28 years ago John Rzeznick wrote this Goo Goo Dolls hit on a guitar with four strings. It’s now been streamed nearly 4 billion times: “I didn’t really know what I was doing”

Although they started as indie-rock outsiders, the Goo Goo Dolls became mainstream rock favorites almost overnight when “Name” — an uncharacteristically mellow, acoustic guitar ballad — reached the top five of the U.S. singles chart in 1996. It was a bittersweet moment for the trio, which then featured singer/guitarist John Rzeznik, bassist Robby Takac and drummer Mike Malinin.

“We took some serious abuse from a chunk of our original fanbase,” Rzeznik recalls, “but we made a lot more new fans. I guess if people don’t want to stick with you once you break through, then what can you do?”

Undeterred by the backlash to “Name,” the band pushed further beyond its original sound three years later, when it recorded Rzeznik’s song “Iris” for the 1998 film City of Angels, giving it an orchestral arrangement. The move paid off: “Iris” reached the top 10 in the U.S. and several international charts.

The song has since become a streaming phenomenon, surpassing 3.81 billion plays on Spotify and ranking among the platform’s most-streamed tracks worldwide. The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” had edged ahead, with 3.83 billion streams at the time of writing.

“I never expected that to happen,” Rzeznik says. “It’s interesting to me that a song I wrote for a film should have such a big life of its own. I guess a lot of people will know the song and yet never even know who Goo Goo Dolls are.”

As Rzeznik tells Guitar Player, “Iris” marked a major turning point for the band, both commercially and musically.

“The scale of the success of this marked a major career shift for us as a band,” he says. “This was the one that really took everything up another level in terms of recognition and success, and it definitely shut the door on the portion of our career before that. I remember Robby and I looked at each other when the strings were being recorded, and we asked ourselves, ‘Should we really be doing this?’

“Then we both kind of agreed: Yeah, definitely. It was cool, you know? I’m glad we did it. Like anything in life, we took some shit for it, you know, but who cares? No matter what you do, you’re wrong I guess, but the rewards outweighed the crap we took from certain quarters.”

Rzeznik has long used alternate tunings to spur his creativity, and “Iris” was no exception.

“The tuning for this was B D D D D — I took the top E string off,” he explains. “I originally wrote it on a guitar with four strings, because I was trying to drop the notes in pitch, and I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

For the recording, Rzeznik brought in session guitarist Tim Pierce to play mandolin. But Pierce had other ideas. As he tells Guitar Player, he arrived prepared to play electric guitar, too, bringing his full rig to the studio.

“I thought, ‘This is a rock band. I’m not going to show up carrying a tiny mandolin case. I’m going to bring my rig and try to do some electric guitar.’ I called cartage and had them bring all my electric guitars and gear to the studio.

“I did three mandolin passes, which everybody liked. I went into the control room, and Rob Cavallo, the producer, looked at my gear and said, ‘We’ve got this other section — wanna try your hand at a solo?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ My secret plan was working.

“I found out later that the band was annoyed at me for bringing all my gear, but Rob was open-minded and said, ‘Let him play something on electric, and we’ll see what happens.’ And it started a love affair between me and the guys in the Goo Goo Dolls that's never ended.

“‘Iris’ is the biggest song I've ever played on. In some ways, it might be one of the best songs I've ever played on.”

Pierce isn’t alone in that assessment. “Iris” appeared on the Goo Goo Dolls’ Dizzy Up the Girl, released later in 1998. The album became the group’s most successful, selling more than four million copies.

Rzeznik has no qualms about Pierce’s decision to bring his electric-guitar rig to the session, especially given the results.

“I’m always much more concerned about the song than my ego,” he says, “so that means that if I think someone can come in and add something that will take it to another level, I’m happy to see what transpires. Tim Pierce played some great things on this — he came up with ideas that I would’ve never created, and the net outcome is that the song was improved.

“I learned early on that my limitations are not really limitations. I’m not a trained musician at all. Some people might consider that a limitation, but I don’t.”

Goo Goo Dolls – Iris [Official Music Video] [4K Remaster] - YouTube

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