Iris (Goo Goo Dolls song)

"Iris"
Single by Goo Goo Dolls
from the album Dizzy Up the Girl and City of Angels: Music from the Motion Picture
Released	April 7, 1998
Format	CD single
Recorded	1997
Genre	Alternative rock[1] soft rock[2]
Length	4:50 (Album Version) 3:35 (Radio Edit)
Label	Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	John Rzeznik
Producer(s)	Goo Goo Dolls Rob Cavallo
Goo Goo Dolls singles chronology
"Lazy Eye" (1997) "Iris" (1998) "Slide" (1998)

"Iris" is a song by American alternative rock band Goo Goo Dolls. Originally written for the soundtrack of 1998 film City of Angels, the song was later included on the band's sixth album Dizzy Up the Girl. "Iris" has contributed greatly to the band's success. The song's time signature alternates between 4
4 and 3
4, and features an unusual guitar tuning in which most of the strings are tuned to D, lending the guitar a chorus-like effect.

Besides becoming one of the biggest alternative rock staples of the 1990s, "Iris" also remains one of the biggest crossover hits in the history of popular music, crossing over from modern rock radio to pop and adult contemporary radio, reaching number one on all of these formats and becoming the most played song of 1998 for all formats.

Commercial performance

Upon its release, "Iris" became second of a string of hits from the film's soundtrack, City of Angels: Music from the Motion Picture. (The first was Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited" and the third was Sarah McLachlan's "Angel".) The song debuted at #66 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart on April 18, 1998, and eventually spent a record of 18 weeks at number one in Hot 100 Airplay. However it was not allowed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 because no commercial single had been released. In December 1998, just after the song airplay has peaked, the rules changed to allow airplay-only songs onto the chart. As a result, the song debuted and peaked at number 9 and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks. On the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, "Iris" peaked at number eight. The song was the band's 2nd number one hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart since their 1995 hit "Name" and Iris stayed at number one for five weeks and the song also hit number one on the Mainstream Top 40 chart for four weeks. The song spent a then-record 18 weeks at number one on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart (beating No Doubt's 15-week run at number one with "Don't Speak" in 1996-97). The Goo Goo Dolls performed the song on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden as part of The Concert for New York City to raise money for victims of the September 11 attacks.^[3]

The song was also a major international hit. "Iris" spent 31 weeks on the charts and peaked at number five on the Irish Singles Chart; it is the thirteenth biggest-selling single there.^[4]

"Iris" initially peaked at number 50 in the UK in August 1998. On 2 October 2011, following performances by auditionees on The X Factor, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number three.^[5] In May 2013, the song charted at number 12 after it was covered by Britain's Got Talent contestant Robbie Kennedy.^[6]

Accolades

This song was also used in the production of The Bear by Anton Chekov performed by Rebecca Gove and Ioannis Bakogeorgos. Besides the song's success on the charts, "Iris" enjoyed critical acclaim. At the 41st Grammy Awards, "Iris" received nominations for "Record of the Year" and "Pop Performance by a Duo or Group." The song also garnered Johnny Rzeznik a "Song of the Year" nomination.^[7] The single was certified Platinum by the RIAA on August 18, 2008. The song was used frequently in the British comedy Gavin and Stacey.

The song was ranked at number 39 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest pop songs.^[8]

In October 2012, "Iris" was ranked number one on Billboard's "Top 100 Pop Songs 1992-2012" chart, which ranked the top songs of the first 20 years of the Mainstream Top 40/Pop Songs chart. The list also featured the Goo Goo Dolls' hits "Slide", ranking at number nine, and "Name" at number 24. The Goo Goo Dolls are the only musicians to have three songs on the list, two breaking the top 10 and all three falling within the top 25. They are also the only musicians that have back to back singles (Iris, 1998 and Slide, 1999) featured on the list.^[9]

Track listing

• CD1

1. "Iris" (Edit) – 4:49
2. "Lazy Eye" – 3:45
3. "I Don't Want To Know" – 3:37

• CD2

1. "Iris" – 4:51
2. "Slide" – 3:34
3. "Iris" (acoustic version) – 3:26
4. "Slide" (acoustic version) – 3:15

