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94-531: The first single, "Toast to the Ghost", was released on November 2, 2017. They are also known for " Zombie ", a cover of the 1994 song originally performed by The Cranberries , which was released on January 18, 2018 as the second single. The third single, "Hear Me Now", was released on April 20, 2018. The fourth and final single, " Remember When " was released on June 21, 2018. Music videos have also been released for "Learn to Live" and "No Masters". On April 17, 2018,

188-410: A band hit on a moment and absolutely capitalised like The Cranberries did with 'Zombie'. ... Thank you for giving us alternative rock's true masterpiece". —Author Joe Hughes, in 2018. Soon after "Zombie" was completed, the band brought it onto their set list, with Lawler noting that the song was played live for a whole year before being recorded, and audiences responded with enthusiasm. The song

282-405: A cover of "Zombie" in 2017 while they were working on their debut album Disobey . The band's singer Tommy Vext slightly altered the lyrics, inserting a reference to drones and replacing "since 1916" with "in 2018" to show that times haven't changed. Upon recording, the band were unsure regarding adding it to the album, with Vext declaring "The song is a masterpiece and a massive hit. Some art

376-715: A decade when alt-culture steadily de-wussified itself." Garage rock from the likes of the White Stripes and the Strokes also became hits in the early 2000s as a counter to the over-aggression of rap rock. In the mid-2000s, the Alternative charts were ruled at the top by its most dominant members. From 2003 to 2008, the No. 1 song was by either Foo Fighters , Green Day, Incubus , Linkin Park or Red Hot Chili Peppers 49% of

470-611: A false pretext, with a cover story about making a documentary about the peace-keeping efforts in Ireland. Bayer stated that a shot in the video where an SA80 rifle is pointed directly at the camera is a suspicious British soldier asking him to leave, and that the IRA were keeping a close look at the shoot, given "the British Army come in with fake film crews, getting people on camera.” O'Riordan remembered Bayer telling her "how tense it

564-415: A great video and seeing the impact that it had – and still does – on people". On 20 April 2020, the music video for "Zombie" remastered in 4K resolution was officially released for YouTube with previously unseen footage from the original video shoot. A version of "Zombie" was already played one year before the release of No Need to Argue , on the band's first European tour with Hothouse Flowers , after

658-507: A gun pulled on me by a soldier. I was in places that I really shouldn't have been, but I was trying to immerse myself in what the Irish identity was about. The blood and the soul, the history and the pain of what that song was really about." — Samuel Bayer , cinematographer and director, in December 2017 speaking of the filming of the music video for "Zombie". "Zombie" was released with

752-415: A guttural vowel sound". O'Riordan's voice is just in a league all its own. She makes no effort to hide her accent. In fact, it adds a richness and character to her voice. O'Riordan lays it all out on the table. Beautifully. Uncompromising and unrelenting. O'Riordan sinks her hooks into you and holds you hostage with her breathtaking vocal onslaught. Tedium' s editor Ernie Smith said, "O'Riordan wrote it in

846-460: A hospital as a result of head injuries. O'Riordan decided to write a song that reflected upon the event and the children's deaths after visiting the town: There were a lot of bombs going off in London and I remember this one time a child was killed when a bomb was put in a rubbish bin – that's why there's that line in the song, 'A child is slowly taken'. [ ... ] We were on a tour bus and I was near

940-451: A jagged extreme to embody the pain", with a "desperate, yodeling vocal that conjures some ancient emotion". Far Out Magazine commented that her vocal performance was "guttural, pleading, captivating and utterly unique, O'Riordan begs for humanity the only way she knew how". Saraiya wrote that her voice "often seemed bigger than her petite frame", and also commented that the chorus "practically grunted out of her otherwise bell-like voice with

1034-484: A large presence of British, Irish and Australian artists, as only 24 of the chart's first 82 number-one hits were by American acts. Bands including Depeche Mode , Pixies , the Cure , New Order and R.E.M. were amongst the most popular acts on Alternative radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, with the release of " Smells Like Teen Spirit " by Nirvana (which reached No. 1 on November 23, 1991), grunge became

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1128-417: A massive void on the contemporary side of heavy music in recent times. Bad Wolves is poised to move in for the kill." Nicholas Senior of New Noise Magazine said that despite the album's lengthy runtime, he lauded the band for crafting melodic groove metal tracks that don't dilute their sound to be accessible for mainstream rock radio, concluding that " Disobey , despite some startlingly political lyrics, have

