"I took the top E string off. I originally wrote it on a guitar with four strings. I didn’t really know what I was doing’ ” John Rzeznik reveals how his odd alternate tuning resulted in a song that's reached 2 billion streams

Cult indie heroes 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 charts in 1995. It was a bittersweet moment for the trio, which then featured singer/guitarist John Rzeznik, bassist Robby Takac and now-former 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?”

Clearly unfazed by the hostile reception “Name” received, the band pushed the envelope even further three years later when recording Rzeznik's song "Iris' for the 1998 film City of Angels by adding an orchestra to it. It certainly didn't hurt matters: "Iris" rose to the top 10 in the U.S. and numerous international charts.

This month, the song reached more than two billion plays on Spotify, making it one of the top 100 most played tracks in the world. (Interestingly, the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” has notched slightly higher, at 2.2 billion as of this 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, the success of “Iris” was a significant turning point in the Goo Goo Dolls’ fortunes and musical direction.

“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 a long history of using alternate tunings to spur creativity, and “Iris” is 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 top session guitarist Tim Pierce to add mandolin. As Pierce tells Guitar Player, he wasn’t content to limit his role to such an marginal instrument and ended up bringing in a full load of guitars.

“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 thinking. "Iris" would be included on the Goo Goo Dolls' album Dizzy Up the Girl, released later in 1998, helping to make it the group's most successful album, with more than four million copies sold.

Not surprisingly, Rzeznik has no qualms about how Pierce turned the session around — especially since it all came out so well for both “Iris” and the Goo Goo Dolls.

“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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