The Cranberries | Zombie | No Need To Argue

The Cranberries were an Irish alternative rock band members Dolores O' Riordan (vocals), Noel Hogan (guitar), Mike Hogan (bass), and Fergal Lawler (drums). They gained mainstream popularity in the 1990s. They have sold an estimated 43 million albums worldwide. Since 2003 the members have all pursued solo careers.

Noel and Mike Hogan, two brothers from Limerick formed the band with drummer Fergal Lawler in 1990. The band was originally named The Cranberry Saw Us, a pun on cranberry sauce. The lead singer at that time was a friend of theirs named Niall Quinn, who had an extravagant taste for composing and song names, such as "My Grandma Drowned In A Fountain In Lourdes", "I Was Always All Ways" and "Throw Me Down A Big Stairs". When he left the band, Dolores O'Riordan, who was a friend of Niall's girlfriend at the time, and related to powerful banking family the O'Riordans in Cork, auditioned and won the role of lead singer. She quickly demonstrated her lyrical ability when the band handed her a demo of a melody they had been working on. She took the demo home and returned with a full set of lyrics for it the next day, the song was then given the name "Linger".

No Need to Argue is an album released in 1994. It was the band's most successful album, and has sold about 16.7 million copies worldwide. It contains one of the band's most successful singles to date, "Zombie". The album's mood is darker than that on Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?. It shows a more mature Dolores, writing about war, death, love and disappointment. Her voice is clearer, without the previous album's double and triple voice layering. In some of the songs, the band decided to take on a rockier and heavier side, using distortion and increasing the volume.

Zombie" is a protest song. It is about the conflicts in Northern Ireland known as "The Troubles", with references to the Easter Rising of 1916. It features a heavy guitar riff which is uncharacteristic of the band's usual sound.

"Zombie" was released as a music video in 1995. In the video, Dolores O'Riordan is covered in gold paint surrounded by children. She is reminiscent of the classic image of Saint Sebastian. The video also contains shots of British soldiers on patrol in Northern Ireland. The video production crew gained the full cooperation of the unsuspecting British troops by posing as a documentary film crew. The soldiers were told the documentary was to be about the day to day operations of various peace keeping forces. More info