1222-427: A mere expression of her musical taste, as she would say later "we got it out of our system... all that anger out of our system". Discussing the musical approach for the song and the requirement of a sound significantly louder, Hogan explained in a 2012 interview with Amsterdam 's FaceCulture that "the heavier sound was the right thing for the song. If it was soft, it wouldn't have had that impact. It would stand out in

1316-488: A moment of anger and passion", and called the song "one of the defining songs of the alternative rock era". In a different perspective, Rebecca Black of Belfast Telegraph described "Zombie" as an "outraged response to the Warrington bombs", while music reporter Mark Savage wrote that "her pain was real", describing it as "a visceral response to the death of two children". In a contemporary review, Hot Press hailed

1410-655: A music video in October 1994. The video was directed by Samuel Bayer , through company HSI Productions. The music video was filmed in Belfast , Northern Ireland, in the heart of the Troubles with real footage, and in Dublin. Bayer insisted on going to Belfast for authenticity regarding illustrating "something this visceral and intense". To record video footage of murals, children and British Army soldiers on patrol, he had

1504-559: A new form of alternative rock to chart. However, grunge did not have a dominating presence on the chart in its heyday; over time, grunge would grow into popularity as a representation of alternative rock in the mainstream. Iconic grunge songs fared decently on the Alternative Songs chart but better on the Mainstream Rock Songs. For example, " Black " by Pearl Jam peaked only at No. 20 on the former but No. 3 on

1598-457: A nomination for Best Alternative Video at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards. Writer Josh Jones commented that the video "offers a classic collection of 90s stylistic quirks, from Derek Jarman –inspired setpieces to the use of black and white and earnest political messaging". He added, "[f]or us old folks, it's an almost pure hit of nostalgia, and for the young, a nearly perfect specimen of the decade's rock aesthetics". On 23 October 2019, "Zombie"

1692-472: A plethora of one-hit wonders. At the turn of the century, alternative radio embraced nu-metal / rap rock with bands including Korn , Limp Bizkit and most famously, Linkin Park . Chris Molanphy of Pitchfork stated that "possibly the most loathed period for music of the last half-century, the rap-rock years—when looked through the prism of the Modern Rock chart's evolution—are a logical endpoint to

1786-510: A radical departure from the sound based largely on jangly guitar and strings that the band showcased on debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? . Hogan stated that "Zombie" made the band realize "that you can actually be heavy and still have melody", marking a changing point in their composition style and live performances. Knowing of the song's potential, the Cranberries wanted "Zombie" to be lead single in advance of

1880-401: A real toughness". New York arts editor Graham Fuller partially echoed this view, saying "she was right, but that naivety serves a song that's an unfiltered reaction to a tragedy. It goes with Zombie's primal fury; slicker lyrics would have diluted the song's rawness". Music critic Neil McCormick wrote that it was the Cranberries' "fiercest rock song... An accusatory lament, it grapples with

1974-493: A television special shown on RTÉ One . Following the death of O'Riordan in 2018, the hurling team from her home county of Limerick adopted "Zombie" as their anthem during their successful run to the All-Ireland Championship . It soon became a rugby anthem as well; Limerick-based Munster initially played it in tribute to O'Riordan, and crowd reaction led to it becoming a post-match staple. The song

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2068-549: Is based solely on radio airplay ranked by a calculation of the total number of spins each song receives per week. As of 2012, approximately 80 alternative radio stations across the United States are electronically monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems . The chart had 30 positions when it was introduced in September 1988 and expanded to 40 positions on September 10, 1994. The chart

2162-692: Is not an endorsement of loyalist violence, writing "Most of us opposed both". "Zombie" topped the charts in many countries. On 29 October 1994, the song went to No. 1 on the US Billboard Alternative Airplay chart, spending twenty-three weeks on the chart. In 1994, "Zombie" was "the most played song ever on alternative radio in the history of America", as mentioned in the Los Angeles Times and in Kenneth L. Campbell's book, Ireland's History – Prehistory to

2256-485: Is sacred—you become afraid to do a rendition of it". On 21 December 2017, Vext met Dan Waite—the Internal managing director of Bad Wolves' record label Eleven Seven Label Group -Europe and a long-time close friend of O'Riordan—backstage at London's Wembley Arena at a heavy metal concert. Then he asked Waite to send her the cover for consideration as well as her approval for its release. Vext commented that "I just got

