The Top-10 radio single, “Name,” offers sanctuary to a hurting soul. That’s about it.
Alcohol is equated with fun times on “Eyes Wide Open.” The artist also wants to “even the score” with a woman who has caused him pain (“Slave Girl”), and complains that life is empty, bleak and meaningless (“Flat Top,” “Ain’t That Unusual,” “Only One”). The f-word is thrown in for emphasis on “Only One.”
Misery loves company. And like many of this pessimistic band’s “glass-is-half-empty” peers, the Goo Goo Dolls would love to drag young fans into their dismal world devoid of hope.