Goo Goo Dolls

It’s easy to forget that the Goo Goo Dolls were once a punk band with a sound that suggested a heavier update of their heroes, The Replacements. It was a pair of sentimental, acoustic ’90s hits, “Name” and its identical cousin “Iris” that transformed the group into adult contemporary mainstays. The softer sound, though, did little to disguise the darker songwriting of singer/guitarist John Rzeznik, whose lyrics dwelled on themes of addiction and divorce. Next month the band releases its ninth album, Something for the Rest of Us, which was toiled over with a host of producers, including Butch Vig, John Fields and Rob Cavallo.