Songoftheday 8/19/19 - Another head hangs lowly child is slowly taken, and the violence caused such silence who are we mistaken?
from the album No Need To Argue (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #22
Weeks in the Hot 100 Airplay Top-40: 16
Today's song of the day comes from the Irish alternative rock band the Cranberries, who had scored a top ten pop hit in the U.S. with their single "Linger" in the beginning of 1994. In the fall of that year, the group re-emerged with their sophomore effort No Need To Argue. The lead single promoted to radio was "Zombie", a brooding, marching expression of emotion addressing the strife still going on in Ireland during that time. Written by lead singer Delores O'Riordan and produced by Stephen Street, the song brought them back to radio, although the record company were playing the game of withholding a single release to goose the sales of the album...
Since "Zombie" didn't get a commercial release, it was unable to place on Billboard's official Hot 100 pop chart in America, although they had enough airplay to rise to #22 on their airplay component of the chart in December of 1994. The song spent six weeks at #1 on their Modern Rock radio chart, while coming in at #32 on the Mainstream Rock list. Internationally, the single topped the charts in France, Germany, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, and Iceland, as well as making the top ten in Austria (#2), Switzerland (#2), Ireland (#3), and New Zealand (#5). It also got to #14 in Ireland and #19 in the UK.
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The band previewed the song on Letterma with the "Cranberries".
Next up, skip a head a year for their apperance on MTV Unplugged in 1995..
Here's the Cranberries live in 1999 playing "Zombie"...
Fast forward to 2012 for their "version" of their song...
In 2017, hard rock "supergroup" Bad Wolves were set to record a cover version with O'Riordan singing on it. Tragically, shortly after when O'Riordan passed away, the Wolves released the record altered for lead singer Tommy Vext handles the vocals, and they agred to donate revenue from the single to go to a children's hospital. The result topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, and got to #54 on the American rock chart.
Finally, here's Delores and the Cranberries in 2016...
Younger soul singers are getting repetitive.
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