"Name" | ||||
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Single by Goo Goo Dolls | ||||
from the album A Boy Named Goo | ||||
Released | September 26, 1995 | |||
Format | CD single, cassette single | |||
Recorded | 1994 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock | |||
Length | 4:30 (album version) 4:03 (single edit) 4:15 (2007 re-recording) |
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Label | Metal Blade/Warner Bros. | |||
Writer(s) | John Rzeznik | |||
Producer(s) | Lou Giordano | |||
Goo Goo Dolls singles chronology | ||||
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"Name" is an alternative rock song by the American rock band Goo Goo Dolls. It was released in September 1995 as the third single from the album A Boy Named Goo. As the band's first hit, the song topped both the US Modern Rock chart and the US Album Rock chart, and reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Although the Goo Goo Dolls were considered an alternative group prior to the single's release, "Name" crossed over to pop and adult contemporary radio, greatly increasing the band's fan base.
Prior to the release of the Dizzy Up the Girl album three years later, "Name" was the band's most successful single. It is currently their 3rd most successful single, after "Iris" and "Slide".
The band re-recorded this song for their compilation album, Greatest Hits Volume One: The Singles; this version featured minimal arrangements and production.
The song's unusual guitar tuning, D-A-E-A-E-E, is accomplished by replacing the B string with a high E string. In an interview with Guitar World Magazine, the singer and songwriter Johnny Rzeznik explained: "Both the top strings are high E strings. Whenever I tried tuning a regular B string up to E, it would pop. It was really tough on the tension. I've seen guys play 'Name' with regular tuning. It doesn't sound right." Rzeznik says that the song's unusual composition happened "quite accidentally". In an interview with KFOG, he explained: "It was weird, I was just sitting on my couch randomly twisting the tuning pegs, and I couldn't figure out what notes the guitar was tuned to, so I had to grab my tuner to find out, and then I jotted them down on a post it. ... I just sat there and let my fingers play the fretboard openly, and that is what became the progression of 'Name'."