2350-564: The 1994 Triple J Hottest 100 chart, and it won the Best Song Award at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards . The music video was directed by Samuel Bayer , and featured O'Riordan singing while painted gold, and footage of war-torn Belfast. In April 2020, it became the first song by an Irish group to surpass one billion views on YouTube . The Cranberries noted that "Zombie" drew strong responses from audiences. After O'Riordan's death in 2018, it became an Irish stadium anthem , first for

2444-574: The Official German Charts . On 25 December 1994, the single debuted at No. 27 on the Ö3 Austria Top 40 , and climbed to No. 2, where it stayed for eight weeks. "Zombie" debuted on the French SNEP Top 100 at No. 4 on 25 February 1995. The following week, the single moved to No. 1; it spent nine consecutive weeks at the top and a total of forty-two weeks on the singles chart. The song reached No. 14 on

2538-469: The UK Singles Chart . Island Records declined the prospect of releasing "Zombie" as a single to US stores, stating they didn't want to run counter to the band's original ethos . Music critic Jon Bream of Star Tribune elaborated succinctly the label's analysis: "For the band, it's a question of credibility". Bream further noted that Island Records "simply didn't want the industry to typecast

2632-462: The Zombie is not the dead children, but "the dead children that populate your mind; the dead bodies you've seen in the images that you can't forget". O'Riordan's vocals were noted as reminiscent of the sean-nós singing style, for the rapid and repeated changes in pitch , most notably yodeling when she does the sharp break from chest register to head register in the second syllable of

2726-508: The grunge explosion in the early 1990s), alternative and mainstream rock radio stations began playing many of the same songs. By the late 2000s, the genres became more fully differentiated with only limited crossover. The Alternative Airplay chart features more alternative rock , indie pop , and pop punk artists while the Mainstream Rock chart leans towards more guitar-tinged blues rock , hard rock , and heavy metal . The chart

2820-416: The "both majestic and also very real lyrics". "Many people have become immune to the pain and suffering that so many people experienced during that armed campaign", he said. "To read the words written by an Irish band in such a compelling way was very, very powerful." Paul Brannigan of Louder writes, "Not everyone, however, was impressed by [O'Riordan's] credentials for the role of commentator on one of

2914-478: The Alternative chart. Dominant genres included pop punk and softer alternative rock, as grunge acts such as Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots did not reach No. 1, while Britpop , a form of alternative rock from the UK, was represented only by Oasis . By the late 1990s, the Alternative Songs chart was ruled by relatively lighter alternative rock bands such as Third Eye Blind , Matchbox Twenty and Sugar Ray and

Disobey - Misplaced Pages Continue

3008-551: The BBC and the RTÉ opted to broadcast an edited version focusing on footage of the band in a live performance, a version that the Cranberries essentially disowned. Despite their efforts to maintain the original video "out of view from the public", some of the initial footage prevailed, with scenes of children holding guns. "Zombie" received heavy rotation on MTV Europe and was A-listed on Germany's VIVA in December 1994. The video gained

3102-551: The Cranberries . It was written by the lead singer, Dolores O'Riordan , about the young victims of a bombing in Warrington , England, during the Troubles in Northern Ireland . The song was released on 19 September 1994 by Island Records as the lead single from the Cranberries' second studio album, No Need to Argue (1994). Critics have described "Zombie" as "a masterpiece of alternative rock", with grunge -style distorted guitar and shouted vocals uncharacteristic of

3196-569: The Cranberries as a Top 40 act". After releasing the song, later in the year, the Cranberries affirmed their alternative identity , saying that they "didn't want to be considered just a pop band". Drummer Fergal Lawler said, "[t]hen you can go to the other extreme of being so alternative that no one buys your records. Luckily, we're kind of in the middle. We're a mix of pop, rock and alternative, I suppose." After Cranberries' lead singer O'Riordan died in January 2018, "Zombie" charted at number 13 on

3290-520: The Cranberries played the song on their appearance on the US show Saturday Night Live , in a slow tempo performance that British author Dave Thompson called "one of the most powerful performances that the show has ever seen". The episode came a week after record producer Denny Cordell , an early mentor to the Cranberries, had died. Writer Ed Power wrote that the performance "has the rawness of early grief", while Rolling Stone would later declare it "one of

3384-539: The People , Imagine Dragons , Fun , and Gotye . The chart also began to diverge from the Mainstream Rock chart, as only 10 of 40 songs were shared between the two in November 2012, compared to 23 of 40 in November 2002. For the chart's 25th anniversary in 2013, Billboard published a list of the 100 biggest hits in the history of the Alternative chart. " Uprising " by Muse was listed at No. 1, having spent 17 weeks on

