“Angel” by Sarah McLachlan
The Sarah McLachlan hit seems to be about a deeply affecting personal loss. Rather, it was about someone McLachlan had read about. She read about Smashing Pumpkins keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin, who overdosed. “The story shook me because though I have never done hard drugs like that, I felt a flood of empathy for him and that feeling of being lost, lonely and desperately searching for some kind of release. I wrote that song in 2 days,” she said.