Episode 295: Goo Goo Dolls

“Iris”

Goo Goo Dolls formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, and by the time 1998 rolled around, they’d already had a pretty successful career. They’d released five albums, and one of their songs, “Name,” from 1995, had become a Top 10 hit. But things really changed for them when they made the song “Iris.” It originally came out on the soundtrack for the movie City of Angels, which came out in 1998 and starred Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan.

“Iris” spent a record-breaking 18 weeks at number one on the radio, and became one of the best selling songs of all time, with over 14 million copies sold, and over 4.5 billion streams. So for this episode, John Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls came over to my place and he told me about how he wrote the song. He told me how the Grammy-winning producer Rob Cavallo helped them expand their vision, and how the version of the song in the movie isn’t actually the version that everybody knows.

You can buy or stream “Iris” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes:
Robby Takac – co-writer
Tim Pierce – mandolin and guitar
Jamie Muhoberac – keyboard
Producer Rob Cavallo is also interviewed in Green Day’s Song Exploder episode about the song “Basket Case”
David Campbell – string arranger
Jack Joseph Puig – recording engineer
Danny Bramson
Wings of Desire
Bob Dylan
Soul Asylum, The Replacements, and R.E.M.
Iris Dement
Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” – Smashing Pumpkins
U2, Peter Gabriel, and Alanis Morissette

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Episode 294: Little Simz

“Free”

Little Simz is a rapper from England who put out her first album in 2015. She’s won the Mercury Prize, a Brit Award, and three MOBO awards. She also starred in the Netflix series Top Boy. Her most recent album is called Lotus. It came out in June 2025, and it followed a pretty tumultuous time in her career. For this episode, I got to talk to Little Simz about one of the songs from that album, called “Free,” along with Miles Clinton James, who produced the track.

You can buy or stream “Free” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Alex Bonfanti – co-writer and bass player
Rosie Danvers – string arranger
Conversations With God
All About Love
The Kinks
Jackson Five
RAK studios

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Key Change: Shirley Manson

“Drop Dead/Celebration” by Siouxsie and the Banshees

My guest today is Shirley Manson. Since 1994, she’s been the lead singer of the band Garbage, and she is a bona fide rock icon. The two of us worked together on a different podcast called The Jump, which Shirley hosted and I helped produce. It was a dream of mine to get Shirley as the host of that podcast, partly because, as you’re about to hear, she has one of the greatest voices, and I could listen to her talk about anything. And so I’m especially excited to listen to her today tell me about a song that changed her life.

You can buy or stream “Drop Dead/Celebration” here.

footnotes:
“Happy House” – Siouxsie and the Banshees
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Top of the Pops
Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie
“Felt” – Garbage
Kurt Cobain
Steve Marker
John Lennon
The Cure
“Suffocate Me” – Angelfish
David Bowie
Iggy Pop
Madonna
Let All That We Imagine Be The Light – Garbage

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