“The way she delivered it was more important than the actual subject matter. Her delivery of that chorus is so powerful”: How The Cranberries created the monster hit Zombie

Dolores O’Riordan of The Cranberries.

It was the biggest song of The Cranberries’ career, and guitarist Noel Hogan can still vividly recall the moment when he first heard an early version of it – sung and strummed on acoustic guitar by Dolores O’Riordan.

“We were at a house a friend of ours let us use to rehearse,” Hogan tells MusicRadar. “Dolores came in with it and started playing it on acoustic. She was like, ‘I had this idea…’ And then we all started doing our thing.”