Sinead O'Connor

[Beyle]

I loved her rendition of "Nothing Compares 2 U." Another one of my favorite Sinead tunes is "I Want Your Hands On Me."

[may2]

She has four kids by four different men and early in her 20's she claimed to have had three abortions. She's crazy as a loon.

[JeanBean]

I think it must be a great relief to her to have the bipolar diagnosis. It certainly puts her past behavior into context. It's too bad that, like Lauryn Hill, her personal problems seem often to have gotten in the way of her making music. I think she has a beautiful voice, and I love almost all of I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. I'm going to check out those Chieftans songs mentioned upthread.

I did a quick Google and was surprised to see that she's still making some music and touring a bit. Looks like she's still rocking the short hair as well - love it.

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2008 20:21:36 GMT -4 @may2 said:

She has four kids by four different men and early in her 20's she claimed to have had three abortions. She's crazy as a loon.

The Pope should tear up s picture of her.

[RabbitEars]

Back on the topic of the pope...

Back when the notorious SNL incident occurred, the Catholic church coverup of child abuse was not nearly as widely known in America as it is now. If I remember right, a church abuse scandal in Ireland had just come light, and that's what she was referencing, but this was before the age of the Internet, and most people had no idea. Am I remembering that right? Anyway, to many Americans, she seemed to be taking the photo of a kindly, old, religious figure and ripping it up for shock value.

I saw it air live. I still remember the audience sitting in stunned silence as they went to commercial. I didn't personally find it shocking, just odd. Whatever she meant went right over my head. I was surprised it became a national scandal. But I was 22 and hadn't yet seen the fury of religion scored.

[Ginger]

Back when the notorious SNL incident occurred, the Catholic church coverup of child abuse was not nearly as widely known in America as it is now.

I think "priests molesting little boys" jokes have been around for ages, and the Sinead incident was after the Father Porter scandal and others like it, so I don't think priest molestation was an obscure issue. But nobody got the connection she wanted to make to the Pope, even after she explained it. It was not an effective act of protest, just a poorly reasoned stunt.

I still remember the audience sitting in stunned silence as they went to commercial.

Part of that was that the stage manager ordered that the applause sign stay unlit, but I bet part of it was a visceral reaction from the audience as well.

If you are not religious it may be hard to understand the gut reaction you can have to seeing something/someone you revere deeply in your soul being desecrated in front of you. The US discovered in their POW "training" of American soldiers that one of the things that most deeply upsets people is spitting on or tearing up the Bible. It breaks them in a way that physical torture does not. (And the US proceeded to use this technique at Gitmo with the Koran. Also very effective there.)

It's not a casual thing like somebody insulting your political candidate or sports team, it's a lot deeper. At the time of the Sinead incident, even people who weren't Catholic were outraged because they recognized that it crossed a line.

[angelaudie]

Oh yeah, Sinead has balls of steel compared to Madonna.

Gonna have to disagree with you on that one. After the pope ripping incident I quite clearly remember her apologizing and swearing she had nothing against the Pope, she had a great deal of respect for him, and she wanted his forgiveness. Not what I call ballsy on her part. She wanted the attention but she didn't want to deal with the fallout.

But nobody got the connection she wanted to make to the Pope, even after she explained it. It was not an effective act of protest, just a poorly reasoned stunt.

I agree that was the biggest problem. I think many felt she was attacking the Catholic faith in general which is why so many were offended. The Catholics I know felt she was attacking their faith and that will put people on the defensive. I think many felt she made up condemning the sexual abuse cover ups in an attempt to get some of the heat off her. Personally, I do feel she truly was condemning the cover ups. But her way of protesting just wasn't very effective.

[Deleted]

I think it would have been a hell of a lot more effective if she had actually gone out and SPOKEN OUT AGAINST THE ABUSE IN THE CHURCH, rather than going out and ripping up some stupid picture. She didn't draw any attention to the cause-just to some stupid publicity stunt.

(I do, however, LOVE her version of "Foggy Dew" with the Chieftans)

[discoprincess]

Aug 27, 2008 19:46:11 GMT -4 Beyle said:

I loved her rendition of "Nothing Compares 2 U."

Funny thing-that song, courtesy of my iPod, got stuck in my head around the time that this thread had popped up.

I liked the song when it originally came out (when I was in junior high school). Now that I am older, I have gained a deeper appreciation for the song and the beauty of her voice.

[alphabeta]

I really dislike her voice. But since everyone else in the universe seems to love it, I feel like I'm missing something.