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Paige Baker

Professor Christopher Calhoun

ENG1201

February 16, 2020

"Zombie" By Bad Wolves puts a new rock twist to the original song by The Cranberries

while still portraying the main claim of the song and keeping Doris O'Riordan spirit alive by

paying tribute to her in the music video. Both versions of the song share their concern with

using violence to solve problems. From the 80s to now, we still have problems with the

government and even citizens thinking that violence is a way to get things done.

In 1982 the IRA (Irish Republican Army) detonated bombs that were in six different

places all in the UK. Two people were killed and another twelve were injured. All bombings

were in the UK, because Ireland believed they should’ve been an independent republic from

the British rule. There were over 10,000 bombs attacks before the peace treaty was finalized.

Due to all of the violence and especially the two kids who were killed as a result of one bomb

that went off, Dolores O'Riordan decided to sit down and write a song about the tragedy.

The song along with the music video was officially released in October of 94'. The music

video was filmed in Northern Ireland when a "low war" called the Northern Ireland conflict was

going on. The music video starts with showing kids then it switches to military men with guns

walking the streets then goes to the band playing. All of a sudden it switches to the lead singer

covered with gold paint and kids surrounding her painted as well holding bows and arrows.
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They then show kids play fighting with wooden knives. The video then constantly shows each

frame as the video goes on. O'Riordan and the band shows how the violence is affecting

everyone's lives especially young children. She uses an emotional appeal (pathos) to really

convey how serious it does affect the lives of young ones. Even though she has made that song

for a specific time and events, this song has been referred to when talking about other violent

outbreaks all around the world.

Now cut to 2018 where the band Bad Wolves have released a song and music video

where they have covered the original song by The Cranberries. Dolores was supposed to work

with Bad Wolves to do that cover but she tragically died the day of the recording. Bad Wolves

only changed a few things to the song as well as adding a harder rock sound to it. The music

isn’t as in dept as the original but it still had an emotional appeal. The music video starts out

with texts stating how Dolores passed away and that in her memory, Bad Wolves still released

the song. Also, stating how all of there proceeds will go to her children. It then shows the band

starting to play the song in a black room. You then see gold paint being dripped on a body. A

lady comes out that looks almost identical to O'Riordan and she starts to spread the gold paint

on a clear glass wall that separates her and the lead singer of the Bad Wolves, Tommy Vext.

Throughout the song, it is showing the band and girl still smearing paint all over. At the end,

there is a quote from Tommy saying "Her lyrics, confronting the collateral damage of political

unrest capture the same sentiment we wanted to express a quarter-century later. That is a

testament to the kind of enduring artist Dolores was, and will remain forever."

That quote shows how much she impacted the band to still use her words to point out

that violence solves nothing. They also used an emotional appeal by using the gold paint and
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having a woman dress like Dolores did in the first video to pay tribute to her. The relationship

between the two videos are very well known to whoever the audience is. Just like the saying,

you can't fight fire with fire. It never works out. The original fire just gets bigger.

Both songs share an emotional and powerful feeling, especially when you watch the

videos. It is for such a wide range of audiences and it is sadly always relevant no matter how old

the song is.

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Works Cited

“Irish Republican Army.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Feb. 2020,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Republican_Army.

YouTube, YouTube, 22 Feb. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ.

YouTube, YouTube, 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts.

“Zombie (Song).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Feb. 2020,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_(song).