OT - Sinéad O’Connor has died
She had such a beautiful voice and made some iconic music.
RIP Sinéad
If she were a young performer today, she would be an international superstar.
So is she survived by 2 or 3 children? 56 is way too young.
The way I read it, she had 4 kids and one passed away last year. That's a heart breaker for sure.
Correct, on both points. The Irish Times is reporting that she is survived by her three surviving children.
My wife just told me that the 17 year old took his own life. Very tough for those around him ...and many of us can personally relate to this.
56 is too young to go, so sad.
Darn. RIP, Sinead. Nothing compared to your song in my mind in the 80's!
Song was released in 1990, but sentiment still stands. RIP
Well I guess I'm getting so old I compared her song to some Prince song. Apologies. No disrespect meant to her or her impact in other people's lives.
Her version was a cover of Prince's original song. Sinead's version topped the charts.
Being part Irish (with some family still in Ireland), I always had an affinity for Sinead O'Connor. She understood the struggle that Irish people were going through (including Ireland's shaky relationship with the Pope) that many just simply ignored.
I believe she converted to Islam recently. FYI.
EDIT: Nothing Compares 2 U is originally a Prince song, but Sinead took to a new level IMO.
EDIT #2: Mandinka is her best song IMO. I'm jamming to that now.
Tearing up the photo of the Pope and then embracing Islam is bizarre. Both Catholicism and Islam have massive issues in regards to moral bankruptcy.
No moral constancy.
Every message board needs a "Sal". Proverbial "pot stirrer".
"Line stepper"
What I said correct though. To go from lambasting one religion for it’s moral bankruptcy to another which is also morally bankrupt doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Time and place, Sal. This is the RIP thread.
Oh come on. One institution (not religion, not faith, but institution), in Ireland, can legitimately be seen as an oppressive and controlling voice of "authority," with a long history of making working class women's lives much harder than they would have been otherwise. One can, in Ireland, not.
Suggesting that an Irish woman should not resist or resent the Catholic Church because "all religions are the same" is almost willfully obtuse.
I agree, of course, Islam has (significant) problems of its own. But, it seems quite possible that Sinead was drawn to the religion of Islam, not the institution — not the particular role it plays in Irish society – while at the same time objecting to the Catholic Church as an institution in Ireland, not the religion.
So she's attracted to the religion of Islam, even while protesting the institution of Catholicism? I don't see the hypocrisy there at all, I'm afraid.
Until recently, the British (not Catholicism) have been the most oppressive and controlling voice of authority in Ireland. Ireland does have independence from the British, but they still occupy 6 counties in the Northern Ireland.
Not meaning to get into a debate about which particular source of authority has been more oppressive in Ireland. If you vote for England, fair enough. But Sinead O'Connor is hardly the only person who's objected to the effects in her country (which is not Northern Ireland) of the Catholic Church, and she has every right to comment on it.
I agree. The Catholic Church is not perfect (this coming from someone who is Catholic). Some people, like Sinead O'Connor, would say the Catholic Church is oppressive (especially to women). The majority of Irish, women included, would say that the British is far more oppressive. I mean, the IRA targeted the British, not the Catholic Church.
Heh heh. I mean, that's kind of apples and oranges, no? I don't think Irish women (as compared to Northern Irish women) would agree with you, since the British have no official role of any kind in their country at all.
In their country, the Catholic Church — which has forced horrific, draconian rules about abortion, "loose women," etc. et.c — is a waaaaaaaay more significant factor in their lives.
But lots of really good people are Catholic, I agree. And Muslim. And Jewish. And whatever. It's all good.
We'll just have to agree to disagree on this. While the Catholic Church was draconian to women, the British slaughtered many Irish women and children.
Not that I particularly care to defend the British, but to say they currently occupy Northern Ireland implies that this is against the will of the people there. Surveys suggest that, for now at least, only a minority want to leave the UK.
In any event, people who live there are free (since the Good Friday Agreement) to choose an Irish passport if they want.
You are absolutely correct. Ulster people feel more British than Irish, maybe because they are Protestant, but who knows. I personally don’t care as long as they stop killing each other, which has been in good status for awhile now.
No they don't
Yes, they do. All organized religion has some form of moral bankruptcy baked into it.
