It’s 1994, in Germany. Four rock stars come out onto the stage. The crowd goes wild! The lead singer, Dolores O’Riodan, brings the microphone closer to her, and she begins to sing their hit song, Linger.
The Cranberries are an iconic Irish rock band established in 1989 in Limerick. The band consists of four members: Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan, Fergal Lawler, and Dolores O’Riordan. One of their best-selling songs, Zombie, was a powerful protest song against the 1993 IRA bombing. The incident killed 2 children and injured dozens of others. It quickly became a very well-liked song, and it topped the charts in the U.S, Australia, France, and Belgium. Their first song, Dreams, is what helped this band rise to fame.
They were originally called Cranberry Saw Us, but the lead singer, Niall Quinn, left the band. The rest of the band members wanted to replace him with another singer, but who would be the right choice? They held auditions, and that’s when Dolores showed up. O’Riordan dazzled the men with her extraordinary voice. They decided to change their name to ‘The Cranberries’ after their demo tape had made an autocorrected mistake. The band saw the humor and decided to keep their band name as ‘The Cranberries’ so it could stay simpler.
This rock band has officially released 268 songs and 8 studio albums. At one point, this band was the wealthiest in all of Ireland! Their first song, “Dreams,” helped them become the international Irish rock band they are today. Alexandr Hadji states, “When I went to Parties during college, The Cranberries were always playing, and I enjoyed listening to them while I was doing my work.”
After about 30 years, Dolores O’Riordan had unfortunately passed away from alcohol intoxication in January 2018. Due to this tragedy, the rest of the band had decided to release one final song, “In The End”, to honor Dolores before they disbanded their group.
This striking band has been admired by thousands of people worldwide. The Cranberries will always be considered one of the best rock bands in history, with numerous awards for their long-lasting, impactful music.