John Richards

Yesterday, The Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan died suddenly at the age of 46. She was in London recoding a new album. RIP Dolores. bbc.in

Dolores O'Riordan was just 20 years old when the song was first released in 1992 as the group's debut single. This is a very hopeful song in which Dolores sings about meeting a special someone who makes her deliriously happy. "I wrote that about my first love when I was living in Ireland," she said in a interview. "It's about feeling really in love for the first time."

Belly are going on tour this spring/summer but only Boston so far outside the UK.

The original form of I Am Stretched On Your Grave is an Irish language poem entitled Táim Sínte ar do Thuama - an anonymous work dating to the 17th century. The Irish Poet Frank O'Connor translated the words into English and Philip King (a member of the Irish trad band Scullion) added a melody with the help of producer PJ Curtis, and the song was given to Sinéad.

This song was Amos' call to God to explain His omnipotence in the light of such issues as the repression of women through religion. She explained to Creem magazine: "There's a division of power, male and female power, and there's a division within my own being. There's been a dishonoring of us with each other, and us with ourselves, and women against women, and men against men, and women against men... and that's how the song 'God' got written. The institutional God who's been ruling the universe, in the books, has to be held accountable. I want to have a cup of tea with him and just have a little chat. I feel like the song is a releasing, a sharing. It's honest and loving. And it's sensuous. It's the goddess coming forth and saying, "Come here, baby. I think you've had a bit of a rough job, and I don't mind helping out now." Which I think is really cute."

Cranberries guitarist Noel Hogan wrote the music for this song before Dolores O'Riordan joined the band. Originally, it had lyrics written by the group's first singer, Niall Quinn. When O'Riordan auditioned for the band, she had some ideas for the song, and after she was hired, she wrote her own set of lyrics. In an interview she said she wrote this song about her feelings following the breakup with her first boyfriend, the soldier who broke her heart. She said the song is about "the way I reacted to infatuation."

In 2017, Slowdive's founding member, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist Rachel Goswell took some time to chat on The Morning Show about the new songs, memories of their earlier releases, their love for fans, and why music matters to her. blog.kexp.org

In 1993, the album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? was released including the cleaned-up single version of the demo "Linger." The Cranberries didn't gain much attention with this release, however, not until they started a UK and Irish tour supporting Suede. During the tour, The Cranberries caught the attention of MTV, which resulted in their videos being put into heavy rotation. This allowed the band a successful European and North American tour while their debut album reached #1 on the UK Album Chart.

Want to know what Tony Halliday has been up to? bit.ly

Formed in 1989 in Portsmouth, England by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw and named after the many mechanical cranes around the city's docks, Cranes are best known for the vocals of lead singer Alison.

Emma Anderson (guitar, vocals) said of the Lush's beginnings: "We were kind of punk rock in one way. We did think, 'Well, if they can do it, why the fuck can't we?' Basically, our idea was to have extremely loud guitars with much weaker vocals. And, really, the vocals were weaker due to nervousness – we'd always be going 'Turn them down! Turn them down!'"

Dolores O'Riordan claimed that Zombie speaks about "the Irish fight for independence that seems to last forever." The lyrics even say, "It's the same old theme since 1916." Like the responsive works of Yeats, Heaney and U2, the Cranberries claimed they wrote Zombie to be a "song for peace, peace among England and Ireland." On August 31, 1994, just a few weeks after this song was released, the IRA declared a ceasefire after 25 years of conflict.

Chapterhouse took the unusual step of rehearsing and gigging for well over a year before recording even a demo tape.

Kiss Them For Me is the title of a 1957 movie starring Jane Mansfield and is a tribute to her. The song includes Manfield's cathphrase "divoon." The internet says it is '50s slang for crazy.

Dolores O’Riordan was a fierce performer with a definitive vocal styling, bringing a bit of the spirit of Limerick to the rest of the world. Her songwriting style as well, which often veered toward confessional, captured millions across the world. Join us in remembering her legacy by revisiting some of her work in The Cranberries, solo, and beyond: blog.kexp.org

Here you can find rare & unreleased tracks from the Cocteau Twins including a demo version of Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops: www.cocteautwins.com

Black Metallic showed up at #73 on the KEXP Top Songs of All Time Countdown during the 2017 Fall Fundraising Drive: blog.kexp.org

Suzanne Vega wrote this song while eating breakfast at Tom's Restaurant on the corner of Broadway and 112th Street in New York City. Tom's has another famous place in pop culture as well: it was Jerry Seinfeld's hangout in his sitcom Seinfeld. On the show, where it was called "Monk's Cafe," the "Tom's" was cropped out so the exterior sign just said "Restaurant," and the interior shots were done with TV magic on a sound stage. www.tomsrestaurant.net

Hit has been interpreted by fans as a song about "falling in love against your own will, as if love all of a sudden becomes the violent part and takes you over, and then you're stuck with this guy constantly on your mind, it's annoying 'cause you planned other things in life, and you want to be free", "Just when you thought you're feeling great about being single, someone new came up and ruined the whole thing."

In 2010 Pitchfork Media included the song at number 34 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s. Peter Hook (co-founder, bassist) has said that “Regret” was the last good New Order song.

