The
Cranberries are:
Dolores Mary O'Riordan Burton
(Vocals, Electric & Acoustic
Guitars, Keyboards)
dob 06 September 1971.
Noel Anthony Hogan
(Electric & Acoustic Guitars)
dob 25 December 1971.
Michael Gerard Hogan
(Bass Guitar)
dob 29 April 1973.
Fergal Patrick Lawler
Drums and
Percussion)
dob 04 March 1971.
(all born in
Limerick).
The Cranberries formed in May 1990 when the three guys's previous band's ('The Cranberry Saw Us') lead singer quit. Dolores came in as a replacement and they never looked back since.
The Cranberries have released 4 albums, all on Island's label:
Everybody else is doing it so why can't we? (Feb 1993)
Features their famous hit '
Linger'
No need to argue (Sept 1994)
Features '
Zombie' and 'Ode to my family'
To the
faithful departed (Apr 1996)
Features '
Salvation' and 'I just shot
John Lennon'
Bury the hatchet (Apr 1999)
Features '
Animal Instinct' and '
Just my Imagination'
The Cranberries have established themselves as performers of music that is probably best described as
Irish Rock. They regularly use powerful chords and powerful emotion to drive home their messages on a variety of topics including the
Irish Revolution,
Paedophilia and
drugs (epitomised by 'Zombie') but they have also written some slower songs. My knowledge of their first two albums is a bit thin but from what i can gather the messages inside the songs were written with less importance than the music itself (
IMHO the way it should be). The third album saw a change of style as the Cranberries seemed to try to concentrate more on the messages in their songs than the quality of the music (ignoring their strongest point)and so it got a lot of bad press. The Cranberries obviously heeded the reviews because the next album (and their latest) returned to what they do best (hence the title 'Bury the hatchet'?) and so has once again (deservedly) earned good press for the Cranberries.
The Cranberries are just finishing a tour of
South Africa before moving onto another
European tour which ends Aug 2000.