3478-688: The Present . Junkee journalist Jules LeFevre recalled that Australian audiences were "particularly gripped by the song", with Triple J listeners voting for "Zombie" as No. 1 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1994 chart, establishing for the first time ever that a female vocalist won the Triple J Hottest 100 . On 18 December 1994, the song reached No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart , where it remained for seven consecutive weeks. The single peaked at No. 1 and spent twenty eight weeks on

3572-518: The Troubles"; of these comments, she "knew that would be the angle of the song, because it was controversial". Assessing the cultural impact of their song, Hogan responded: "Because of this song, people thought we were a political band. ... Far from it. Dolores always wrote from the heart". O'Riordan would later state, "If I think something, I have to say it. And I really don't care what anybody thinks, you know?". NPR ' s Andrew Limbong, speaking after O'Riordan's death in 2018, said "even though it

3666-421: The Troubles. Irish political leaders supported the use of the song as a rugby anthem. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described it as "a song that we can all sing comfortably. It’s an anti-terrorism song. It’s not a nationalist or unionist song." SDLP leader Colum Eastwood wrote that "'Zombie' is an anti-war song written after the IRA killed 2 children in Warrington", adding that criticism of nationalist violence

3760-542: The UK Singles Downloads Chart. In 2023, the song saw a sales surge in the UK and Ireland during the 2023 Rugby World Cup ; the song was played on speakers after every time the Irish team scored. "Zombie" peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart during this time. "I remember going to Belfast, when we were filming and I went out with a camera when it was still a city under siege and had

3854-558: The UK on the back of their US success, the Cranberries continue to use their pop acumen to fashion wonderful, wistful pop nuggets. Zombie is a little heavier and less user-friendly than Linger and Dreams, but no less sublime for it." In 2018, Billboard and Stereogum ranked the song number three and number two, respectively, on their lists of the top ten Cranberries songs. On 16 January 2018, following O'Riordan's death, Colin Parry , father of IRA victim Tim Parry, thanked O'Riordan for

Disobey - Misplaced Pages Continue

3948-407: The UK, entering at numbers 24, 39 and 51 for one week. The acoustic version of "Truth or Dare" is available only to members of the band's Patreon page. Adapted credits from the liner notes of Disobey . Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. Zombie (The Cranberries song)#Bad Wolves cover " Zombie " is a protest song by Irish alternative rock band

4042-538: The United States. To avoid confusion, Alternative Songs was renamed Alternative Airplay. The first alternative chart, called Modern Rock Tracks, appeared in the September 10, 1988, edition of Billboard magazine. The first number-one song of the chart was Siouxsie and the Banshees ' " Peek-a-Boo ", which topped the charts for two weeks. In the chart's early years, the chart was closely associated with college rock , new wave , post-punk and electronic genres with

4136-414: The album No Need to Argue . Former manager Allen Kovac stated that Island Records urged them not to release the "politically urgent" song as a single, and that O'Riordan had ripped up a $ 1-million cheque the label offered her to work on another song. "Dolores was a very small, fragile person, but very opinionated," said Kovac. "Her belief was that she was an international artist and she wanted to break

4230-542: The all-time No. 1 song. Rise Against 's " Savior " again ranked at No. 2, while Portugal. The Man 's " Feel It Still " entered at No. 3, the highest debut on the 30th anniversary songs list, following its record 20-week reign in 2017. Six bands charted at least once in the first four decades of the chart's existence – Nine Inch Nails , Depeche Mode , Jane's Addiction , Red Hot Chili Peppers , U2 and Beastie Boys . As of 2023, only Depeche Mode, Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2 have extended that streak to five decades. Although

4324-684: The band announced a co-headlining U.S. tour with From Ashes to New in June, beginning at The Annex in Madison, Wisconsin and finishing in Oklahoma City 's Diamond Ballroom . On August 14, they were announced on select October shows as a supporting act on Three Days Grace 's fall European tour supporting their sixth album Outsider , starting at Portsmouth 's Pyramids Centre and concluding in Warsaw 's Progresja. On October 2, lead singer Tommy Vext

4418-680: The band playing in Belfast alongside clips of local children playing war games, destroyed buildings, murals with war-related paintings, and of British soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on patrol in Northern Ireland. The music video for "Zombie" was banned by the BBC because of its "violent images". It was also banned by the RTÉ , Ireland's national broadcaster. Instead, both

