The Cranberries

The Cranberries

The Cranberries are an Irish alternative rock band from Limerick, Ireland, active from 1989 to 2019. The group consists of vocalist and guitarist Dolores O’Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler, and founding member Niall Quinn, who is replaced by O’Riordan in 1990. The band begins as The Cranberry Saw Us before shortening its name after O’Riordan joins.

Style and early years

The Cranberries are mainly classed as an alternative rock group, but their music also draws on acoustic rock, celtic rock, chamber pop, dream pop and ethereal wave, as well as indie rock, jangle pop, folk rock, post-punk and pop rock. They form in 1989 and sign with Island Records in 1991.

Albums and songs

The band’s debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, appears in 1993 and becomes a commercial success. No Need to Argue follows in 1994 and brings international recognition, including the single Zombie, one of the band’s best-known songs and a protest anthem. Later albums include To the Faithful Departed in 1996, Bury the Hatchet in 1999, and Wake Up and Smell the Coffee in 2001, released after the band signs with MCA Records in 2000.

After a six-year hiatus beginning in 2003, the group reunites in 2009 for touring in North America, Latin America and Europe. Roses appears in 2012, followed by Something Else, an acoustic and orchestral reinterpretation of earlier material, in 2017. The final studio album, In the End, is completed after O’Riordan’s death in 2018 and released in 2019.

Recognition

The Cranberries are among the best-selling alternative rock acts of the 1990s, with global album sales approaching 50 million by 2019. They receive an Ivor Novello Award, a Juno Award, an MTV Europe Music Award and a World Music Award, and they are nominated for Brit and Grammy Awards. The video for Zombie becomes the first by an Irish band to pass one billion views on YouTube.