Dolores O'Riordan had one of those voices. It was a lilt with a vicious edge, a warble with a snarl – it was a switch, and when it flicked, the room lit from faint emerald mist to the bloodiest of reds and right back.
There is no replicating a voice like O'Riordan's, which made her band the Cranberries one of the most popular alt-rock acts of the '90s. Her delivery was so unique, so immediately and powerfully her own, that it's hard to sing a word like zombie or linger without dripping into her fiery brogue.
O'Riordan, 46, was found dead Monday from causes unknown in a London hotel. In a statement, the band said she was in London for a short recording session, and that her family was "devastated" by the news.
Tributes to O'Riordan's voice pinged across social media, where fans and artists commingled in their shock at the news. Michelle Branch tweeted that she "want(ed) to be just like her" when she grew up. Irish singer-songwriter Hozier called it "unforgettable," adding: "It threw into question what a voice could sound like in that context of Rock. I'd never heard somebody use their instrument in that way."
No question, it set the Cranberries apart in the thoroughly male-dominated alt-rock landscape of the early '90s. Her diminutive stature and distinct pixie cut stood out on MTV, but in short order her voice transcended all that – yelping and yipping on the driving Dreams; cooing and lilting on the gently jangling Linger.
The rage-filled Zombie, from their 1994 sophomore album No Need to Argue, cemented her status as a rock deity. O'Riordan's searing vocal was over the top almost to the point of parody, but you just couldn't shake it:
What's in your heeeeaad?! In your heeeeaad?! ZA-AHM-BEH! ZA-AHM-BEH! ZA-AHM-BEH! EH! EH! EH! OH!
There were hits after Zombie – Ode to My Family, Ridiculous Thoughts, Free to Decide – but none brought quite the same intensity and ferocity, instead hewing closer to the poppier and more melodic sound of Dreams, Linger and the rest of their debut album Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We?. And that's okay – that's a classic album and a fine legacy, too.
But 25 years later, Zombie remains one of those era-defining singles, and it's mostly because of O'Riordan's untethered vocal performance. It's so good it transcends good, like Alanis Morrissette on You Oughta Know or Eddie Vedder on Even Flow or Billy Corgan on Bullet with Butterfly Wings.
Decades from now, it'll still be a sonic signifier of the time. But it echoes extra loudly today.
— Jay Cridlin