RIP Sinead O'Connor, 1966-2023

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https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/26/entertainment/sinead-oconnor-death/index.html

My first memory of her was when she refused to perform on SNL because Andrew Dice Clay was hosting. (Julee Cruise, who died last year, was the last-minute musical guest).

And of course, her ripping up the picture of John Paul II on SNL 2 years later.

I remember the Nothing Compares 2 U video from my youth of course, but my main memory of Sinead O'Connor was seeing her come out on stage at some kind of Bob Dylan tribute show and this massive crowd of people start booing her and won't let her sing her Dylan cover. So she just stands there and sort of faces them down, then sings a bit of War, the Bob Marley song with no accompaniment.

This was back in the early nineties, I had no idea why they were booing her so badly but I know now it was about the SNL performance Tim_Tex mentioned where she ripped up a photo of the Pope. She was protesting child abuse in the Catholic Church and she was right about it too.

I didn't know any of that, I just saw one tiny little woman screaming this defiant song at a bunch of booing bullies. It was epic.

She even had Frank Sinatra after her for ripping up the picture of the Pope

At the end of the day, she was right about what she was protesting, pedophilia by Priests. But it was not a known thing then so it was interpreted as anti-Catholic hate.

She was ahead of her time and right about the misogyny of Andrew Dice Clay.

Her hit was “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a Prince song, so it became easy to dismiss her as a lightweight when the controversies erupted.

She emerged in the late 80s in a weird time musically after New Wave and before Alternative rock became big. Her and the Sugercubes were the two acts that really stood out to me at the time.




"Sexy" songs seem to be either cheesy mushy love songs, double entendres, or a bunch of 4 letter words. Sinead showed it does not have to fall into any of those categories. When this song was played on the radio I just had to stop whatever I was doing. Well, that was true for all of her songs.


And yeah, her cover of that Prince song was pretty f*****g amazing.

I was watching the SNL that night when she ripped up the picture of the pope. I had been looking forward to that appearance. After that, I had some very bad thoughts about her. I thought she had insulted some wonderful Catholic people I knew. I felt have felt really bad about that ever since the stories broke about the priests. Sinead, I apologize and hope wherever you are it is in a better place. Thanks for the music. R.I.P.

^I remember her ripping the picture. But it wasnt clear (at least to me) that she was protesting a specific issue. Just looked like she was just being provocative for its own sake so I didnt feel sorry for her when it succeeded in provoking.

And wasnt familar with her music enough to have much of an opinion about it.

Wow...you were quite the connoisseur of her music.

I will hafta check it out now.

She lost her son to suicide last year and she struggled with her own mental health.

I hope this promotes mental health awareness and support.





I think most people love the haunting Nothing Compares.




https://youtu.be/0-EF60neguk



Prince's cover is amazing too.




https://youtu.be/cpGA0azFdCs





RIP, beautiful warrior.

I hope you're holding your son again.

Prince wrote the song she took the cover to #1.
Indeed she had a very troubled life.


I was privileged to live in an area that had a great alternative rock station. They played a lot of cuts from her first album which came out two years before she became a household name.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 26 Jul 2023, 7:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hope she finds peace at last.

Wait really? Prince wrote it?! I didn't know that!

Thanks for the heads-up.

Loved them both.

As I alluded to in my earlier comment when she became controversial everybody was saying she had no talent of her own, nothing without Prince.

Sorry I've been multitasking and distracted all day so I haven't read the comments except that she died.

Yes I remember people hating on her but must not have caught the bit about Prince.

Her voice was angelic. She could have read the phone book to me and I'd be soothed.

I'm only familiar with her song Nothing compares 2 u she had a sad life RIP Sinead.

I remember when the song was popular on fast forward they did a parody of the song it's on youtube.

I was never really a fan of her music.  The story of her life and the way it ended triggered my sympathies toward her.

May she rest in peace.

I was stunned, but proud of her; I knew she had a point to make--the Catholic church has plenty to be sorry for--and that she would stand by her actions. She had an air of authenticity to her that other "shock artists" lacked.


“A lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope’s photo derailed my career,” she writes in her book. “That’s not how I feel about it. I feel that having a number-one record derailed my career and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track. I had to make my living performing live again. And that’s what I was born for. I wasn’t born to be a pop star. You have to be a good girl for that. Not be too troubled.”

Hail, traveler.

Seconded.

I used to listen to her song over and over when I was young. It really resonated with a lot of us. She was always involved in some drama if you read the media. With Prince, especially. The song came from the heart. She really became attached to other people.

Was expecting this ever since her son committed suicide. There's only so much pain and suffering a single human can endure in life and Sinéad had way more than her fair share. The loss of her son was just the cruel f*****g icing on the cake. It's so incredibly sad. All I can think is that she's finally no longer suffering. I loved her music and I had so much respect for her angry, brave, rebellious spirit.