Songoftheday 8/8/20 - It's not worth anything more than this at all, I live as I choose or I will not live at all...
from the album To The Faithful Departed (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #22 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's song(s) of the day come from the Irish alternative rock band the Cranberries, whose third album To The Faithful Departed had scored a top-40 radio hit in the spring of 1996 with "Salvation". For the follow-up they offered the mid-tempo "Free To Decide", written by lead singer Delores O'Riordan and produced by the band with Bruce Fairbairn.
The song was a decent international hit, peaking at #2 in Canada, while reaching the top-40 in Iceland (#5), the Czech Republic (#9), New Zealand (#19), Poland (#22), Ireland (#28), the UK (#33), and Sweden (#40). In America, the song went to #8 on Billboard magazine's Alternative Rock radio chart, and #23 on their Adult Top-40 format list. However the single stopped at #48, below the top-40 on the official Hot 100 pop chart. But then radio stations started to play the "B-side", "When You're Gone". A swirling rock waltz with doo-wop retro influences, the track soon overpowered the lead on the radio and with Billboard's rules counting airplay for both songs, it finally brought them back into the pop top-40 in America...
"When You're Gone", listed with "Free To Decide", made the top-40 in February of 1997. "When You're Gone" also rose to #17 on Billboard's Adult Top-40 format chart. Internationally, that song climbed into the top-40 in Norway (#4), Poland (#4), Belgium (#6F), Iceland (#8), Canada (#15), Ireland (#21), New Zealand (#23), France (#26), Sweden (#31), and Australia (#40).
The band was touring behind the album when O'Riordan hurt her knee, sidelining the band and shelving the planned fourth single "Hollywood". The Cranberries returned in 1999 with their fourth studio set Bury The Hatchet. Lead single "Promises" rose to #12 on Billboard's Alternative Rock radio chart, but didn't make a dent on the pop Hot 100 at all. The song did much better overseas, topping the singles chart in Spain, and reaching the top ten in Italy, Iceland, Greece, Canada, and Belgium, while peaking at #19 in their native Ireland and #13 in the UK, where the album became their fourth top ten success.
Switching from Island to MCA Records, the group put out their fifth disc Wake Up And Smell The Coffee in 2001. Featured single "Analyse" climbed onto the Adult Top-40 radio chart in the U.S. at #26, while reaching the top ten in Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Poland. But with the album missing the top-40 in America, and the weak promotion from the record company, the band first parted ways with MCA, then after a greatest hits set in 2002, put themselves on ice for nearly seven years. O'Riordan released two solo albums, with the first, Are You Listening?, doing quite well, reaching the top-40 in Ireland and the UK and #77 in the U.S.. First single "Ordinary Day" made it to #28 on Billboard's Adult Album Alternative (Triple A) radio format chart.
In 2009, the Cranberries got back together and recorded their sixth studio album Roses, which arrived in 2012. From it the song "Tomorrow" made the Triple-A radio chart in America at #30. It took five years (and a lawsuit in between) to come back with an acoustic/orchestral reworking of their prior work, Something Else. But as the band was trying to tour and record a new record, Delores died suddenly from a tragic accident (which involved drinking, but still) at the start of 2018. The band pieces together their final set In The End, which came out a year later. Single "All Over Now" almost made the top ten on the Billboard Triple-A chart at #11. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2020, but lost out to Cage The Elephant for Social Cues.
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Here's the band performing "Free To Decide" on Late Night with David Letterman...
There was an alternate version of the video for "When You're Gone"...
and live in concert in Paris in 1999 with "Free To Decide"...
and lastly, with "When You're Gone"....
Up tomorrow: Rappers go on about gaping wounds.
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