The lyrics and chords of 'Zombie' were written in Ireland by Dolores O'Riordan during the Cranberries' English Tour in 1993, and recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin in 1994. The song was written in response to the death of Johnathan Ball, 3, and Tim Parry, 12, who had been killed in the IRA bombing in Warrington earlier that year.

The protest is in the pre-chorus, in the words of Dolores O'Riordan: "The IRA are not me. I'm not the IRA" said O'Riordan. "The Cranberries are not the IRA. My family are not." "When it says in the song, 'It's not me, it's not my family,' that's what I'm saying. It's not Ireland."

The song was the lead single from the band's second album, No Need To Argue, which was also released in 1994.

It went on to become one of the band's most enduring songs throughout their career. It was sampled by Eminem for the song 'In Your Head', on his 2017 album Revival, and was covered by heavy-rock band Bad Wolves (Dolores O'Riordan had offered to sing on the track for the band, just hours before her death in January 2018).

The video also become famous for its iconic music video (which partly explains why it reached the 1 billion mark on YouTube...) In the video, Dolores O'Riordan is covered in gold makeup and appears in front of a cross with a group of boys also covered in silver makeup. The video also includes clips of children playing war games, a performance by The Cranberries, and of British soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (as evident from their thin red line tactical recognition flashes) on patrol in Northern Ireland. It also features shots of various murals (IRA, UDA/UFF, Bobby Sands,...).

'Zombie' joins an elite group of less than 200 videos on YouTube which have reached the 1 billion mark. Among them are PSY's 'Gangnam Style', Mark Ronson's 'Uptown Funk, and Sia's 'Chandelier'.