The story behind
The song The Icicle Melts, with its 2:54 duration, is featured on the album No Need to Argue by The Cranberries. This record, released in October 1994, marked a turning point for the Irish band. Unlike their previous work, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, the sound on No Need to Argue became more intense. Recording engineers Julie Gardner and Stephen Street worked with the band to explore heavier textures, incorporating distortion and increasing the overall volume. Drummer Fergal Lawler commented that this sonic evolution was partly due to two years of uninterrupted touring promoting their first album, getting used to hearing their music at a high volume on stage.
The Icicle Melts is one of the pieces that make up this second studio album by The Cranberries, which became the best-selling of their career, surpassing 17 million copies worldwide by 2014. The album, recorded in Limerick, saw the band, composed of Dolores O'Riordan, Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan, and Fergal Lawler, experiment with a more rock-oriented approach. While the album is known for songs like Zombie, The Icicle Melts contributes to the overall atmosphere that is perceived as darker and rawer compared to their debut.