The Cranberries specialised in shimmering guitar sounds and poetic lyrics. But the band echoed the Irish Troubles with “Zombie” and delivered one of the eeriest-sounding and most surprising mega hits of the 1990s.
Just who was the zombie, and what was Delores O’Riordan singing about on the band’s most famous song? And, what do Bad Wolves have against good music anyway? Today, I’m looking at how the song came to be and what the lyrics to “Zombie” really mean.
The Cranberries’ Journey to Making “Zombie”
What kind of band would you say The Cranberries were if you made your judgment on “Zombie” alone? A grunge, punk or metal band making a slow, tortured song? Maybe! There was certainly a gigantic amount of sonic weight that the Irish quartet juggled on it.
However, lest we forget, by the release of their highly anticipated sophomore album, The Cranberries were dream pop’s shining hope. Critics adored the band for its warm, otherworldly, gentle rock.
Fans of The Smiths also loved them. In fact, bar James, The Cranberries was the band that best translated their love of Johnny Marr and Morrissey compositions.
Yet, the band’s music always had an undercurrent of anxiety and tension.
The Cranberries made their debut with “Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can’t We.” It’s an often splendid, jangly record. Guitarist Noel Hogan wrote simple, emotion-filled guitar songs. O’Riordan possessed an otherworldly timbre to her voice. The band could even depend on the power of successful singles. “Linger” has been a minor hit in both the U.S. and the U.K.
Fittingly, the splendid “Ode to My Family” is the first song you hear on the follow-up album. It was dream pop and indie rock delivered with a Celtic pop flavour. And here was a song that seemed to have made a connection with an ancient, secret tenderness that London and Manchester-based rival bands had lost.
Amidst this collection of 12 tender love songs, “Zombie” stood out. It was angry and loud. It pointed fingers rather than exchange embraces. Yes, It was striking, and the music world immediately paid notice to it.
The Meaning of the Lyrics to “Zombie”
Before it became one of the wealthiest countries in the world and a backer of tech industry interests, Ireland’s history was a rocky one. In fact, even by the 1990s, you were more likely to encounter people who knew it more because of The Troubles than due to John and William Butler Yeats.
The Troubles refer to the violent conflict between nationalists and loyalists in Northern Ireland. This, in turn, has its roots in the divide between Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. This, as well, is the result of centuries of fights, disagreements and general unpleasantness between inhabitants of Ireland and of England.
The Cranberries were proudly Irish. Their songs contained traces of Celtic folk. Their songs were earnest. And, quite frankly, this tune was written by a young Irish woman trying to make sense of the world.
Dolores O’Riordan was new to the art of songwriting. Most of the tunes on the debut were penned by bandmate Hogan. This is one way to explain the difference in sound and tone from other tunes by the band.
“Zombie” is essentially a grunge song. It arrived in 1994 just as the top Seattle groups, Nirvana or Pearl Jam, were disbanding or taking a step back. However, the sound aesthetic were still amply present in the charts.
The song’s loud-soft dynamics fit those of bands like Alice in Chains. So did the tone. It was, however, a departure from the band’s trademark sound. Thus, it was also a risk to release it as the album’s first single.
The Cranberries, Northern Ireland and The Troubles
The song may famously be about The Troubles. But what exactly do the lyrics mean, if anything at all? Here’s where we meet some controversy.
On the surface, this is a song about a seemingly never-ending conflict. It was directly inspired by the Irish Republican Army’s bombing in Warrington, England, in 1993. This attack claimed the lives of two children, Tim Parry and Jonathan Ball. Clearly, this disgusted O’Riordan.
Still, as an Irish woman, O’Riordan also wrote this from the perspective of someone who felt that Ireland’s freedom could never be fully achieved. “It’s the same old theme since 1916,” she sings.
O’Riordan may be a nationalist at heart. But in the second verse, she decries the mothers who have lost their children. She feels pity for the loyalists and wonders about the senselessness of the fighting. She sings: “When the violence causes silence/We must be mistaken.”
Controversy Caused by The Cranberries
The Troubles have always been a hot-button topic in the U.K. and Ireland. Still, songs like “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2 and poems by W.B. Yeats famously made them the focus.
O’Riordan always insisted that “Zombie” was a declaration for peace and against the senselessness of war. There were those, of course, who misunderstood or did not accept this meaning. It was thus a highly controversial song at the time of its release.
The BBC initially banned the music video and nearly did the same for the song being played on the radio. RTÉ did the same.
Nearly one decade later, on the eve of The Iraq War, the song was temporarily blacklisted by numerous media outlets. When will it happen again?
The Meaning of the “Zombie” Music Video
To its credit, the still highly successful MTV channel played the video on heavy rotation. It’s one of the defining promotional videos of the mid-1990s.
Why would other channels shy away from playing it? The video directed by Samuel Bayer contained footage shot in Belfast. The images of children playing in the street and British soldiers patrolling give it an air of eeriness. There are also shots of destroyed buildings and of the band playing the song amid the rubble.
O’Riordan suggested including the scenes of the children painted in silver and gold. The use of Christian symbolism and surreal imagery somehow made the film appear violent without actually revealing violent imagery per se.
The Legacy of “Zombie,” The Cranberries and Dolores O’Riordan
“Zombie” was one of the most successful singles of the 1990s. In fact, circa 1994/1995, few rock bands were more famous worldwide than The Cranberries.
The song won awards, like that for Best Song at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards. It’s routinely included in Best Of lists. In fact, I chose it as the 4th greatest alternative rock song of the 1990s.
The Cranberries often performed the song, usually eliciting a great response from the crowd. It was a highlight of their 1994 set at Woodstock, and played during the band’s quasi-legendary Unplugged set.
Tragically, O’Riordan, one of the truly great rock singers, passed away in 2018. The news shocked the world. The grief was especially intense in Ireland. “Zombie” has become a de facto anthem for Irish people.
The song remains popular. It’s been sung on talent shows like American Idol. It’s been covered horribly, but commercially successfully by Bad Wolves, a band mistakenly replacing emotional ambiguity with subtlety-free aggressiveness. And, the song generally remains universally beloved.
The first albums by The Cranberries are exceptional. “Zombie” is a powerfully sounding anomaly, and one of the most important alternative-rock songs of all time.
