The Goo Goo Dolls vs. the Strokes? No contest. I could easily argue that the Goo Goo Dolls put on a better live show, are better musicians, more intelligent, and even more indie. But let's focus a bit. We're talking about how you should spend New Year's Eve, so here's why you should pick the Goo Goo Dolls over the Strokes.
Because New Year's Eve should be an epic moment
The understated Strokes do not deal in epic moments. Even their best songs are about shit that could happen to you on any random drunken night. Some girl mistreats you. Some pal pounds too much whiskey. If you're lucky, you make out with somebody in the bathroom. You wake up hung over, stumble through the day, and go out again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
The Goo Goo Dolls are all about epic moments: teenage yearning, life-changing adult breakups, inviable relationships, Meg Ryan getting hit by a car.
Because New Year's Eve music should be a sound track of your life
That Meg Ryan line may seem a little snotty, but the Goo Goo Dolls' important contributions to movies and TV should in no way be overlooked. In addition to Ryan's poignant City of Angels, Goo Goo Dolls songs have been in more than half a dozen movies, ranging from Batman & Robin to Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. The sweetest Goo Goo Dolls song ever, "Acoustic #3," was played on Dawson's Creek.
Conclusions:
1. The Goo Goo Dolls will always be able to find work.
2. They really do sound like the sound track of the pop-culture-addled lives of millions.
The Strokes, meanwhile, sound like the sound track of your life only if you go to bars in New York City's East Village every night. I've done that before. It's way overrated.
Because New Year's Eve isn't about being cool
OK, it's hard to argue that the Goo Goo Dolls are a cooler band than the Strokes, but that's not even necessary. New Year's Eve is probably the schmaltziest holiday there is, even more so than Valentine's Day. Who cares about being cool? It's a holiday about pure possibility, about getting ready for a second (or third or fourth or 20th) chance to get something right. It's a holiday when you're not ashamed to be moved, to have your head as high as a rocket ship in space, to be nostalgic for things you've never known and wistful for things you'll never experience.
Almost every Goo Goo Dolls song can make you feel all of this. When I went to see the band tape a concert for the Oxygen network this year, I was astounded at how all of their songs sounded like hits I had somehow forgotten. They really do have a dozen songs with heart-rending hooks and dizzying choruses. There are maybe six minutes of Strokes material that can create the same emotional response.
Because the feelings you have on New Year's Eve should be temporary
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Goo Goo Dolls play, but if you ask me now, I can't tell you more than three or four songs they performed. Going to a Goo Goo Dolls concert is like experiencing most blockbuster movies. You're moved, enthralled, and thoroughly entertained. You do not sit around afterward, like people do after Strokes shows, dissecting moments or arguing influences. You just let it be. And two weeks later, you don't remember much except that you had a good time. Isn't that exactly how New Year's Eve should be?