what I'm doing.
I love the people around me,
I am a prick sometimes but, but I'm working on that.
*Laughs*

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