4512-625: The band's other work. While Island feared releasing a politically charged song as a single, "Zombie" reached No. 1 on the charts of Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, and Iceland. The song did not chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, but it reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. Listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J voted it No. 1 on

4606-440: The band's output "instead of coming out with another ' Linger ' or ' Dreams '". Lawler recalled arguing to the record label that during the year the band had played "Zombie" in concert, "for a new song that the audience hadn't heard before, they really reacted to it", which was "a sign that it's a catchy song. People like it. It has to work.” Over time, "[w]e pushed and pushed and eventually they decided to release it", he said. By

4700-468: The bombings happened on 30 March 1993, as two IRA improvised explosive devices hidden in litter bins were detonated in a shopping street in Warrington , England. Two people; Johnathan Ball, aged 3, and Tim Parry, aged 12, were killed in the attack. 56 people were injured. Ball died at the scene of the bombing as a result of his shrapnel-inflicted injuries, and five days later, Parry lost his life in

4794-577: The chart served as a companion to the Mainstream Rock chart (then called Album Rock Tracks), and its creation was prompted by the explosion of alternative music on American radio in the late 1980s. During the first several years of the chart, it regularly featured music that did not receive commercial radio airplay anywhere but on a few modern rock and college rock radio stations. This included many electronic and post-punk artists. Gradually, as alternative rock became more mainstream (spearheaded by

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4888-584: The city, killing 14 unarmed civilians in a massacre which came to be known as Bloody Sunday . Equally, her family had the good fortune to be untouched by any of the atrocities claimed by the Provisional IRA (or any other paramilitary faction) during her lifetime. So removed, in fact, was O’Riordan from events in Northern Ireland that, in her lyrics to Zombie, she references "tanks" on the streets, perhaps confusing Belfast with Beijing." Iestyn George from NME felt "the timing of this release, as much as

4982-428: The courage to ask him to send her the song to see if she would approve of it. It's always a jarring thing to take on someone's piece of work: especially as The Cranberries were a massive band, and 'Zombie' was probably their biggest song". On Christmas Eve 2017, Waite sent a text message to Vext that said O'Riordan had offered to "sing on it". Vext described the situation as "one of my childhood dreams come true", while

5076-476: The end of "Zombie", O'Riordan dedicated the song to others, like the victims of ethnic cleansing, declaring that "this song is our cry against man's inhumanity to man, inhumanity to child", adding, "and war, babies dying, and Belfast, and Bosnia, and Rwanda". The Cranberries kept "Zombie" in their concert setlists throughout their career. On 11 November 1994, the Cranberries featured as the musical guest on US talk show Late Show with David Letterman , performing

5170-560: The endless recriminations of the Irish Troubles, with a slow rolling bass line and thumping mid-tempo beat, finding tension between melodic delicacy and introspection in the verses with a keening, wailing chorus charged with distorted grungy guitars". Music & Media stated that it "combines moody soundscapes with some grunge-y guitar attacks that together make an arresting number". Charles Aaron from Spin commented, "I like "Zombie" because its crunching, troubled guitar fuzz

5264-575: The greatest SNL turns". The band released a stripped-down version of "Zombie", recorded for Something Else , an unplugged album that features acoustic renditions of songs from their catalog, accompanied by the Limerick-based Irish Chamber Orchestra . The song appeared on the set list of their 2017 tour, featuring the Irish Chamber Orchestra's string quartet . In March 2003, on the eve of

5358-603: The hooks and riffs that should appeal to rock and metal fans aplenty." Disobey debuted and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard 200 the week of May 26, 2018, before dropping sixty-eight spots to number 91 the week of June 2 and leaving the next week. The album debuted at number 9 in Australia before dropping to number 35 the next week and leaving the chart completely. It did not fare as well in Switzerland, Austria and

5452-421: The internal psychic and external human tragedies of the Troubles [...] "Zombie" signals a growth in confidence". The Rough Guide to Rock identified the album No Need to Argue as "more of the same" as the Cranberries' debut album, except for the song "Zombie", which had an "angry grunge" sound and "aggressive" lyrics. Music critic Evelyn McDonnell allowed that O'Riordan had a "certain naivety to her and also

5546-473: The latter. This was because the college rock and new wave of the 1980s remained the dominant styles of the format, while grunge became an alternative rock style that was popular on the Mainstream Rock format. In the mid-1990s, alternative rock songs began to crossover to Pop radio, with acts such as Green Day , the Offspring and Alanis Morissette being played on Pop stations after establishing hits on

