Something for the Rest of Us (album)

Something for the Rest of Us is the ninth studio album by the Goo Goo Dolls, released on August 28, 2010 through Warner Bros. Records.

The recording process took place during the spring to fall of 2009. A single had been originally slated to be released in November 2009 with an album release in February 2010, but the band went back into the studio in January 2010. According to lead singer and guitarist John Rzeznik, this was done to make further improvements on what they had previously thought had been a finished record.

History
Several producers were brought in to assist on the production process, including Butch Vig, John Fields, Paul David Hager and Rob Cavallo. Something for the Rest of Us will be the third Goo Goo Dolls studio album that Cavallo has produced (Dizzy Up the Girl and Gutterflower).

When asked about the length of time between albums, Rzeznik admitted it was a mix of songwriting issues as well as taking time out for personal reasons; "I wanted to really dig deep and there are a million songs I threw away, like, “Nah, it's not good enough. I wanna do something different. I wanna do something better, go deeper. I also wanted to have a life with my girlfriend for a while. I owed it to her to spend some time with her and be normal and be in one place. That was kind of important."

In one of the Ustream sessions, Robby revealed that the album will have 12 songs and "Real" is not among them.

In late May, John announced that "Home" would be the first single and was released onto radio and iTunes stores on June 8, 2010.

On July 13, 2010, it was announced on the band's fan club website, Inner Machine, that an EP will be available to purchase at all remaining tour dates. The EP is titled Waiting for the Rest of It and it contains 4 new songs from Something for the Rest of Us plus a live recording of "Broadway" from the Something for the Rest of Us Tour.

Themes
In an interview with Star News Online, Rzeznik revealed that the band would explore some of the issues of the present day lyrically;

"'Most of the material on the record seems to be addressing the kind of the angst and uncertainty of the times that we're living in, but on an emotional level. One particular song on the album is called “Notbroken.” I got a letter from a woman whose husband was in Iraq. He was injured – paralyzed – and he doesn't want to come home. He wants to stay in the hospital. He's ashamed of himself. He feels like he's less. And she just wants to let him know that he's still everything that she ever wanted. I don't know, it just kind of came out. It's kind of like I was writing a love letter to him on her behalf. These are really hard, trying times. And the way that affects people and their families, people losing their jobs and everything's so insecure, I just wanted to say something about that.'"

Critical
Something for the Rest of Us has received mixed to favourable reviews. Collating eight reviews, the review aggregator website Metacritic gave the album an average score of 59%, which indicated a "mixed or average" response.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic awarded the album three stars out of five, opining that the album "delivers in its content if not in its sound." He did offer praise to the albums overall "ambition", summarizing that, "While the band remains much closer to the warm AAA bath that’s become their defining signature, the added ambition does give Something for the Rest of Us variety that’s welcome after the exceedingly pleasant Let Love In."

Kathy Stephenson, writing for the Salt Lake Tribune, was highly impressed with the album and offered a grade of "A-". She opined that, "All 12 tracks offer the rich themes, smart lyrics and rock-worthy melodies that have made this trio a favorite for more than two decades." College newspaper, The Stylus also gave a positive review. Bryan Montgomery scored the album at seven out of ten and despite viewing the album as "merely a shadow to the great albums in the past", he prised the songwriting by pointing out that, "With every new album, it seems that Rzenik's writing becomes stronger, and Something for the Rest of Us is an album where the writing is a key piece to what makes the songs sound so good. The sound on the album is truly reminiscent of what the band has become so well-known for in the last few years."

Chart performance
Something for the Rest of Us debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Band members

 * Mike Malinin – drums, percussion
 * John Rzeznik – guitars, keyboards, vocals, composer
 * Robby Takac – bass, vocals, composer (tracks 7, 10)

Other personnel

 * Chris Bilheimer – artwork
 * Mike Brylinski – assistant
 * Billy Bush – engineer
 * Rob Cavallo – producer
 * Daphne Chen – violin
 * Lauren Chipman – viola
 * Mike Damish – guitar technician
 * Richard Dodd – cello
 * Steph Dufresne – assistant
 * Nicolas Essig – assistant
 * Brad Fernquist – guitars, backing vocals, additional production
 * John Fields – engineer, producer (track 3)
 * Ken Flutier – assistant
 * Eric Gorfain – violin
 * George Gumbs – assistant
 * Paul David Hager – engineer, mixing


 * Kurt Iswarienko – photography
 * Ran Jackson – backing vocals
 * Ricky Jackson – backing vocals
 * Stephen Lu – string arrangements, string conductor
 * Doug McKean – engineer
 * Steven Miller – string engineer
 * David Palmer – keyboards, organ, piano
 * Tim Palmer – producer, drum producer, composer (tracks 11–12)
 * Justin Rose – assistant
 * Jamie Seyberth – engineer
 * Andy Stochansky – composer (track 3, 8), backing vocals
 * Shari Sutcliffe – production coordination
 * Chris Testa – engineer
 * Korel Tunador – keyboards, piano, backing vocals
 * Butch Vig – producer (track 11)