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Crap/Not Crap: The Cranberries

The Cranberries...

  • Total voters
    71
scifisam said:
Except that the last time you, who never listens to lyrics, heard it on a soundtrack for a zombie movie, you already knew it was wrong for the topic. You knew. It's used a lot on soundtracks and TV shows.

Plus O'Riordan's early death meant that a lot of people talked about it again, including on here.

And this thread mentioned Derry Girls. The reason it was in that show was that it was about the Warrington bombing. We're all old enough to remember that, and we're all political enough to have paid some attention to it.

I brought it up because I kinda thought that people could appreciate the topic, or the guitar, or whatever, rather than just going "I don't like it and don't know what it was about," as if they've learned nothing since they were 16, and the only way you ever know anything about music is by listening to, or talking about, music, like it exists in a vacuum.
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I only knew that from reading it on here though
 
scifisam said:
OK. I get that you didn't pay attention when you were 16. Same age as I was when it was released.

What I don't get that, even in this thread, you said you had no idea what Zombie was about. I do think that's unusual for someone who is interested in both music and politics - I'd have expected it to be something that seeped into your consciousness at some point. It's not like it was released three decades ago and has never been played or talked about since, is it. So yes, it is unusual.
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I knew it was about the troubles but didn't know specifically which bombings it was about. And I could play it on the guitar and knew all the lyrics (more because it's very easy than because I particularly liked it).

I have never owned a Cranberries record or even downloaded them illegally but I quite like her big foghorn voice tbh.
 
krtek a houby said:
No reason why a Limerick band can't sing about Warrington and 1916, or even the 6 counties. But any band tackling the conflict was going to be ridiculed, whatever take they had.
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Can I beg an honourable exception for SLF’s “Alternative Ulster” - for me that summed up youthful frustration with the troubles and all the bollocks that went with it (police abusing stop and search, endless security alerts and metal detector searches in shops, etc.) better than any other tune. For the worst example I’d like to nominate Simple Minds “Belfast Child”
 
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seeformiles said:
Can I beg an honourable exception for SLF’s “Alternative Ulster” - for me that summed up youthful frustration with the troubles and all the bollocks that went with it (police abusing stop and search, endless security alerts and metal detector searches in shops, etc.) better than any other tune. For the worst example I’d like to nominate Simple Minds “Belfast Child”
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Ah, just reminded of The Undertones - It's Gonna Happen - although, tbh, had no idea about the lyrical meaning for years.
 
I very much dislike the Cranberries, they are shit. Admittedly the Cantonese cover of Dreams is a banger. But the original, and all the rest of their catalogue, especially zombie, can do one
 
Without wanting to upset anyone here, I must also go with the crap option...even though I have a tendency to like (some) wailing. Then again, I can't be listening to Kate Bush, Enya or Liz Fraser so I must be allergic to a certain type of yodellish yelling and over-emotive emoting.
 
campanula said:
Without wanting to upset anyone here, I must also go with the crap option...even though I have a tendency to like (some) wailing. Then again, I can't be listening to Kate Bush, Enya or Liz Fraser so I must be allergic to a certain type of yodellish yelling and over-emotive emoting.
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You've upset me by mentioning Liz Fraser in the same breath as fucking Enya :mad:
 
Yeah, soz, SpookyFrank ...I was going to mention someone else but realised it made me sound like a rabid anti- irish person, so swapped over to Liz as another warbly chanteuse
 
killer b said:
enya has been critically reassessed recently and is now good, apparently. :hmm:
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Enya is one of those things I can listen to only because of its bone-deep familiarity due to having been played to death in the tape deck of my mum's car when I was a kid. On her own merits she's pretty dreadful.

A couple of other four-letter, mononymous singers in this category are Sadé and Seal.
 
Anyway, the Cranberries.

Mostly meh, but I still think No Need to Argue is a genuine classic. Some harrowing stuff on there, but some great pop tunes as well. Neither of which would work in anyone else's voice but Dolores'. I was disproportionately saddened by her death.
 
Enya is like a sentient AI-generated soundtrack to 1980s film moments, you can't have beef with Enya.

For example, "Only Time" would be the ideal backing for a slow motion, hail-of-bullets gunfight where the protagonist kills the bad guy but is fatally wounded. Ideally this all takes place in an Irish gift shop.

"Orinoco Flow" is to accompany a young couple on their whirlwind date montage, especially if a little rowboat on a lake is involved. And Styx were unavailable or wanted to do the second half of their song.

I don't know if there are other Enya songs, I haven't done the most basic of research.
 
mauvais said:
Enya is like a sentient AI-generated soundtrack to 1980s film moments, you can't have beef with Enya.

For example, "Only Time" would be the ideal backing for a slow motion, hail-of-bullets gunfight where the protagonist kills the bad guy but is fatally wounded. Ideally this all takes place in an Irish gift shop.

"Orinoco Flow" is to accompany a young couple on their whirlwind date montage, especially if a little rowboat on a lake is involved. And Styx were unavailable or wanted to do the second half of their song.

I don't know if there are other Enya songs, I haven't done the most basic of research.
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The Graun did a 'Enya's Greatest Songs - Ranked!' piece last month. which should bring you up to speed.

www.theguardian.com

Enya’s greatest songs – ranked!

This month, the Irish singer turned 60 – and her popularity belies how radical her Celtic futurism really is
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
If Dolores had been in Clannad and Enya in the Cranberries then the universe would be righted. Bland with bland, colourful with colourful.
 
I don't mind the cranberries. Zombies is ok. The kids like it. Linger, however, is fucking awful. One of the worst songs ever made. Diabolical.
 
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