“Dolores said, ‘This is an angry song; I think it needs to be reflected in the music.’ That was the turning point. I bought my first distortion pedal”: How The Cranberries became ’90s alternative icons on borrowed amps and banjo-like guitars

DUBLIN, IRELAND - AUGUST 31: Noel Hogan of The Cranberries performs with the RTE Concert Orchestra onstage during Electric Picnic Festival on August 31, 2025 in Stradbally, Ireland. (Photo by Kieran Frost/Redferns).

When The Cranberries 1993 debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? guitarist Noel Hogan wasn’t thinking about large-scale success. “We were quite limited,” Hogan says of his band’s musical ability and career ambition. “But I’m glad there was a naevity to it. If I were a really good player, I’d have tried to make things a bit more lavish – it may not have worked.”

The record bombed in Europe at first, but after Dreams and Linger broke through in America, The band were off and running. Then 1994’s No Need to Argue blew the lid off with Zombie, which cast them as unlikely “grunge” icons. “We were probably the most surprised of anybody that it took off the way it did,” Hogan admits.