Later, Rzeznik also gave a second, more ironic explanation for choosing the title. He said he was trying to be “pretentious and arty,” almost deliberately artistic, and that he figured if Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins could get away with such a move, then so could he. There are of course other possible readings of the word “Iris,” which Rzeznik himself never defined as final, but which still carry their own charm. The iris as the colored part of the eye around the pupil, the iris as a flower, or Iris from Greek mythology, the goddess who carried messages through the rainbow.