Last months Grammy's weren't to nice to the Goo Goo Dolls. They wen't zero for three, losing out to the likes of Celine Dion, and Bryan Setzer. But singer/guitarist Johnny Rzeznik isn't bitter. Well, maybe just a little. "The Grammy's are bullshit," he says discribing the sheer plastic falsity of the gala event. "It's all entertainment. It's like watching a fuckin' movie. Everbody is floating around in their own vapor. I find it amusing." These venomous words from Rzeznik may catch a few off-guard. Remember this is the same 33 year old who writes lyrics like, "I don't want the world to see me/cause I don't think that they'd understand/when everythings made to be broken/I just want you to know who I am." Most likely only a sparse few woulden't recognize that chorus to the Goo Goo Dolls multi-mega hit "Iris." And as a result of the songs popularity the group is highly visable on pop radio stations all over the world. They just returned from a mini European tour, but it appears the excursion to what he called the "Dark Continent" wasen't all peaches and cream. "I don't really dig France," Rzeznik says with disgust. "People over there are a bunch of snotty pricks," The same cannot be said for some of it's other Trans-Atlantic stops though. "In Italy, it's bizarre," he says. "They make no distinction between the Backstreet Boys & Slayer-everyone is a pop star...that's it. It's like all these 12 year old girls screaming (in an Italian accent) Johnny, Johnny, I love you I love you!" The admiration toward the Goo Goo Dolls comes over a different light here i the states. Their latest album DUTG went platinum and is resting nicly on the Billboard charts. And with single after singel hitting #1 it appears the sky is the limit for the trio. However with this fame comes the unfortunate oversaturation of the GGD's music-a concept that doesn't sit with Rzeznik. In fact, he flat out apologized in April's issue of Teen People for the mind numbing heavy rotation of "Iris." "People don't understand my band- they only understand "Iris," he says. "Iris is just a tiny piece of my band. I think radio stations do overplay songs. I think they kill the careers of bands." Rzeznik says he wishes fans would buy records and enjoy the entire piece rather than the hit single. With artists liek these, people tend to slowly focus on the look-a superfical aspect of stardom Rzeznik says he wants to say away from. Instead, he would rather have fans focus on the big picture. "I don't want to sell my face-I want to sell my music," He says. "People try to write music off, saying I'm just a pretty boy: my music comes first, and there's nothing wrong with a little sex appeal." Rzeznik says he wants others to put music before vanity as well. "Imageis an important part of music. I have this equation," he says pausing slightly. "If you write a song then put on leather pants and play-you're Ok, But if you put on leather pants and stand in front of a mirror then play you're fucked up." Rzeznik certainly belongs to the former catagory. The songwriter penned most of the tracks off DUTG and doesn't plan to stop there. "I love writting ballads," he says. "I think I'm good at it, and I enjoy doing it. It's a really intergal part of making a well rounded album." But this trail wasen't always lined with Irises. He traveled down a long and winding road before he and the GGD's became the fan favorite that they are now. Rzeznik grew up in Buffalo with an alcoholic father and became an orphan at the age of 15. Completly on his own he made ends meet by using a small monthly social security from his deceased parents. Not surprisingly these were rough times for Rzeznik, as he frequently consulted the bottle for support. Fresh out of his teenage years, his anger was transformed into music as he formed the group Sex Maggots with friend/bassist Robby Takac and drummer George Tutuska. "The first six months of this band I don't think there was 20 sober moments," he says, "We were a garage band, we made noise, when this band started we were all balls and no brains. We wanted to be as hard and as loud as possible." Soon enough the group bought that punk rock sound to the studio. Now under the friendlier title named after a magazine add for something called a goo goo doll the band released it's self titled debut album in 1987. For years they performed in relative obscurity. They were still far from famous. "We played at places where the stage collapsed," he says with a laugh. However, the GGD's hard work eventually paid off. The group's 1993 Superstar Carwash spawned the minor hit "We are the Normal" and soon they were making the rounds on college radio. The wheels of success were starting to turn. It took two more years for it to happen, but they finally broke through to the mainstream. The track "Name" off their fifth release a Boy Named Goo launched the trio into superstardom, but since the hit was a far cry from their early crash & burn days some old school fans became disenchanted, yet Rzeznik shows no remorse. "I did exactly what I wanted to do," he says. "I never played a not or put a song on a record that I didn't want to do. I write music for myself, I didn't sell out." And it seems this philosophy has worked. The GGD's are in the middle of playing a series of shows opening for the Stones, a band for which Rzeznik has intense admirations for. "I can't even make a dent in what the Stones do," he says. "As hard as I work writting songs and stuff, I can't do what the Stones do." They won't play second fiddle for too long though. The group plans to headline it's own DUTG tour that will eventually take them around the country with the New Radicals. At all Dizzy tour dates colunteers from U.S.A Harvest will collect food for distrubution to local shelters, soup kitchens or other social services where hungary people gather. "I'm beggin' people to bring something," he says. "It's good for your karma," Rzeznik has a good heart and knows first hand like isn't always spactacular, and because of his troubled past the GGD's frontman is always looking for ways to help other people. His attempts to reach his fans haven't gone unnoticed. He recalls one compliment inparticular which thanked him for, "telling us all about the things that everybody else has forgot to tell us." Rzeznik says it makes him feel he was was writting something that people could grab a hold off. "For someone to be able to identify with what you said in a song is very powerful," he says. "I'm not a preacher I just say what I feel." And a few would question that sentiment as he reminds listeners of who he is, or more appropriatly who he isn't. "I'm not a rock star," he explains to anyone wondering, "I'm a guy in a band that does really well. Every rock star I have ever met were assholes. I'm not part of that."