This is the title track of The Waterboys fourth and best-selling album. Mike Scott said that back then he worked in asemi-improvising fashion a great deal. "I was very lucky that I had a band that was sufficiently intuitive that we could make stuff up on the spot," he said, "and it would work. I've never had a band quite as intuitive as that since then: the combination of Steve Wickham on fiddle, Anthony Thistlethwaite on mandolin and sax, and the bass player, Trevor Hutchinson, who was an incredible improviser. When I had those guys, I could make up a song on the spot, and they would be arranging it as they played it for the first time. Some of the songs on that album are actually first takes."

Pogues fans were shocked to hear this song in a 2007 Cadillac commercial twhere an idyllic, well-bred family blissfully takes their daughter to school in a luxury SUV.

On March 24th, Kristin Hersh will be playing with Grant Lee Phillps at the Freemont Abbey Arts Center

Despite having difficulties in remembering the song's lyrics, Kate Bush explained its meaning in an interview: "Obviously the imagery you get as a child is very strong. This is about who you can or cannot confide in when there's something you can't talk about. 'If you can't tell your sister/If you can't tell the priest'... who did I have in the lyrics? Was it sister or mothers, I can't remember."

Liz Phair is writing a book! Two, actually. Variety reported that Phair has signed a two-book deal, and the first book, described as “a rich and kaleidoscopic memoir of Phair’s experiences with fame, heartbreak, motherhood, and everything in between,” will be entitled Horror Stories. Phair said: “I have been writing stories and essays for the past decade, creating a world on the page that excites me as much as my songwriting,”

Peter Murphy on Dolores O'Riordan: "How truly saddened and moved I am to hear the news of the death of Dolores o'Riordan. I do not know the body of her work and her band’s time, but I was captured by the Zombie song sometime in the 1990’s. More so that Dolores was an unlikely Lead person and as a clean, lovely Lady sang the story of terrorists as a bard. My daughter came to watch me record on my studio multitrack and she wanted to tell me about this song. It was Zombie…and she had never opened up about her own favourite music. She sang it to me to explain the meaning, and so right there and then I recorded a version of the song and recorded her singng it. It took no coaching nor took more than one take. Dolores meant something to me becuase she was loved by my daughter. I send my condolences to her family and fans, and join all in the grief and have deep prayers for her. I’m sure she is just fine."

Last April, David J was on The Morning Show! See his full performance here: bit.ly

From R.E.M.'s website on the untimely passing of Dolores O'Riordan: “We are all saddened to hear the news. Dolores was a brilliant and generous spirit with a quick humor and a stunning voice. Our love to the band and to her family and fans.”

Kurt Cobain rarely talked about this song, but he did say that it was dedicated to his wife, Courtney Love, and daughter, Francis Bean. The song deals with everything that was expected of him and the changes he had been through, which weren't all pleasant judging by the lines, "Married... Buried."

The Juliana Hatfield Three performed My Sister live on KEXP in 2015. Watch them here: bit.ly

The Breeder's new album, All Nerve is out March 2nd and they're playing The Showbox on Friday, April 13th!

Here is James performing Jam J at Glastonbury in 1994. bit.ly

This is the title track to Jim Sheridan's searing, Oscar-nominated film about an unjustly incarcerated Northern Irish rebel. The film is based on the true story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely convicted of the 1974 Guildford pub bombings, which killed four off-duty British soldiers and a civilian.

“Youch — yonga, yeecha, yongala, heeha, hollo, fantastico, splendido, excellento. What more could one ask for! I love it.” See what the DJs thought of Bone Machine back in 1992 blog.kexp.org

Remembering Doloroes O'Riordan throughout the show this morning. blog.kexp.org

KEXP is thrilled to present a retrospective exhibit by Seattle photographer Lance Mercer in the Gathering Space. Mercer was invited to tour with Pearl Jam from 1992 to 1995 as their official photographer, and with this unparalleled access, caught some of the most intimate and intoxicating moments of one of the world’s most private bands. Runs through February 5th. blog.kexp.org

Siamese Dream has widely been regarded as one of the best albums of the 1990s, and one of the best albums of all time. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 362 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

In 1993, The Cranberries album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? was released. The Cranberries didn't gain much attention with this release, however, not until they started a UK and Irish tour supporting Suede.

In an interview with NME around the time of the album’s release, Damon nailed his colours to the mast when he said, “If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I’m getting rid of grunge. It’s the same sort of feeling: people should smarten up, be a bit more energetic. They’re walking around like hippies again – they’re stooped, they’ve got greasy hair, there’s no difference.”

Watch the trailer for Dark River, written and directed by Clio Barnard, starring Ruth Wilson and Mark Stanley, and featuring new music by PJ Harvey. In cinemas February 23rd. bit.ly

that dog. is a Los Angeles-based rock band that formed in 1991 and dissolved in 1997, reuniting in 2011. The band originally consisted of Anna Waronker on lead vocals and guitar, Rachel Haden on bass guitar and vocals, her sister Petra Haden on violin and vocals, and Tony Maxwell on drums. The group began when Anna and a friend, Jenni Konner, began writing short punk songs in her bedroom about boys.