Sinead O'Connor

[chiqui]

Couldn't find a thread on her, so here's one. She was diagnosed as bipolar. I read it in Oprah magazine, of all places.

She looks dour in the pic, but still fierce with that haircut. I remember her antics over the years, from tearing up a picture of the pope on SNL to her becoming a female Catholic priest. Her personal life always seemed to overshadow her musical career, though, which was a shame. She had a beautiful, piercing voice. I imagine she might have been the Any Winehouse of her era -- extremely talented, but unable to reap the fruits of that talent, or be comfortable with it. What do you think?

[WitchyPoo]

I've always loved her. She's tremendously honest. I never understood all the anger that came her way when she ripped up the picture of the Pope on SNL. Big deal.

[jaghetersimon]

She's a stunning woman, so talented and intelligent. I'm surprised she's on Oprah.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

I remember seeing her on Oprah when she talked about being diagnosed as bipolar. I think it's great she spoke out about it. Does anyone know the latest on her music career?

She is incredibly talented. Intelligent, opinionated, strong-willed, and yet very fragile. And she has the voice of an angel.

I don't really see a comparison between her and Amy Winehouse. Sinead did some bizarre shit, but I don't think she was ever a hardcore drug addict who wandered about the streets of London in the middle of the night.

ETA: According to Wiki, she's now writing and performing reggae music almost exclusively. Interesting.

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2008 14:23:02 GMT -4 WitchyPoo said:

I've always loved her. She's tremendously honest. I never understood all the anger that came her way when she ripped up the picture of the Pope on SNL. Big deal.

I never understood it either. I guess there was just less to be angry about back in the early 90s.

[Deleted]

Her two songs on The Chieftains' "Long Black Veil" album are world treasures. Seriously, listen to "The Foggy Dew" and "He Moved Through the Fair" and you'll be on pins and needles.

I'm not surprised by the bipolar thing. I hope her kids are okay, though. They all have different dads and Sinead's been up and down for years.

[Deleted]

I feel really bad for her children. I can't imagine having a mother like her. Its not just that she's bipolar, she also seems to have some freaky personality disorder:
One day she's a lesbian. The next day she's not.
One day she's slamming the Catholic Church the next day she's taking vows from some offshoot of the faith.
One day she's having a baby (a planned baby) the next day she changes her mind and aborts it.
I don't know. The lady seems unhinged to me.

[Deleted]

Sinead has always been very odd and seemed to go through lots of zigzag personality changes, but I always felt the reaction to the Pope photo was over the top. Especially since she pretty much turned out to be right about the Catholic Church covering up child abuse.

It was upsetting to me that she got so much grief for ripping up a picture on Saturday Night Live, of all things. When I read the book Live from New York all the interviewees got all huffy about how dare she do that and refusing to applaud her. That was when I realized that all the talk about wild and countercultural SNL was bullshit.

[Pomm]

Aug 27, 2008 14:50:15 GMT -4 @tversky said:

One day she's having a baby (a planned baby) the next day she changes her mind and aborts it.

Wow....that's scary. Was this from a tabloid or a mainstream news source?

[normadesmond]

Aug 27, 2008 14:45:38 GMT -4 @littleediebeale said:

Aug 27, 2008 14:23:02 GMT -4 WitchyPoo said:

I've always loved her. She's tremendously honest. I never understood all the anger that came her way when she ripped up the picture of the Pope on SNL. Big deal.

I never understood it either. I guess there was just less to be angry about back in the early 90s.

Well it was Roman Catholics who were mostly infuriated. But she was protesting the Church's hypocrisy in covering up child abuse by priests - wasn't she sexually abused herself as a child? - and I applaud her daring. (A little hypocritical for these same people to seemingly want to string up Michael Jackson from the nearest tree, yet when Sinead attacked the Church for its disgusting cover-ups, she's the one who gets excoriated and vilified.)

I also love her good-humored response to the lambasting, like when Frank Sinatra said he wanted to kick her ass, she was like, "Hey, I love Frank Sinatra, who doesn't love Frank Sinatra? Even to be threatened with physical violence by Frank Sinatra is an honor!"

She is incredibly talented. Intelligent, opinionated, strong-willed, and yet very fragile. And she has the voice of an angel.

Yeah, she does. And she has to be one of the best pop singers alive to go to for directors who want her to set a haunting mood for their films. Anyone remember "You Made The Thief Of Your Heart," the Bono-penned song she sang for the In The Name of the Father soundtrack? Or her singing the main theme song for The Talented Mr Ripley? Kudos to Bono for his writing of that track, and Prince for writing "Nothing Compares 2 U," but she's amazing in her interpretive skills, her ability to elevate and intensify other people's songs (as well as her own of course).