{"id":29689,"date":"2025-07-24T05:30:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T09:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29689"},"modified":"2025-06-30T11:44:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T15:44:30","slug":"the-cranberries-no-need-to-argue-endures-part-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/24\/the-cranberries-no-need-to-argue-endures-part-1-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cranberries\u2019 \u2018No Need to Argue\u2019 Endures (Part 1 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This featured appeared previously in SPIN Magazine<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n

Thirty years after its release, the second album from Irish alternative rockers The Cranberries has lost none of its power. Fronted by the compelling presence of vocalist Dolores O\u2019Riordan, The Cranberries built upon the success of their 1993 debut with the sophomore-slump-defying No Need to Argue<\/i>. Featuring two major worldwide hits (\u201cZombie\u201d and \u201cOde to My Family\u201d) alongside a varied yet unerringly strong collection of 11 other songs, the album changed the fortunes of the quartet from Limerick. Eventually selling more than 7 million units in the U.S., No Need to Argue<\/i> represented a watershed in the band\u2019s history, and rapturous critical acclaim reinforced The Cranberries\u2019 status as an important force in music. A new 30th<\/sup> anniversary expanded edition celebrates the album and its enduring legacy.<\/p>\n

Dolores O\u2019Riordan\u2019s distinctive vocals are a signature of The Cranberries\u2019 sound, but it would be the collective creative input of the whole group \u2013 O\u2019Riordan plus guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler \u2013 that yielded music that would resonate and endure with listeners. The group’s sound was informed by contemporary influences \u2013 The Smiths and other postpunk acts \u2013 but also by Irish folk. Yet Lawler says that there was never a conscious effort to sound a certain way, or to combine varied musical textures. \u201cNone of that was ever spoken about,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was subliminal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s working methods were organic, with plenty of give-and-take. The band had begun with another singer, continuing briefly as an instrumental trio before O\u2019Riordan came on board. \u201cOnce Dolores joined, we\u2019d give her a tape with the music, chords, whatever,\u201d Lawler recalls, \u201cand she\u2019d come back a week later with lyrics, vocal melody, a string line. And we were like, \u2018Okay, this is really going to work.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan\u2019s writing skillfully bridged personal and universal themes. Lawler concedes that Dolores didn\u2019t like to explain her lyrics, preferring to let each listener develop his or her own sense of what the words meant to them. \u201cIt was enough that they liked the words,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Producer Stephen Street\u2019s introduction to The Cranberries came through the band\u2019s label, Island Records. He recalls the first time he saw the group onstage. \u201cThey were very nervous and they weren\u2019t particularly great, to be honest,\u201d he says. \u201cBut there was something there.\u201d He listened to some of the group\u2019s demo recordings, and was interested enough to schedule a test session. \u201cIt went great, and we got on really well,\u201d Street says. All parties agreed that Street would produce what would become Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can\u2019t We?<\/i> \u201cStephen\u2019s just a magician,\u201d says Lawler. \u201cHe really clicked with the band from Day One.\u201d<\/p>\n

That album was initially a slow seller, so much so that the band\u2019s future on Island was uncertain. But Street explains that Denny Cordell \u2013 the executive who had signed The Cranberries to Island America \u2013 persisted in promoting the group even after its two advance singles had been \u201cpretty much ignored\u201d in the UK. \u201cWhen the album came out, they couldn\u2019t get any media or press because that had all gone on months previously,\u201d he says. But Cordell convinced MTV to add the band\u2019s music videos to its playlist.<\/p>\n

At the same time, college radio \u2013 a major force in breaking alternative artists of the era \u2013 picked up on the band. \u201cSo all of a sudden,\u201d Street says with a smile, \u201cthis band who are on the cusp of being dropped by Island Records got a phone call: \u2018You\u2019re happening in America; you\u2019d better get over here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cranberries embarked on a heavy touring schedule in support of Everybody Else.<\/i> \u201cThey worked really hard that year,\u201d Street says. \u201cBecause they knew that they finally had a chance, and they weren\u2019t going to let that drop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buoyed by the success of two hit singles \u2013 \u201cDreams\u201d and the worldwide smash \u201cLinger\u201d \u2013 The Cranberries\u2019 debut album would earn Platinum status in five countries, selling 3.2 million units in the U.S. alone. It was an auspicious beginning. \u201cAnd it was the start of a very long and very fruitful working relationship,\u201d Street says.<\/p>\n

The Cranberries hard work on the road paid off in more ways than one. The group that reconvened in the studio in November 1993 was greatly changed from the band of just a year before. \u201cThe main thing was that they\u2019d done so much playing that they\u2019d become much better musicians,\u201d Street says. He emphasizes that the group members\u2019 self-confidence had grown. \u201cWe went in feeling quite committed and bold: \u2018No, we\u2019re not gonna listen to anyone. We\u2019re gonna just do what we really want to do.\u2019 And that really felt strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe showed up in the studio with most of the songs \u2013 apart from \u2018No Need to Argue\u2019 \u2013 pretty much written,\u201d Lawler recalls.<\/p>\n

Initial sessions for what would become No Need to Argue<\/i> commenced at The Magic Shop in New York City. Several of those recordings are featured as bonus tracks on the 30th<\/sup> anniversary release, and are noted as demos. Street diplomatically contests that notion. \u201cThey\u2019re really alternate takes or works in progress,\u201d he says, noting that the finished versions of those songs were often built upon the basic recordings made in NYC. \u201cWe recorded \u2018Yeats\u2019 Grave,\u2019 \u2018Everything I Said,\u2019 \u2018Empty,\u2019 \u2018Ridiculous Thoughts\u2019 and some others there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Street admits that he helped the musicians sharpen some of their skills and expand their musical vocabulary. \u201cI helped Noel [Hogan] learn the ways of putting a capo on a guitar, and playing in different tunings.\u201d But the band had arrived at the studio with well-developed ideas as to where the music should go. \u201cOne of the best things I love about The Cranberries is the \u2018space\u2019 that’s there in the music. There was a certain magic they had,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The sublime string arrangements on songs like \u201cEmpty\u201d are among the album\u2019s many strengths. O\u2019Riordan and Street would explain their ideas to John Metcalfe, who would then \u201cscore it properly for a quartet,\u201d the producer recalls. \u201cThere\u2019s something really delicate there,\u201d Street says, noting that No Need to Argue<\/i> is ultimately a record of contrasts. \u201cBut some of the best records are, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to continue\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This featured appeared previously in SPIN Magazine. Thirty years after its release, the second album from Irish alternative rockers The Cranberries has lost none of its power. Fronted by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,62,64],"tags":[5730],"class_list":["post-29689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-rawk","category-reissue","tag-the-cranberries","cat-41-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29693,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29689\/revisions\/29693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}