5640-574: The lead single one month after No Need to Argue was released. Junkee music editor Jules LeFevre, wrote that the footage captured "O'Riordan's extraordinary voice" and considered the live performance as "straight-up sublime". On 14 February 1995, the band recorded a nine-song set including "Zombie", for MTV Unplugged , accompanied by Electra Strings , at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. On 25 February 1995,

5734-510: The live set because of that". Particularly offended that terrorists claimed to have carried out these acts in the name of Ireland, O'Riordan asserted: "The IRA are not me. I'm not the IRA. The Cranberries are not the IRA. My family are not. When it says in the song, ' It's not me, it's not my family ,' that's what I'm saying. It's not Ireland, it's some idiots living in the past". At the time, O'Riordan received criticism for "Zombie" ' s "hard-hitting lyrics"; she nevertheless pointed out that

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5828-400: The location where it happened, so it really struck me hard – I was quite young, but I remember being devastated about the innocent children being pulled into that kind of thing. So I suppose that's why I was saying, 'It's not me' – that even though I'm Irish it wasn't me, I didn't do it. Because being Irish, it was quite hard, especially in the UK when there was so much tension. O'Riordan stated

5922-432: The lyrics because she was singing through her guitar", and that the singer was adamant that she wanted more distortion pedals on the guitars and asked for more strength than usual in drumming. "Years from now, when alternative rock is just a distant memory from a time long forgotten, certain songs will remain. 'Zombie' will forever live on as a true classic moment from a truly classic era of music. Not before or since has

6016-504: The most complex conflicts of the modern era." AllMusic said the song "trivialised" the events of the Troubles, and that the "heavy rock trudge" did not play to the band's strengths. Upon the song's release, David Stubbs from Melody Maker said, "'Zombie' doesn't make a born-again fan of me, with its lethargic, samey, grungy riff lurching predictably towards anthem status. But I like Dolores O' Riordan's vocal, like Dana on heroin, all tattered, snarling and trembling at her wits' end." At

6110-415: The national chart for 52 weeks. Rise Against 's " Savior " later broke the record by spending 65 weeks, followed around the same time by " 1901 " from Phoenix at 57. In 2009, Billboard renamed the chart to "Alternative Songs". In the 2010s, the Alternative charts were led by softer indie pop and folk , and crossed over new acts to pop radio for the first time since the late 1990s, such as Foster

6204-482: The others musicians "almost didn't believe it". Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine Billboard since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played songs on alternative and modern rock radio stations. Introduced as Modern Rock Tracks,

6298-678: The outbreak of the Iraq War , the British Government and the Independent Television Commission issued a statement saying ITC's Programme Code would temporarily remove from broadcast songs and music videos featuring "sensitive material", including "Zombie". Numerous media groups complied with the decision to avoid "offending public feeling", along with MTV Europe. Since it violated the ITC guidelines, "Zombie"

6392-552: The pain that’s there and we close our eyes to". She suggested herself painted gold, and Bayer added children painted silver and a cross that "symbolized Christ suffering and dying, and all the pain that was caused to him". This was filmed on a sound stage in Los Angeles. In the video, O'Riordan is covered in gold makeup and appears in front of a giant cross with a group of boys characterized as cherubs , covered in silver makeup holding bows and arrows. The video also includes

6486-591: The release of Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? . One such performance, recorded at the Astoria 2 in London in January 1994, seven months before "Zombie" was released as a single, would later be issued on the 2019 live DVD The Cranberries Live . On 13 August 1994, two months prior to the release of No Need to Argue , the Cranberries performed at the Woodstock '94 music festival in New York. Towards

6580-401: The rest of the world, and 'Zombie' was part of that evolution. She felt the need to expand beyond 'I love you, you love me' and write about what was happening in Ireland at the time", he said. Island Records and management also claimed that the song was "too controversial, you might not get played on the radio". Hogan added that the label were not expecting a lead single sounding different from

6674-428: The same time, Northern Irish band Schtum told Melody Maker , "She's from Limerick, what the fuck would she know? You're talking about the last 25 years of a much bigger and wider problem that has gone on for hundreds of years". Brannigan writes: "Schtum hailed from Derry, a city 224 miles away from Limerick by road, but one which may as well have been on a different planet to the rural village where Dolores O’Riordan

6768-421: The sentimental itself, seems more than a little askew". Female pop-punk music duo Shampoo reviewed the song for Smash Hits , giving it two out of five. On 23 November 1995, the Cranberries won the Best Song Award for "Zombie" at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards . In November 2022, the song was voted as the greatest Irish hit of all time by RTÉ 2fm listeners in compiling the ultimate Irish playlist for