Ironic as my favorite recording of hers was her version of Silent Night. Incredibly intense and beautiful!
It is! Played it every year during Christmas back in the 90s. I may have to bring it back this coming Christmas.
I love it! Her version of Silent Night is on my Christmas playlist (Spotify).
She was clearly mentally all over the place.
History has not been kind to Irish. They were slaves, oppressed, etc. all over the world. And being mostly Catholic, you'd think that the Pope would help. Nope!
In Chicago, we still call police wagons "Paddy Wagons" because of all the Irish they put in them. Not to mention all the NINA (No Irish Need Apply) edicts on the east coast. The Pope didn't give a shit.
Interesting. You learn the oddest stuff on this blog. Like today I learned the origin of "Paddy Wagon." I had no idea.
Mark Twain wrote a positive piece on the Irish about their ability to mobilize politically. It's truly odd how those of various nationalities have become stereotyped across the centuries.
I'm of Dutch descent, and therefore stereotyped as boring, but accepting. I'm okay with that.
You're not much if you're not Dutch!
(so says my Dutch friend)
I know. I am part Irish myself. My ancestors lived in County Mayo and Galway. They lived in the areas hardest hit by the Famine,
The Irish’s biggest enemy is by far the English/British. The Irish were persecuted in modern times primarily because they were Catholic. That was the source of modern English racism towards the Irish.
It’s an interesting dynamic IMO. Some would say that it’s not racism since it’s “just white people”, but if you read the book From Apes to Angels, the English did not consider the Irish white at all.
Then the Irish come to America and they are treated like dogshit because they are not white (like Jews and Italians), but then the Irish got nasty. The controversial book, How the Irish became White, illustrates this well unfortunately.
In all fairness to Sinead. She tore up the photo of the Pope in an effort to defend victims of child abuse by the church, a story that would eventually explode into a global headline about ten years after her picture tearing actions on SNL. Looking back on it, from a historical perspective, she may have been ahead of her time, and it might not have been the best way to address the issue, but nonetheless, she had a very important message that fell on deaf ears.
I have nothing against it myself. I watched it live with some friends and I couldn’t understand what was going on at the time. Even in retrospect, I’m fine with it. Again, I just don’t think it’s very genuine for simple fact she couldn’t do the same in her new religion (which has a far worse track record)
You're right on the morality of the religions referenced, however over 30 years passed between her ripping the photo on SNL and her conversion to Islam.
I'm not sure calling it a lack of "moral constancy" is a fair way to frame those facts.
The Lion and the Cobra was released during my senior year in high school. I listened to that many times during my first couple years at UofM. So for me, this post is not OT. She provided the soundtrack for many bus rides to North Campus.
She’s most well known for Nothing Compares 2U (and the Pope thing on SNL,) but for me, that first album was her at her best. Such a beautiful, powerful voice. She’s one of the few artists I’ve seen in concert. Incredible performance.
I was still in HS when The Lion and the Cobra was released. That album was a lightning bolt and she was phenomenonal. There were a lot of moments of brilliance on her subsequent albums, but the first was the most consistently excellent. I saw her live at Guinness Fleadh on Randall's Island in 1997. My memory of that day is admittedly a bit fuzzy for obvious reasons....
News of her passing is sad indeed.
Every single song on "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" is amazing. She starred as a guest singer during Roger Waters big late-80's tour of The Wall. Amazing range, and ability to communicate an emotional feeling thru her voice. She had a very tough life, RIP & best wishes to her kids.
Wasn’t she with World Party for a bit too?
She had a more recent single with Bono/U2 called 'I'm Not Your Baby' that I think is pretty damn good. She had quite the beautiful voice, that one...
Had she been sick? You hate to speculate, but given her mental health struggles, and son's death last year, it's hard not to wonder if it was suicide...
RIP Sinead
I'm not overly familiar with her music but of course I've heard Nothing Compares 2 U numerous times. She had a very powerful yet beautiful voice.
I hope she rests in peace
Controversial entertainer
I think it's really funny how her "controversy" was just her publicly calling out pedophilia in the Catholic church. Today, we call that activism
I couldn't find it on the interwebs, but my memory is that she once said something to the effect of "Catholic priests shouldn't comment on people's sex lives for two reasons: one is that they don't have sex. The other is that they do."