Sinead O'Conner- An Appreciation

 I have to write about Sinead O’Conner and as I sit down, I realize I had an unusual relationship with her music.

I bought her second album when it came out. At the time, I made a habit of buying what I thought were the most “important” record of the day. I wasn’t necessarily that excited about it and when I got it, I didn’t listen to it very often. As a huge Smiths fan, I was particularly excited that Andy Rourke played bass on the album.

It wasn’t exactly the same case as the Sugarcubes, who had a drop in quality after their debut. I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got is unquestionably a good album. It’s just not like the raw early singles i hears and I dug like “Mandinka” It’s just a different vibe

No one could have anticipated that Sinéad would end up having the biggest song in the world. I wonder if I would have treated her second album any differently had it not.

After that, the focus really wasn’t on the music, and that isn’t fair to the artist but it was reality. I returned to her for her fourth album Universal Mother

The single Fire on Babylon was a tour de force. Part Bob Marley part John Lydon. The album was a mixed bag - a true cult album and again I didn’t spend a ton of time with it - but that single was powerful.

Sinead played a few dates on the one Lollapalooza I do attend and I think that (hazy memories many decades later) that we picked Yo La Tengo on the second stage to concentrate on instead. (Given YLTs resume, I doubt you can give me too much grief for this).

I picked up her 1997 Greatest Hits compilation So Far which collected some essential things that I didn’t have.

She had at least one more great single which unfortunately was too late for her compilation -2000s No Man’s Woman (off Faith and Courage)

Sinead sort of fell out of the spotlight, continuing to release albums. I crossed paths with her once more picking up what will be her tenth and final studio album released while she was alive -2014s I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss

Looking back now, you can see her massive influence and how those who came after- Tori Amos, the Cranberries, Beth Orton, even Alannis Morrissette and Lilith Fair to name a few.

I know I’m the early 90s, if asked I likely would have said she is one of my favorite artists. I haven’t really thought of her that way in awhile, but I do realize that I don’t have too many artists that I have four albums of. She was a really interesting artist and we are poorer without her on the Earth.