A Sponge cover, plus some very cool 1998 photos

Contributor Bailey just sent some nice material our way, that is a TV appearance where the band covers a song by Sponge, plus a plethora of pictures from 1998.

In terms of the former, I must say I never heard about it. I know Sponge by fame and was surprised to see the Goo Goo Dolls covering one of their most famous tunes, “Plowed“.

Anyhow, let’s hear it from Bailey for more information about it. I will only add that you can consider hers like a small Christmas present for our readers, with one or more surprises to come in the next few days from the same individual. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve also been working on a tiny Christmas present for you all. However, I am not sure I will be able to pull it off, at least by the 25th. We’ll see. I just mention it because I wanted to make it clear that I was working on something. And if Christmas day comes and goes without anything from me, rest assured I couldn’t make it on time, but did not give up on it.

Alright, time to let Bailey speak her mind.

Hello,

Merry early Christmas! It’s almost December already, geez. Well, speaking of December, John’s birthday’s in a couple days, so I just wanted to give a little heads up, I’ll be sharing something special with Temple Of Goo dedicated to him (I did something special for Robby, I figured I might as well) 🙂
Anyway, I was looking around at pictures I had, and thought “hmm, I haven’t shared a lot of 1998 pictures. . .The thing is, I’ve enlarged my collection a lot this past year, and just haven’t remembered to share anything.

Before I do that, though, I’d like to share this performance I found only just today! So, I opened up YouTube, and there, on my suggested was this. Now, I don’t usually watch anything past about 2003 (Goo wise), but I decided this was worth a shot. Good thing I did, because this cover is incredible. They covered “Plowed” by Sponge, which was apparently a 90s band Howard Stern liked a lot. There were loud guitars, real drums, Robby (and the keyboard player) were singing backup vocals. . .it was like a regression back to old Goo! I must say, this is a lot better than anything off their recent albums. I wish they would do an album with this kind of sound again…

Anyway, this was posted by Howard Stern’s Youtube channel.

Now for the pictures.
Well, let me do a little bit of explaining, as always. The first one people may have seen before, since I think it’s been floating around online for a while. This may have been during an interview or backstage with a woman named “Alisa” apparently. I don’t have much info on this picture, other than it’s from 1998.

The second one is (also) 1998, and I think this was an interview for a radio station. Their holding up “Ugly” shirts, for whatever reason. I’d love a little more info on this picture (haha).

The next one is part of a photoshoot that Temple of Goo has already posted a few of the pictures to. This is kind of just a speculation, but I think this was before their interview on MTV’s loveline in late ’98.

The next picture is an article clipping, and why it says “Home” 15 years before “Home” was actually released, I’m not sure. Probably a type-o.

The next one is of Mike, just chilling, probably not knowing he’s getting his picture taken…

This next one is SUPER rare, and if it wasn’t for the guitar, I wouldn’t have known it was John. He just had his natural hair color, no blonde high lights, which is probably why I didn’t recognize him. This must’ve been sometime in EARLY 1998–or maybe even 1997, but I doubt it.

The next one is part of another mysterious photoshoot, which I think I have more to (I will send you more if I find them), but it’s pretty cool.

The next one is also a very rare picture. It looks like it was an audience photograph, but it’s still pretty cool.

This next one is from a photoshoot of Dizzy Up The Girl. The lighting is really cool, too. I shared a magazine cover from 1998 that featured a picture that was either this one or one from this photoshoot.
Now, I know I said I’d be sharing pictures from 1998…but I did find this super extremely rare picture from 1999, featuring John playing. The quality almost looks like this could be from a bootleg, or even a professional recording! If anyone has more info, please share!

The next one is also of John from a gig in November of 1998 – shot by a professional photographer (I’m not sure of his name anymore, but photo credit of him).

The next one is Mike. This time it looks like he may have been in a studio maybe? Or a hotel or something like that. I may be wrong, but I think this was when they were in Australia.

Last but not least, we have Robby—just being Robby behind a fence. He might have been signing autographs. Anyway, that’s all I have for today, but a merry Christmas fellow Gooers!

EDIT: The one below was actually added later on by Bailey, and it may be a 1999 picture.

Ok well I was glancing at your post about the pictures, and I think I forgot one…
So the 1999 one was where John had a mullet
And is turning his head sort of to the side—sorry I should have specified haha. I’ll attach the one from the professional photographer.

As a reminder (since our photo collection is getting pretty big) you can browse all of the posts featuring Goo Goo Dolls pictures by clicking on the dedicated Category.

Thanks Bailey for your contribution, much appreciated!