Iris was written by Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik and released in 1998 for the soundtrack of the film City of Angels, where it became the band's signature song and one of the defining rock ballads of the late 1990s. Its success on radio and in film helped it endure long after its release, and the opening in particular became widely recognised online. Short clips are now reused in edits and montages, where the song's association with longing and devotion gives even brief moments a familiar emotional weight.