“Zombie” follows a lineage of family/war, it fits the theme of speaking out against terrorism and what war does to families. There have been songs that spoke out against war, like “When the Tigers Broke Free” by Pink Floyd; the song is about one of the band members losing his father due to war

“When he asked that his men be withdrawn
And the Generals gave thanks
As the other ranks held back
The enemy tanks for a while

….

They were all left behind
Most of them dead
The rest of them dying
And that’s how the High Command
Took my daddy from me”  

Another song that discusses similar concepts is, “Sunday, Bloody Sunday by U2”.

“Broken bottles under children’s feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I won’t heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday
Sunday, Bloody Sunday, Sunday, Bloody Sunday (alright)
And the battle’s just begun
There’s many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart” 
Both of these songs touch on losing families and innocent bystanders due to war. In the case of ” Sunday, Bloody Sunday” U2 is actually talking about another IRA attack and the effects it is having on the community after. These themes, though unfortunate but not uncommon, still inspire music today. After the leader singer of the Cranberries, Dolores O’Riordan, died in 2018 the band “Bad Wolves” reprised her song “Zombie”. They did this in reaction to her sudden and untimely death, donating all of the proceeds they made to her children. I think that was a very interesting decision and goes along with the concept of children losing their mother due to tragedy.  They pay tribute to the song’s music video as well which was very important to the story line of the song.