The release of their self-titled debut in 1987 and its follow-up Jed from 1989 found the band delivering music in a similar vein.īut, subsequently leaning far more towards the vibe of power pop, the release of Hold Me Up from 1990 broke with that sound, signifying the start of a new pop chapter in the trio’s career. At first, their sound was raw but catchy, bringing to mind bands such as The Replacements. With an initial focus on cover versions, guitarist John(ny) Rzeznik, bassist Robby Takac and drummer George Tutuska soon began to write their own material. Mixing catchy and jangling guitar-led songs with the ease of pop balladry, the three members of the Buffalo, New York band first came together in 1985. Rising to prominence while earning a widespread, international audience, the Goo Goo Dolls were one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s. It’s, like, at least one of the songs I’ve written will be remembered. In writing a song for the film ‘City Of Angels’, the frontman created one of the 90s’ biggest crossover hits Every night when we play it and I put the mic out to the audience and everybody sings it, that’s an amazing feeling.
“Because it gave me some confidence in myself at a time when that was lacking. In April 2022, the song bothered the Billboard compilers for the first time in decades, entering the digital song sales chart at #15.
And, as so often happens, social media has given the song a second life, after Iris became popular on video platform TikTok. It remains the centrepiece of the Goo Goo Dolls’ set-list, the ultimate alt.rock ballad and the singer’s best chance of immortality. Ultimately Rzeznik chose to embrace his masterpiece and is meaning. The number of choices you have grows exponentially, like, I can have this, I can have that, I can date her, I can snort this – and I can afford it’.” It never made me wish I hadn’t written it, because now I’ll be able to send my kids to college, but obviously there are by-products of that kind of success that you have to avoid. We started getting more attention, made a bit of money… and it was actually really, really uncomfortable. “It didn’t change us,” Rzeznik says, “but people around us changed. Commercially, the Goo Goo Dolls had arrived. It was undoubtedly Rzeznik’s ballad that pushed the City Of Angels soundtrack to the top of the US chart in June 1998 and bolstered the band’s own Dizzy Up The Girl album, while the song itself began a five-week run at No.9 in the US. So I guess Iris is partly the sound of me growing up.” But as you grow up you change, you want different things, and your art has to stay in step with where you are emotionally. “When I was 18 I played three power chords and wanted to be Paul Westerberg. “But it’s part of your personal evolution,” he continues. “I remember kneeling in front of the control room window, looking out at this 15-piece string ensemble, then looking at Robby and saying: ‘I really think we’re turning a corner here, and I don’t know if I want to’. “That was the first time we’d ever been in the studio with strings,” he recalls. But it wasn’t until he was recording it that he realised how far the song had taken the band from their punk roots.
Rzeznik recognised Iris as one of his greatest achievements to date, despite the title lack of personal meaning.
I was, like: ‘Wow! What a beautiful name.’ I was looking through a magazine called LA Weekly and saw that a great singer-songwriter called Iris DeMent was playing in town. “I’m horrible at naming songs,” he says, “so it’s the last thing I do. By the time Rzeznik had ironed out some of the “ugly chord sequences”, he had a swooning future classic on his hands.
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