The Authenticity of Dolores O’Riordan and German Shepherds
As most fans of Sedona Shepherd know, we love our rock and roll. There is nothing like taking the dogs out for a walk being sheathed within the Walkman, iPhone with a halo of distortion. Our sweet musical spot is the late ‘70’s through the mid-’00s. We, and by extension, all the dogs at Sedona, love to listen to the rock from this time period. Recently, we started to get into some new 2023 rock, thanks to Plush. Imagine the Bangles turned up to 11. It was great meeting Ashley, playing our favorite instrument. If, while reading, you are wondering about some of the interesting grammar, well, Yes, we will push the envelope of obvious and obscure references for the rest of the story.
Earlier this month, between wasting some time on YouTube viewing Pitch Meetings and searching for some good tunes to accompany our Sedona dog videos, the Cranberries came up in the list of suggested songs. Back in the 1990s, there was a beautiful song called Dreams. When it was released, Scott Muni, Richard Near, and the like were sadly on their way out. Terrestrial rock radio stations (you know, not as easy to find as back in the day, but check out the Jersey best WDHA) were deep into the beginnings of early AI, pre-programmed playlists. As such, the powers that be decided that the time it took to introduce a song by its name and artist could be better served selling us another diet coke. The point being, it took me about 3 years to figure out that the song Dreams was sung by the Irish band, The Cranberries.
The Cranberries had a unique vocal sound about them, not one that was conducive to a large portion of the American rock scene at the time, dominated as it was by what a friend by the name of Jeremy might say was lacking in Teen Spirit. The song Dreams was on their first album, the sardonically titled “Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can’t We?” While the album had a certain level of success, Bono and his mysterious ways kept the one band everyone knew from Ireland as U2.
Meanwhile, back to where YouTube comes into the story, its algorithm brought up the song "Linger" by The Cranberries. We knew of the song, but honestly, we had never really taken a deep dive into listening to that song or many other offerings by The Cranberries. Our memory of the band from the early 2000s was more along the lines of, "Yes, we like "Dreams," but there is something just outside our vocal appreciation of The Cranberries that would make us want to go out and buy any other albums, despite the incredibly creative album titles.
In The End, I decided to Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, take a deep dive, and just close my eyes again. This time their music hit me like a brick house. Dolores O’Riordan’s voice is eclectically, stunningly, and amazingly beautiful in a way that one rarely hears. When one listens to most British and Irish singers, one might catch a hint or two of a Cockney, Cork, or Liverpool accent, but for the most part, the vocal arrangements are flattened out and americanized. Not Dolores. Her vocals are a straight-up, unabashed, angelic Irish brogue.
Imagine it is 1992; Dolores and the gang walk into Island Records with a demo tape, excited with their sound and waiting for feedback. One can imagine the execs looking at each other and saying, “That’s a unique and catchy sound, but you think you could pull back on that accent. Maybe you could have a little more Stevie Nicks, or you know Christie McVie; she’s English, but you’d never know listening to her.” To which we could imagine Dolores saying something like, “You are clearly a clever boy, so don’t be a gombeen or a Zombie. When You’re Gone, we will rock it with our sound or none at all.” The rest is history.
Now as our favorite podcaster, Dan Carlin might say, “Yeah, but what the heck does this have to do with German shepherds.” Well, this is the story so far, and it relates to shepherds and how to live life. Watch a German shepherd in action, and it’s hard to imagine in that dog’s brain it is thinking, “Maybe I need to be more like a golden doodle to fit in. If I just tried to be more like that lab down the street, people would like me more.” A German shepherd is just that, a German shepherd. No pretensions of being anything else. A German shepherd embraces life as only a German shepherd can.
Watch a video of The Cranberries live, and you can see Dolores embracing who she is. She is a genuine Irish rock artist whose authenticity is embraced by the crowd and anyone who listens to her. Dolores O'Riordan was also all too human, with personal issues and insecurities like anyone else or any dog, for that matter. Nonetheless, her legacy in our minds is of someone who accepted who she was and used those talents to create art and music that moved and inspired anyone who opened up their ears and eyes to her brilliance. And that is something to truly aspire to.
#authenticity #thecranberries