The Cranberries

The Cranberries are an Irish pop/rock band. They formed in Limerick in 1989. The original lineup consisted of lead singer Niall Quinn, lead guitarist Noel Hogan, his brother Mike Hogan on bass guitar, and Fergal Lawler on drums. The band was originally called "The Cranberry Saw Us". After less than a year Quinn left the band and the remaining members put out an advertisement for a new singer. Dolores O'Riordan responded to the ad by writing lyrics to some band demos. The song she came up with was "Linger". The band hired her.

Their first album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? became a hit both in Britain and America and spawned the hit singles "Dreams" and "Linger". They followed that with No Need To Argue, which featured a somewhat heavier sound, especially in the single "Zombie", which became the biggest hit the group ever had. Their third album, To the Faithful Departed, filled with ultra-serious songs about subjects such as death, the murder of John Lennon, and the war in Bosnia, sold well but not as well as No Need to Argue, and became a commercial setback for the band. Bury the Hatchet and Wake Up and Smell the Coffee received mixed reviews and marginal sales. The band then broke up, embarking on an 11-year hiatus (in which both O'Riordan and Noel Hogan pursued solo projects) before reuniting and putting out new album Roses in 2012.


 * Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (1993)
 * No Need to Argue (1994)
 * To the Faithful Departed (1996)
 * Bury the Hatchet (1999)
 * Wake up and Smell the Coffee (2001)
 * Roses (2012)

"Forever, I'll be forever holding you Forever, I'll be forever holding you Responsible, responsible, responsible"
 * Altum Videtur: "adiuva me Domine deus"--"help me, O God"--from "Electric Blue Eyes"
 * Author Tract: A lot of O'Riordan's lyrics.
 * Carpenters: They did a cover of "Close to You" for the tribute album If I Were a Carpenter.
 * Drugs Are Bad: "Salvation", in which Dolores O'Riordan admonishes kids to, you know, not do drugs.
 * Fleetwood Mac: Their cover of "Go Your Own Way" on Legacy: a Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours
 * A Good Name for a Rock Band: The second name, anyway.
 * Greatest Hits Album: Stars: The Best of 1992–2002
 * Grief Song: "Cordell" was written as a tribute to Irish record producer Denny Cordell, who died in 1995.
 * Long Runner Lineup
 * Love Triangle: "Delilah"--"He'll never be your lover"
 * Lyrical Shoehorn: O'Riordan, who writes all the band's lyrics, is prone to this. One notable example is the chorus to "Zombie" with its double use of "bombs": "With their tanks/and their bombs/and their bombs/and their guns"
 * Match Cut: In the beginning of the "Linger" video, from a blinking light to Dolores O'Riordan's eye opening.
 * Murder Ballad: "I Just Shot John Lennon"
 * The Pete Best: Niall Quinn.
 * Protest Song: Many. Arguably, too many.
 * Pun-Based Title / Incredibly Lame Pun: "The Cranberry Saw Us" might be the worst band name in history.
 * Putting the Band Back Together: After 11 years off.
 * Record Producer: Stephen Street has produced four of their six albums.
 * Smoldering Shoes: In the "Promises" video, the cowboy fires at the witch/scarecrow, but she catches the bullets in her teeth. She then opens her mouth and emits a ray at the cowboy, leaving a smoldering pair of cowboy boots.
 * Song Style Shift: "Daffodil Lament" turns from a mournful dirge about a woman trapped in a bad relationship to a joyful, optimistic tune with a ringing guitar line after she leaves him. Then there's another weird, mournful dirge (this one wordless) at the end, possibly indicating future uncertainty.
 * Spoken Word in Music: "Yeat's Grave" quotes from a poem by the man himself.
 * The Troubles: "Zombie"
 * Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma: You could be correct, and call it "Yeats's Grave". Or you could adopt the wrong but very common convention that reflects how people usually pronounce possessives (and how you're singing it), and call it "Yeats' Grave". But calling it "Yeat's Grave" is definitely wrong.
 * Wham! Line: "Forever Yellow Skies"


 * Woodstock: Played there in 1994.