EXCLUSIVE: The Goo Goo Dolls Offer Differing Opinions on 'Home' Music Video

If The Goo Goo Dolls can’t call the shots after 17 top-10 singles and almost 9 million albums sold, at the very least, the band’s lead singer can express his honest opinions about the Dolls’ new music video.

“I don’t like the video,” front man John Rzeznik revealed, referring to the music video for “Home”, the first single from The Goo Goo Dolls’ forthcoming album, Something for the Rest of Us. “I think the song has a little more gravity to it, and I think the way they put it together was just a little fluffy. But that’s just my opinion, it doesn’t matter.”

Whoa, wait a minute. It doesn’t matter? I looked a little baffled, so Rzeznik continued.

“I mean, at that point, it was just like, ‘Whatever,’ yunno what I mean?” he said. “We were done arguing with everybody about everything.”
---
Download the interview



The Goos also chat about the band's partnership with USA Harvest and a special promotion with US Weekly.

---
Drummer Mike Malinin likes the video, while bassist and vocalist Robby Takac may have summed up the video’s attributes the most succinctly.

“I think it’s a good commercial for the record… which is pretty much what a rock video is.”

Rzeznik hasn’t exactly been hiding his disenchantment with the treatment for the video. In a clip posted to The Goo Goo Dolls’ official YouTube account, Rzeznik is talking to a camera inside the grocery store where part of the piece was filmed.

“Shopping… practicing a little guitar,” joked Rzeznik when asked by the camera person what he was doing at the store on that particular day. “(We’re) shooting the video for ‘Home’, and we meet in a Japanese super market which (shrugs his shoulders, pauses)… I feel like I’m just going along with it, going for the ride!”

On a lighter note, the lead singer said he that went for a ride, literally, when filming a scene where he walks across a table in the Japanese restaurant. Rzeznik walked across actual food, making an actual mess in the process.

“I slipped on a piece of, I think it was sashimi,” Rzeznik said. “There was a camera woman right over here (points to his left). I grabbed her (reenacts by pulling Malinin’s hair) to hold myself up, and I grabbed her and started pulling her hair, and she starts screaming… it was real.”

It seems almost everything The Goo Goo Dolls do, or say, is. Something for the Rest of Us hits stores August 31.

Cool New Music Videos

Katy Perry f. Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (Candy Land meets Girls Gone Wild?)

3OH!3 f. Ke$ha - My First Kiss (Really with the gold lips Ke$ha?)

Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me (Based on a true story of some of those ladies at Duke University

Defending "Single Ladies" on CNN Headline News

Last Friday, I made a cameo on CNN Headline News’ “Prime News” with host Mike Galanos to discuss a recent viral video on YouTube. The piece in question showed a group of 8 and 9 year-old girls at a dance competition in Los Angeles. The girls wore very elaborate costumes that showed off their midriffs, along with knee-high boots – and mimicked the dance to the music video for Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”

Parents and counselors across the country voiced their displeasure in the dance instructor and the children’s parents, calling the choreography too provocative and the outfits too revealing. Lauren Lake, a former hip hop dancer who appeared on the same HLN segment with me, compared the moves to that of a stripper – asking if a pole would be the next step for dancers their age.

I’m sorry, but I have to draw the line there. These girls were in a controlled environment, with parents, supervisors, and teachers. The comparison to exotic dancers was extreme, out of line, and uncalled for. I concurred that the outfits were not age-appropriate. But the dance moves consisted of more ballerina-twirling than booty shaking, grinding, or gyrating.

Matter of fact, how much of the latter actually appeared in the video? The girls were moving around frantically, but I think the “gyrating” claim is a little generous – perhaps these critics need a tutorial on how one actually gyrates.

Galanos and Lake were both against the video – which made it very hard for me to voice my opinion in the two-part, 10 minute piece. The bias in the segment reached a fever pitch right before Galanos tossed it to me for my first of only two chances where I’d be allowed to speak. The anchor decided it would also be a good idea to question not only the dance moves and costumes – but the song as well – by picking the most provocative lyrics of the track and reading them, while the words were displayed on screen.

This is a classic example of people criticizing pop culture without understanding it. You could pick a segment out of any piece of art – a song, a movie, The Bible – and find something to demonize. What Galanos failed to understand is that taken its full, intended context – Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” is an empowering song to women of all ages. In the track, which is one of Columbia Records’ most downloaded digital singles, Beyoncé sings about finding a man that will treat her right, and not needing any guy, especially one who won’t show her the respect she deserves.

Rolling Stone named “Single Ladies” the best single of 2008. The video has close to 90 million views on YouTube. Everyone from Joe Jonas to Justin Timberlake can be found on-line mimicking the dance… there is even footage of President Barack Obama, right before his inauguration, speaking to Beyoncé and noting that his daughters made him watch the video, attempting to teach him the infamous dance moves in the process. I’d hate to “pull a KanYe” – but Beyoncé has one of the best videos of all time!

