Today marks the 47th birthday of Robby Takac, bassist and former lead singer of the main entertainment for Gator Growl this year, the Goo Goo Dolls.
Takac founded the band with Johnny Rzeznik under the less family-friendly name of Sex Maggots, but the name soon changed.
He also served as the lead singer for the group's first two albums, before Rzeznik took over and Takac moved on to focus on the bass guitar.
As a group, the Goo Goo Dolls have been making music together for 25 years, turning out 14 Top 10 hits and nine albums in that time.
The most popular of these albums is "Dizzy Up the Girl" from 1998, where many of the band's popular songs were first produced. This album holds five of their 14 chart-topping songs, with the most famous being "Iris."
While the band has not had an album since 2008, they are by no means taking a break. They have been working on new material, including a song for the soundtrack of "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."
The Goo Goo Dolls have also been touring in their time between albums. This includes a stop right here in Gainesville on November 4th for Growl, billed as the world's largest student-run pep rally, before the homecoming game.
The band remains busy, but today they celebrate, and hopefully — for Takac's sake — take the day off.
Happy birthday, Robby.
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