It was 1998. You couldn’t walk into a grocery store or turn on a car radio without hearing that specific, longing acoustic guitar strum. It belonged to "Iris." The song was everywhere. But the music from City of Angels movie wasn't just a vehicle for the Goo Goo Dolls to become household names. It was a weirdly perfect storm of late-90s angst, high-budget Hollywood gloss, and a surprisingly deep dive into alternative rock that somehow made a movie about a depressed angel in a trench coat feel grounded.
Honestly, the soundtrack was arguably more successful than the film itself. While Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan were busy staring intensely at each other in the Los Angeles sun, the album was busy going five-times platinum. It’s one of those rare cases where the songs didn't just support the scenes; they actually defined the cultural memory of the entire project. If you close your eyes and think of the movie, you don't necessarily see the library where the angels hang out. You hear Alanis Morissette’s voice cracking.
The Goo Goo Dolls and the "Iris" Phenomenon
Johnny Rzeznik was reportedly suffering from a massive bout of writer's block when he was asked to contribute to the music from City of Angels movie. He saw a sneak preview of the film and wrote "Iris" in a hotel room. It changed everything. Before this, the Goo Goo Dolls were basically a scrappy punk-lite band from Buffalo. After this? They were the kings of the power ballad.
The song spent a staggering 18 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. People forget that back then, the rules for the charts were different, and "Iris" actually wasn't eligible for the main Hot 100 for a long time because it wasn't a physical single. It didn't matter. It was a behemoth.
Why did it work? It captured the exact frequency of the movie’s theme: the desperate desire to be "seen" by someone else. It was vulnerable in a way that felt authentic to 1998, a year where we were all transitionally moving from the grittiness of grunge into the more polished pop-rock era. The strings, arranged by the legendary David Campbell, gave it a cinematic weight that most radio hits lacked.
Uninvited: Alanis Morissette’s Haunting Pivot
While "Iris" was the heart, "Uninvited" was the soul. This was the first piece of new music Alanis Morissette released after the world-conquering success of Jagged Little Pill. Everyone expected another "You Oughta Know." Instead, she gave us a dark, brooding, orchestral masterpiece in 4/4 time that felt like a Victorian ghost story.
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The track is built on a repetitive, sinister piano line and a massive, swelling climax. It perfectly underscored the supernatural element of the music from City of Angels movie. It wasn't "pretty" music. It was anxious. It won two Grammys for a reason. It proved that soundtracks could be a place for artists to take risks they might not take on their own studio albums.
Rob Cavallo, who produced both "Iris" and "Uninvited," managed to create a cohesive sound for the soundtrack despite the diverse artists involved. He leaned into the melancholia. He knew that the film—a remake of Wim Wenders’ German masterpiece Wings of Desire—needed to feel ethereal but heavy.
The Deep Cuts and the Blues Influence
The soundtrack wasn't just a two-hit wonder. It was curated with a level of sophistication that we rarely see in modern blockbusters, which often feel like they're just checking boxes for various demographics.
Take "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan. Yes, it eventually became the "sad dog commercial" song, which is a bit of a tragedy for the song's actual legacy. In the context of the music from City of Angels movie, it was devastating. McLachlan wrote it about the death of Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, and that weight of loss permeates the track.
Then you have the blues.
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- Jimi Hendrix's "Red House": A total curveball that added a layer of human grit to the celestial themes.
- Eric Clapton's "Further Up on the Road": It grounded the movie in a specific kind of Americana that contrasted with the "angelic" orchestral score.
- Paula Cole's "Feelin' Love": A trippy, sensual track that emphasized the physical sensations the angel Seth was longing to experience.
The inclusion of Peter Gabriel's "I Dig in the Dirt" and U2’s "If God Will Send His Angels" (a different mix than the one on Pop) rounded out a tracklist that felt curated by someone who actually liked music, rather than a marketing department.
Gabriel Yared’s Orchestral Score
We can't talk about the music from City of Angels movie without mentioning the actual score by Gabriel Yared. Yared is a giant in the industry, the man behind the music for The English Patient. For this film, he avoided the typical "heavenly" cliches. There weren't many harps or choirs singing in unison.
Instead, he used a lot of breathy woodwinds and expansive string arrangements that mimicked the feeling of wind or the vastness of the L.A. skyline. It’s subtle work. It’s the kind of score that you don't notice until it's gone, leaving a void in the emotional arc of the scene. He managed to weave his themes in between the massive pop hits without the transition feeling jarring. That’s a difficult tightrope to walk.
The Legacy of a Platinum Soundtrack
So, why are we still talking about this?
Mostly because the music from City of Angels movie represents the peak of the "Soundtrack Era." In the 90s, a soundtrack was a curated mixtape that introduced you to your new favorite band. It was a status symbol. Owning this CD meant you were "deep."
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Today, soundtracks are often just background noise or a collection of previously released hits. City of Angels gave us original, career-defining work from major artists. It captured a very specific feeling of late-90s yearning—that sense that something big was about to happen with the turn of the millennium, but we weren't sure if it was going to be beautiful or tragic.
How to Experience This Music Today
If you’re looking to dive back into this era, don't just shuffle it on Spotify. There’s a specific flow to the original album that matters.
Start with the Morissette track to set the mood. Notice how the production on "Iris" feels massive compared to the more stripped-back Sarah McLachlan moments. If you can find the "Red House" version used in the film, listen for how the blues guitar cuts through the polished pop production of the rest of the album.
It’s also worth watching the film again—not for the plot, which is honestly a bit dated—but for the "needle drops." Watch how the music is used to bridge the gap between the visible world and the invisible one. It’s a masterclass in using sound to tell a story that the script can't quite articulate on its own.
The music from City of Angels movie isn't just nostalgia. It’s a reminder of a time when Hollywood put as much effort into the ears of the audience as they did into the eyes. It remains a high-water mark for the industry, a 15-track journey that still feels as lush and heartbreaking as it did when the world was worried about Y2K.
Actionable Next Steps
- Listen to the "Iris" Demo: Find the early acoustic versions of the song to hear how Johnny Rzeznik’s raw songwriting evolved into the massive production heard on the soundtrack.
- Compare with Wings of Desire: Watch the original German film that City of Angels was based on. The music (featuring Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) is completely different—darker, more avant-garde—and provides a fascinating contrast to the 1998 Hollywood approach.
- Check the Credits: Look up David Campbell’s other string arrangements from that era. You’ll find he’s the "secret sauce" behind many of the biggest hits of the decade, bringing a classical sensibility to rock music.
- Vinyl Hunt: This soundtrack has been repressed on vinyl in recent years. If you’re an audiophile, the analog warmth does wonders for Gabriel Yared’s score and the acoustic textures of the rock tracks.