5 MINUTE READS:
SHAMROCKS & CRANBERRIES
By Fred Luna
image: The Cranberries Their 26 Greatest Songs Ranked, This City Knows
Guinness, leprechauns, and three leaf clovers. Yup, it’s that time of the year already, Saint Patrick's Day!
The widely celebrated holiday in honor of one of Irelands patron saints, St. Patrick. It’s the one day of the year we can all pretend to be Irish and spend time with our good friends.
image: The Cranberries Their 26 Greatest Songs Ranked, This City Knows
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day and its Irish roots we’d like to dedicate this article to one of our favorite bands of Irish decent, The Cranberries. The Irish band first started in Limerick, Ireland a city south of Galway and southwest of Dublin. You might recognize them by some of their big hits such as Dreams, Linger, Zombie, and many more. The band first started in the 80s and consisted of brothers; bass player Mike Hogan and guitarist Noel Hogan, drummer Fergal Lawler, and singer (at the time) Niall Quinn.
image: The Cranberries at the London Palladium, The Upcoming UK
Shortly after their first EP, Quinn decided to leave the group. They were quickly introduced to the mesmerizing voice we all know & easily recognize; Dolores O’Riordan. The group started recording more music & playing smaller gigs until their eventual breakthrough in the mid 90s. MTV noticed their singles linger and dreams and put them in rotation until The Cranberries got the recognition they deserved and made the top charts on multiple occasions.
image: The Cranberries at the London Palladium, The Upcoming UK
Their success carried on for years with their songs being placed in popular movies such as Click, Clueless, Mission Impossible, and made a physical appearance in Charmed just to name a few. The group was nominated for three MTV awards and won Best Song in 1995. They also received a Grammy Nomination for Best Rock Album in 2022.
image: The Cranberries at the London Palladium, The Upcoming UK
The group eventually went on their own paths to work on solo projects. Later, they reunited and went back on tour before the tragic and unexpected death of Dolores causing the tour to stop. Her sudden death left Ireland (as well as the rest of the world) in an emotional state. With the voice of the group gone, they went on and released the final album and work recorded by Dolores, titled “In the End” which hit number 7 in the billboard indie charts and 10 in the alternative section in 2019.
We encourage you to celebrate the impact The Cranberries had in the
music industry this Saint Patrick's Day by streaming their best hits.