6862-432: The song and its arrangements, saying that it was stylistically different from the band's previous works: " Staccato rhythms and subtle jerks and pauses in the music and the singing make this more than just business-as-usual for the Cranberries. A slow, brooding Siouxsie -like buzzing guitar melody and dirge-like bass and drums counterpoint the elliptical and impassioned vocals of Dolores O'Riordan as she works her way through

6956-401: The song came to her "subconsciously" midway through the Cranberries' English tour in 1993, writing the core chords on her acoustic guitar. Once O'Riordan was back in her hometown of Limerick and returned to her apartment after a night out, she played those chords and started building a song around them, quickly "coming up with the chorus, which was catchy and anthemic", and soon moving onto

7050-410: The song was not a concerted effort to ride the grunge movement, but she stated that "this wasn't grunge, but the timing was good", adding, that "[w]e were just a different type of a band... and we had a lot of our own ideas". Hogan noted in a Rolling Stone interview that the Cranberries were beforehand accepted by "the same kind of [grunge] audience". O'Riordan was responsible for the heavier sound,

7144-477: The song was written from a humanitarian point of view. O’Riordan's mother Eileen has stated, "It wasn’t written as a political song but as an anti-violence, an anti-war song." O'Riordan never revealed the origin of the "zombie" reference in the lyrics, a concept which admits a personal interpretation of its meaning. However, there was a divergence of opinion among writers on the subject. Writing for The Telegraph , Ed Power formulated his own hypothesis, saying that

7238-459: The teams from the Cranberries' hometown of Limerick , and later for the Ireland national rugby union team starting in the 2023 Rugby World Cup . The band recorded acoustic, stripped-down versions on MTV Unplugged and the 2017 album Something Else . "Zombie" has been covered by numerous artists; O'Riordan had planned to contribute vocals to a version by the American band Bad Wolves , which

7332-427: The time the single for "Zombie" was released on 19 September 1994, as well as its parent album No Need to Argue the following month, with an accompanying music video for the song in heavy rotation on MTV , the Cranberries were catapulted to international stardom. Shortly after the song and video came out, ideological beliefs came rushing to the forefront of local newspapers, criticizing O'Riordan for "writing about

7426-411: The time – 152 out of 313 weeks. During this time, 1990s alternative groups such as Nine Inch Nails and Weezer enjoyed their biggest success, while emo ( Jimmy Eat World ), indie rock ( Modest Mouse ) and pop punk ( Fall Out Boy ) also were popular. In 2007, " The Kill " by Thirty Seconds to Mars set a record for the longest-running hit in the history of the US alternative chart when it remained on

7520-453: The top of the chart and 53 weeks in total. "Savior" by Rise Against was listed at No. 2, peaking at #3 but staying on the chart for a record-breaking 65 weeks. On October 11, 2018, Billboard released its Greatest of All Time Alternative Songs 30th-anniversary recap. Foo Fighters continued its reign as the chart's No. 1 act over the list's first 30 years, after leading the 25th-anniversary recap. Muse 's " Uprising " retained its standing as

7614-740: The verses. O'Riordan took the song idea, originally titled "In Your Head", into the Cranberries' small rehearsal shed in Mungret . Given she was playing an acoustic guitar, the rest of the band initially followed along in, as guitarist Noel Hogan put it, "that kind of sweet indie pop thing" that the band featured in their other songs, before O'Riordan decided that it was not what she wanted, picked up an electric guitar and stated that "it needs to be heavy because it's angry". Drummer Fergal Lawler recalled that usually in that small room, "you're trying to keep it low because you don't want to deafen anybody", but O'Riordan played it loud and "we couldn't really hear

7708-716: The word Zom-bie , and doing an amplified method forming her vowels and consonants . This creates a vocal trademark when combined with the Gaelic keening , the lilting vocables, and sung in her thick Irish accent . Author Bart Plantenga wrote in his book Yodel in Hi-Fi: From Kitsch Folk to Contemporary Electronica that "[h]er waify, quavering, breaking voice has a natural 'Celtic yodel' in it. It can also be heard on 'Zombie ' " [and other songs] used "for fantastic emotional effect". Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times described O'Riordan "pushing her voice to

