“Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls

"Iris" was written for the soundtrack of City of Angels, the 1998 film, and then went on to lead off Dizzy Up the Girl, the Goo Goo Dolls' sixth album, the same year. John Rzeznik wrote it alone, sings it and plays guitar on it, and it's built from the ground up to fill a movie theater.

Rob Cavallo produced it with the band, and he builds it slowly: Rzeznik's aching, chiming guitar up front, Robby Takac's bass and Mike Malinin's drums and percussion holding back until the chorus breaks open, with Jamie Muhoberac's piano and Tim Pierce's mandolin shading the edges. Allen Sides engineered and Jack Joseph Puig mixed, and it all swells like a movie's final reel, big, yearning and unashamed of it.

It went to number one in Australia, Canada and Italy, number 3 in the UK and number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and in Ireland it ranks as the 19th most successful single ever. It became the band's signature song, a fixture of every live set, and its sales put it up with the biggest singles in history.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.