Time changes things, and Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac knows this as well as anyone. After all, before he and Johnny Rzeznik became one of the more notable pop rock acts of the last two decades, they preferred to be noisy rather than pop savvy. But they got the chance to evolve artistically through early albums, get out their inner punk and heavy metal aggressions and figure out who they wanted to be as a band. Takac knows how lucky they are.

“A lot of folks don’t get that chance these days,” he says. “If it doesn’t work right away, then they’re tossed out of the machine and [the label] looks for the next thing that’s going to work.”

Considering the number of radio hits they’ve scored throughout the years, the band knows what works. Their most recent album, last year’s Magnetic, was their fourth consecutive Billboard Top 10 release, and it contains more of the band’s trademark energetic material. “First Beat” and “More of You” are downright ebullient pop numbers, “When the World Breaks Your Heart” uses sweeping strings to augment the rock track’s power, and Rzeznik’s scratchy vocals are as charismatic as ever on the ambient “Bullet Proof Angel.” After so many years together, they clearly have a system that works for them, but Takac for one will never take music — or the band’s success — for granted.

“Music is a huge thing,” Takac says. “It means the creative process — which is unbelievably dear to me — but it also means [the wonderful] things that have happened in my life.”

Goo Goo Dolls play with Daughtry and Plain White T’s 6:45 pm Friday, July 18, at Cuthbert Amphitheater; $41.50 adv., $47 door.