7802-403: The word Zombie was "a commentary on how blindly cleaving to centuries old prejudices can reduce [one's] capacity for independent thought". Culture Trip writer Graham Fuller commented that the metaphor perhaps "reanimates the children whose deaths inspired O'Riordan to write it". Sonia Saraiya, music and TV critic from Miami Herald and Chicago Tribune , had a different view, saying that

7896-399: Was a political song, it wasn't necessarily politics she was interested in writing about". O'Riordan said, "I just cannot accept children being slaughtered at the hands of political violence", and hoped that "it might make people reflect a bit on our society and what we've become." "Zombie" has been characterised by commentators as alternative rock and grunge. O'Riordan later said that

7990-406: Was and how he was blown away by the whole thing. He got footage of the kids jumping from one building to another, and he got a lot of footage of the army. He was a very good director". O'Riordan also wanted to add images with "an abstract message", saying it would represent "the beauty that we see in the world or that we care to open our eyes to" while the black and white footage of Belfast "symbolize

8084-655: Was hospitalized during a show in Nottingham after suffering from "a severe viral bronchial infection " that he further explained on his Instagram page. Vext reached out to fellow Eleven Seven label mates As Lions and Bang Bang Romeo to take his band's place on the tour while he recovered. Jay H. Gorania of Blabbermouth.net praised the band's musicianship for creating various sounds that aren't retreads of their former respective acts, giving note of their use of simplistic musical conventions to create an approachable yet hard-hitting record, concluding that, "[T]here has been

8178-741: Was placed on a blacklist of songs , targeting its official music video. The censorship was lifted once the war had ended. In August 2006, CBS censored a performance of "Zombie" by Rock Star: Supernova contestant Dilana , as a result of the lyrics and deleted all mentions of tanks, bombs and guns. Although CBS declined to comment, an employee claimed that it was "worried that the song might be seen as an anti-Iraq War statement". All tracks are written by Dolores O'Riordan except where indicated Sales figures based on certification alone. Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. The American heavy metal band Bad Wolves recorded

8272-661: Was raised. When the singer protested "It's not me, it's not my family" , explicitly distancing herself from the violence in Northern Ireland, and its overspill into England and elsewhere, she spoke the truth: no-one from her family was present at the Battle of the Bogside in Derry from August 12-14, 1969, for instance, or on January 30, 1972, when soldiers from the Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights campaigners in

8366-410: Was ranked No. 5 on a "definitive list of the world's most-viewed rock music videos", released by Vevo . On 18 April 2020, the official music video had succeeded in reaching over 1 billion views on YouTube and became the first song by an Irish artist, and sixth song from the 20th century to reach the milestone. Bassist Mike Hogan said of the achievement that "I can still remember making such

8460-400: Was re-popularised in 2023 after it was played after Ireland games at the 2023 Rugby World Cup . It was picked up by fans of the Irish team, with videos of fans singing the song in chorus accumulating hundreds of thousands of views on social media. This offended Irish nationalists, who identified it as an "anti-IRA" anthem, and said that that the lyrics failed to consider their experience during

8554-636: Was recorded and mixed at The Manor Studio in Oxford and at Townhouse Studios in London in 1994 with producer Stephen Street . They spent a long time working on getting the guitar settings right to give a suitably expansive sound, with O'Riordan noting "the sound came organically, because we were using our live instruments, we were plugging in a lot, and we started to mess around with feedback and distortion". Hogan contributed rhythm guitar to provide textures under O'Riordan's riffs . The song represented

8648-513: Was released days after her death. The Troubles were a conflict in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s to 1998. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), an Irish republican paramilitary organisation, waged an armed campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unite the region with the Republic of Ireland . Republican and Unionist paramilitaries killed more than 3,500 people, many from thousands of bomb attacks . One of

8742-569: Was renamed to Alternative Songs beginning with the June 20, 2009, issue after Billboard fully absorbed Radio & Records , whose similar chart was called "Alternative" and to reflect the music industry's more common use of the term. In June 2020, Billboard introduced the separate Hot Alternative Songs chart, which uses similar methodology as the Billboard Hot 100 by measuring the popularity of songs classified as alternative across all radio formats, streaming services, and sales within

8836-482: Was the loudest thing on MTV during the last days of '94. Just ask Bono, my Irish Setter. He's still wailing." Josh Jones of Open Culture, described the " Gen X heyday" ' s song, as "O'Riordan's stadium-size hit ... and its beautifully pained laments and pointedly unsubtle yelps and wails—a stunning expression of mourning that reverberates still some 25 years later". Martin Aston of Music Week wrote: "Having broken

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