“Single Ladies” is more than a song or a video – it’s a phenomenon that transcended to people of all ages and genders. Thankfully, there is at least a positive message to be taken from it.

That can’t be said for many other segments of our culture that 8 and 9 year olds are exposed to. Would Galanos and Lake rather see these girls hoola-hoop to Young Money’s “Bedrock”? How many of these dancers’ peers use a Lady GaGa song like “Just Dance” in a routine – yunno, where GaGa sings about getting drunk and hooking up in a club?

Galanos and Lake probably couldn’t answer that – which is another big problem with this whole ordeal. No one conducted a study to find out if “Single Ladies” is normally used in similar competitions, with comparable dance moves.

A TV network not giving a subject due diligence by reporting the facts? Maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised of my experience after all.

DAILY DOWNLOAD: Cobra Starship - 'Living In The Sky With Diamonds'

Download the interview

Cobra Starship front man Gabe Saporta explains why the band shot a video for this song off of Hot Mess, why it cost the group next to nothing to release.

EXCLUSIVE: Mayday Parade's Derek Sanders 'Not Surprised' By YouTube Music Video Removal

Is Mayday Parade lead singer Derek Sanders surprised that YouTube removed the band’s music video for “Kids In Love”? He can’t believe it even made it on to the site in the first place.

“I’ve never heard of a video on YouTube that had any kind of nudity, and there’s definitely a whole lot of nudity throughout the video,” said Sanders in an interview that aired Monday on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” “I was surprised it was up as long as it was.”

YouTube removed the video after too many users flagged it as inappropriate. To the view the piece, the site required you were logged in and over the age of 18. Still, a parental advisory ran before the beginning. Dailymotion still hosts the video, and fans of Mayday have been uploading it to other video sharing sites as well, such as Vimeo.
---
Download the interview

Anywhere But Here is in stores now.
---
The video is a departure from your typical “boy-meets-girl” treatment. Instead, the clip documents teenagers falling in and out of love. From road trips to every type of sex you can imagine, it can all be seen, uncensored and unfiltered, throughout the video. Its honesty has sparked some conversation centered on the band, but Sanders doesn’t seem to mind, deeming the controversy “cool.”

“It’ll be like a video that no one else has seen before, and we kind of like that aspect of it,” Sanders said of the band’s thinking before choosing to shoot the clip. “We were like, ‘Let’s go for something different, and this just seems like very cool and very real.”

Sanders and Mayday Parade will be performing the track all summer long, as the band heads out again on Vans Warped Tour, Mayday’s fourth trek on the festival.

MUSIC VIDEO: Shakira- 'She Wolf'

Shakira strikes again. As usual, the girl is looking good and showing off new dance moves. This is a little different than past videos she has had, but Shakira knows how to work it. Here's "She Wolf."

Shakira - New Music - More Music Videos

New Cobra Starship/Leighton Meester Video

Check out Cobra Starship teaming up with Gossip Girl Leighton Meester in the new music video for "Good Girls Go Bad."

Taylor Swift & T-Pain - "Thug Story"

Taylor Swift teams up with T-Pain for the track "Thug Story" that happened to be a big hit at the CMT Music Awards. Here's some behind the scenes footage of the song coming together.

Here's the finished product.

Jordin Sparks - "Battlefield" (Music Video)

Jordin Sparks just dropped her video for "Battlefield," the title track from her new cd, which will be out in July.

Lady GaGa - Paparazzi (Music Video)

This was actually a find by Jessie (you'll find out more on her later). GaGa shows she's a true artist in this eight minute music video which watches more as a short film. Clearly this girl can do no wrong right now.

BTW, GaGa is currently on the cover of the latest Rolling Stone.

EXCLUSIVE: V-Factory previews "Love Struck" Video exclusively on The RRS!

V Factory swung through the studio... you can hear the interview tomorrow on The Ralphie Radio Show - but meanwhile - check out an exclusive preview of the music video for their soon-to-be hit single, "Love Struck."

Scott Speer directed the video. Yes, he's currently dating V Factory member Jared Murillo's ex-girlfriend, Ashley Tisdale. But did that make things awkward on set? Find out tomorrow when I ask Jared - plus the guys chat about shopping, celebrating birthdays, and landing their song in Transformers 2!

Kanye Is A True Artist

Love or hate him, you got to respect the old school hustle and commitment of this guy. Lovin' this new video as well, for Welcome To Heartbreak. Vimeo shoutout!

Rihanna - Rehab

Yes, J.T. is on this song and in the video...

kanye - love lockdown video...

lovin' it...

kevin rudolf - let it rock video...

weezy kills this...

nkotb's summertime video...

judge for yourself...

kanye west - homecoming music video.

chris martin of coldplay on the hook!

maroon 5 - wake up call music video

kanye west - stronger music video

lovin' it!

nickelback - rockstar music video

favorite video as of now. just click play!