Hi tGDA,
The first time I heard the name of "the Cranberries" from one of my friends in high school was 1994. I didn't know anything about them and hadn't heard anything like that before. My friend gave me the CD of "No need to argue", When I listened to it, I got a sort of addicted and I couldn't listen to any other song anymore. I had the lyrics and I memorized all the album and it was so nice for me to be able to sing the way dolores does. I love her accent and her voice so much. The intersting point to me was that I had learned english in american accent , but now I whisper the songs in Irish accent like her. 
Hope to have a good community with u all.
Marjan