With over 15 top ten singles under their belt, as well as almost 9 million albums sold in the U.S. alone, the Goo Goo Dolls have certainly earned their share of musical street cred. However, with their last album “Let Love In” released over three years ago, some of the band’s fans questioned their credibility as solid American rock stars. As “Let Love In” was a relative flop according to music authorities, the Goo Goo Dolls needed something big, something new, to bring them out of their funk. With “Something For the Rest of Us,” they have certainly broken the mold.

The album opens with the hit single “Sweetest Lie,” also released on a five-track album called “Waiting For the Rest of It.” “Sweetest Lie” proves to be both catchy and poignant at the same time, a tall order in today’s music world. It has an instantly recognizable guitar lead-in, and frontman Johnny Rzeznik’s voice is a beautiful complement.

The harsh first couple of lyrics reveal this song is all about honesty, even in the face of disappointment. Rzeznik sings, “You play your part so easily/ You fooled yourself again/ With your lipstick smeared/ Across some face you’ll never see again,” bringing to mind a few people on campus who have made the walk of shame a regular habit.

Additionally, the chorus is strong and the message is a good one. Singing, “I picked myself back up/ I didn’t know where I had been/ And the thing that makes you seem so wrong/ Is I want you back again,” Rzeznik demonstrates the sometimes damaging power of love, found in the most unlikely situations.

“As I Am,” the second track on the album — about which much buzz has been made — is relatively disappointing, especially as it follows the popular single. Beginning with a generic beat, it continues along a repetitive path of ’90s-inspired, borderline emo lyrics, before reaching a chorus that hardly deviates from the rest of the song at all. Featuring lyrics like, “You know I run to find the answers/ What I need to find is you” and “The hardest thing we face/ Is the silence of the space,” it appears to be inspired more by the back covers of romance novels than any musical number, while the rest of the song reads like a page out of an angsty teenager’s diary.

Rzeznik seems to have temporarily lost his muse — or, perhaps, has found one in that emo kid who hangs out behind the school.

“Home” is another track that could have gone the way of “As I Am,” but instead succeeds. The driving beat, paired with melancholy lyrics, lends an interesting contrast coaxing listeners to dig deeper within the song to understand its true meaning. The message of the song, suggested by lyrics like, “Crowded rooms full of empty faces/ Our deepest conversation full of lies/ I wonder if they’ll see through my disguise,” is that people need to understand themselves before they can fully understand the world around them.

“Still Your Song,” a solid track about uncertainty and loss, seems to echo everyone’s regrets in life and love. With a smooth beat and simple but effective lyrics, it sends a strong message about how hesitation and indecision can hurt the most when you lose the one you love.

The lyrics, though unadorned, reach the heart of the matter: “The time that I’ve wasted/ So bitter and faithless/ Is wearing me down now.” Not just a sad song, it also serves as a wake up call for those in similar situations — Rzeznik urges them to heed their hearts’ desires, whether they be to confess a love long hidden or to finally get their hands on the Goo Goo Dolls’ new album.

3 1/2 stars.