This Video Of The Cranberries Playing ‘Zombie’ Live In 1994 Is Straight-Up Sublime

In September 1994, The Cranberries released the lead single off their highly-anticipated second album. It was a track called ‘Zombie’, written by lead singer Dolores O’Riordan in response to the Warrington city bombings of 1993, which had killed two young boys and injured dozens of bystanders.

‘Zombie’, with its heavy distortion and grunge-influence, was a radical departure for the band, who had become famous off the back of pop tracks like ‘Linger’ and ‘Dreams’ off their first album Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can’t We?. 

Regardless, fans and critics immediately took to the track: it rocked to #1 around the world and took out MTV’s Song Of The Year in 1995 (beating acts like Michael Jackson and TLC). It also landed at #1 of triple j’s Hottest 100, which was the first time a female-led band had topped the poll.

Only a couple of months after ‘Zombie’ was released, The Cranberries featured as the musical guest on US talk show Letterman. It’s one of the earliest live performances of the song, and the grainy footage captures the band (and O’Riordan’s extraordinary voice) at their peak.

Watch it below.