The Cranberries

Noel and Michael Hogan, brothers from county Limerick, Ireland, formed a boy band in 1989 with drummer Fergal Lawler and singer Niall Quinn. Less than a year later, Quinn left what was then called The Cranberry Saw Us and was replaced with singer/songwriter Dolores O'Riordan to form what has become one of the most famous Irish acts of all time, The Cranberries.

O'Riordan responded to an advert by the band looking for a new singer with lyrics and melodies for a few of the band's existing songs. After hearing her ideas for the song "Linger" and her unique lilting, sometimes ethereal voice, O'Riordan was hired. The band started out recording rough demos, including early versions of later hit singles "Linger" and "Dreams," selling some 300 copies of their demo tape in stores throughout Ireland. This demo was recorded at Xeric Studios, run by Pearse Gilmore who would later become the teenager band's manager. Having sent the demo tape to numerous large UK record companies, the band received a lot of industry and media attention. After a bidding war between labels, the band eventually signed with Island Records and headed into the studio with Gilmore to record their first EP, Uncertain, released in 1991. The somewhat prophetic title did indeed precede tension within the band. After the EP received negative reviews and limited success, The Cranberries discovered that Gilmore had signed a secret deal with Island Records to improve his studios. After almost disbanding, The Cranberries decided to ditch Gilmore, severing all ties with him, hiring Geoff Travis as their new manager and Stephen Street as their producer. Street had previously worked with The Smiths.

Armed with a new manager and producer, the band headed back into the Dublin studio in 1992 and released their first single "Dreams" later that year. The music video for dreams features the pixie-like O'Riordan and band members singing against a watery, shadowy background reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees stylings. Another version of the video was released on the album Stars years later, this time featuring a more fantasy-like story in which a young man is wrought from a tree log while O'Riordan strolls around a ghostly city trailing a microphone, followed by a magnificent white horse.