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1998) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[10] 1 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 1 Canadian Alternative 30 (RPM)[11] 2 Italy (FIMI)[12] 1 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[13] 16 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[14] 34 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[15] 50 US Billboard Hot 100[16] 9 US Radio Songs (Billboard)[17] 1 US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[18] 1 US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[19] 1 US Billboard Adult Top 40 Tracks 1 US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 8 US Billboard Adult Contemporary 22 Chart (1999)[4] Peak position Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[20] 3 Ireland (IRMA)[21] 18 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[22] 9 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[15] 26 Chart (2006) Peak position Norway (VG-lista)[23] 19 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[15] 39 Chart (2008) Peak position Canadian Digital Songs 41 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[15] 66 Chart (2011) Peak position Ireland (IRMA) 18 UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[24] 3 UK Rock and Metal (Official Charts Company)[25] 1 Chart (2013) Peak position UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[15] 12 Chart (2014) Peak position Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[26] 63

Year-end charts Chart (1999) Position US Billboard Hot 100[27] 94 Certifications Region Certification Sales/shipments Italy (FIMI)[28] Gold 25,000 United Kingdom (BPI)[29] Platinum 600,000 United States (RIAA)[30] Platinum 1,000,000 ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Cover versions and appearances in media

• Boyz II Men covered their version from their album Love in 2009.
• Avril Lavigne performed the song at the Fashion Rocks Awards with Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik. It was also the first dance for her 2006 wedding with Sum 41 lead singer Deryck Whibley.
• Taylor Swift performed the song Madison Square Garden with Rzeznik in November 2011.
• In Chile, the song was used in the soundtrack in telenovela of TVN Separados and Canal 13 Las Vega's.
• The song appeared in the tenth episode of the fourth season of Workaholics.
• The song was covered by April Lockhart in 2014 for the American television show Rising Star.
• The song was covered by New Found Glory in From The Screen To Your Stereo Part II.
• This song was covered by Sleeping With Sirens.

References

1. LaPage, Mark (December 1998). "Review: Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up the Girl". Spin.
2. Pastorek, Whitney (April 24, 2006). "Let Love In (Music - The Goo Goo Dolls)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
3. "Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls Songfacts". songfacts.com.
4. Jaclyn Ward - Fireball Media Group - http://www.fireballmedia.ie. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
5. "Sak Noel tops UK singles chart with 'Loca People'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
6. "Midweek Charts: Rudimental Home in on No.1". Music Week. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
7. 41st annual Grammy nominees and winners. 24 February 1999. CNN. Accessed 7 March 2008.
8. "Rolling Stone: 100 Greatest Pop Songs". Listology. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
9. "The Top 100 Pop Songs 1992-2012, From No. 100 To No. 1 - Chart Beat". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
10. "Australian-charts.com – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
11. "Rock/Alternative - Volume 67, No. 23, August 31, 1998". RPM. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
12. "Hit Parade Italia - Top Annuali Single: 1998". Hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
13. "Charts.org.nz – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris". Top 40 Singles.
14. "Swedishcharts.com – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris". Singles Top 100.
15. "Official Charts Company". officialcharts.com.
16. "Goo Goo Dolls – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Goo Goo Dolls.
17. "Goo Goo Dolls – Chart history" Billboard Radio Songs for Goo Goo Dolls.
18. "Goo Goo Dolls – Chart history" Billboard Pop Songs for Goo Goo Dolls.
19. "Goo Goo Dolls – Chart history" Billboard Alternative Songs for Goo Goo Dolls.
20. "Ultratop.be – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
21. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Iris". Irish Singles Chart.
22. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Goo Goo Dolls search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
23. "Norwegiancharts.com – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris". VG-lista.
24. "Archive Chart: 2011-10-02" UK Singles Chart.
25. "Archive Chart: 2011-10-02" UK Rock Chart.
26. "Austriancharts.at – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
27. "Billboard Top 100 - 1999". Retrieved 2010-08-28.
28. "Italian single certifications – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 12 December 2014. Select Online in the field Sezione. Enter Goo Goo Dolls in the field Filtra. The certification will load automatically
29. "British single certifications – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 12 December 2014. Enter Iris in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
30. "American single certifications – Goo Goo Dolls – Iris". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 12 December 2014. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics