This is a stunning story about the song Zombie by the Cranberries from Marc Marot former Managing Director of Island Records who has spoken at Music Exchange twice and is a dear personal friend.

The Irish national team are in South Africa for a two test series starting on Saturday in Pretoria and then going to Durban for the final game on 13th July.

What a stunning back story from Marc about the birth of a hit in a fascinating way Zombie and how remarkable it is to witness the Irish rugby fans seizing on the Cranberries song.

Zombie has  now had over 1,2 billion plays on Spotify.

Let me tell you about it’s inauspicious start in life however, when my team at Island records and I we’re struggling to get any support for it at radio.

We were staring a disaster in the face given the song was the launch vehicle for the album ‘No need to Argue’ which was following on from the bands 7,000,000 selling debut record.

In February 1994 I left the Brit Awards at Alexandra Palace into an unexpected blizzard. I had a taxi meeting me at midnight however in front of me were a couple who were clearly totally unprepared for the weather. They hadn’t booked a taxi.

I offered them a lift home which they were naturally grateful for. I learnt that she was Sheila McLeod, the chief lawyer at Virgin Records and he was a bloke who worked at the BBC called Matthew Banister. 
Cut forward to September of that year, and we were in somewhat of a panic, because for two weeks the BBC had failed to playlist Zombie, perhaps running scared of its political content.

On the Wednesday of the week of the second rejection I was enjoying a lunch at the River Café with one of my colleagues when Matthew Bannister spotted me and came over to reiterate his thanks. By that stage he’d been promoted to become the controller of BBC radio one. I said ‘if you really wanted to thank me you could add Zombie to the playlist!’ It was a bit cheeky I know, but we were getting a bit stressed to say the least!

In those days, the playlist meetings happened on a Tuesday morning. Imagine my surprise when on Thursday, Andy Taylor (our head of Promotion) burst into my office and told me that Zombie had been added to the BBC radio one A-list in the middle of the week, and the decision didn’t emanate from a playlist committee meeting.

Thanks Mathew!!! 

This tiny story is actually emblematic of the anarchic, chaotic but serendipitous nature of the world I lived in. Careers rise or fall on the whim of subjective opinions. 

I guess the rest is history? Listen to Marc on Cape Talk 

Marc Marot, ex-Island Records Managing Director.

The youngest Managing Director of a major record label at 29.

Amongst the artists signed and developed by his team, while at Island Records were: Pulp, PJ Harvey, The Stereo MCs, P.M. Dawn, The Cranberries, Elbow, Chakka Demus and Pliers, NWA, The Orb, Ice Cube, Talvin Singh, Tricky and Nine Inch Nails.

Marc also guided U2’s career throughout the 1990s, from the release of Achtung Baby to just before the release of All you Can’t Leave Behind, selling close to 60 million albums in the process. 

To date, acts discovered or managed by him have notched up 38 Top Ten singles, including 18 Number One singles in the UK charts.

In one form or another, Marc has been responsible for more than 100,000,000 album sales, including his ten years of direct international responsibility for U2’s marketing and sales.