Yes — the late-1990s wave of acoustic-guitar-driven, string-orchestrated, emotionally soaring rock ballads you’re describing is widely recognised as a distinct trend. It doesn’t have a single universally agreed-upon name, but in music journalism, fan circles, and industry discussions it is most commonly called one of these:

Name most often used	Other names you’ll see	Typical years	Core sonic traits
Post-Grunge Orchestral Ballad (most accurate academic term)	“MTV Unplugged-goes-mainstream” ballads “Adult-Alternative power ballad” “Symphonic alt-rock” “1998–2001 string ballad boom”	1997–2002	Acoustic rhythm guitar + lush live string section (or Mellotron/strings sample) + huge, reverb-drenched chorus + emotionally raw lyrics about loss, love, regret

The big radio hits that define the trend (1997–2001)

• Goo Goo Dolls – “Iris” (1998), “Black Balloon” (1999), “Slide” (1998)
• Green Day – “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” (1997)
• Dave Matthews Band – “Crash into Me” (1996), “Stay (Wasting Time)” (1998), “The Space Between” (2001)
• Third Eye Blind – “How’s It Going to Be” (1997)
• Fuel – “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)” (2000)
• Vertical Horizon – “Everything You Want” (1999)
• Matchbox Twenty – “If You’re Gone” (2000, strings version on radio)
• Lifehouse – “Hanging by a Moment” (2001, lighter strings)
• Train – “Drops of Jupiter” (2001, very prominent strings)
• Five for Fighting – “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” (2001, piano + strings)

Did they share producers?Yes — a surprisingly small circle of producers and string arrangers dominated almost every one of these tracks.

Producer / Arranger	Key credits in the trend
Rob Cavallo	Green Day “Good Riddance”, Goo Goo Dolls “Iris”, “Slide”, “Black Balloon”, “Name” (re-issue with strings) → basically the godfather of the sound
Jack Joseph Puig (mixer)	Goo Goo Dolls entire Dizzy Up the Girl album, Third Eye Blind, Green Day, Lifehouse
David Campbell (string arranger)	Father of Beck; arranged strings on Goo Goo Dolls “Iris”, “Black Balloon”, Fuel “Hemorrhage”, Train “Drops of Jupiter”, Five for Fighting “Superman”, Counting Crows “Big Yellow Taxi” remake, etc. → the single most-used string arranger of the era
Jerry Finn (often co-producer or mixer)	Green Day Nimrod (including “Good Riddance”), Blink-182’s later acoustic ballads
Glen Ballard	Co-wrote/produced some Dave Matthews and Vertical Horizon tracks, brought cinematic string ideas from his Alanis work

So while not every song had the exact same team, Rob Cavallo + David Campbell + Jack Joseph Puig appear on the majority of the biggest examples. Cavallo in particular has said in interviews that after “Good Riddance” and “Iris” exploded, every label begged him to “give us the next one with strings.”Why it happened in 1998–2001

• MTV Unplugged (1990s) normalised acoustic + strings for rock acts.
• The massive success of “Good Riddance” (1997) and especially “Iris” (1998 — #1 on Billboard Airplay for 18 weeks) proved you could take a punk/post-grunge band, add real strings, and dominate radio.
• Adult Alternative (Triple-A) radio format exploded in the late 90s and loved this exact sound.
• Record labels explicitly chased it — you can find 1999–2001 A&R memos asking for “the next ‘Iris’ with strings.”

So yes — it’s a real, recognised micro-trend, usually called “late-90s/early-2000s orchestral post-grunge ballads” or simply “the Iris sound.”