Sinead O'Connor: C/D?

Some terrible news:

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/sinead-oconnors-17-year-old-son-shane-dies-apparent-suicide-going-miss-rcna11465

awful news, poor Sinead

incredibly sad

I’m going to take private time now to grieve my son. When I am ready I will be telling exactly how the Irish State in the ignorant, evil, self-serving, lying forms of Tusla and the HSE enabled and facilitated his death. Magdalene Ireland never went away. Ask the youth.

yeah this is horrible.

she's been through so much

Oh that's so sad

.

Sounds like she's really not in a great place right now, hoping she is getting some help and comes through.

I wish I was able to see her with Sly & Robbie.

She was backed by Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce on her first North American tour. My jaw dropped when I recognized them on stage.

I cannot imagine anything worse, on a personal level, than losing a child.

Absolutely, it's unimaginable.

I have just read about her having a hard time dealing with her sons death. I hope she gets the help she needs.

In the YouTube comments for “Black Boys on Mopeds”:

I bought this cassette when I was in the Navy, during The Gulf War. After boot camp and A school. I was in Saudi Arabia and then Spain. In Spain I would listen to it in my shop. It ended up being confiscated due to the song, Black Boys on Mopeds. They sat me down and made me listen to it. "They" are the Commanding Officer on down". I was enlisted and 19. I was in a big office alone with them. I was faced so that I was looking at a huge portrait of President Bush 1.

It was so strange how mad they were about Margaret Thatcher 's name being mentioned in the song. It was also strange that they were stealing my property, especially music. They wanted me to destroy it in front of them, I couldn't bring myself to follow their orders. We were in that office for so long and I wasn't allowed to go to the head or given any water or chow the entire time and threatened with insubordination. I gave in because I knew they would get their way and it would hurt the other military females. There were not many of us at that time. I asked that this be kept quite and not to go on my service record as being disciplined. They agreed and I destroyed it. I was so mad and confused and hurt. I had a perfect record and was excellent at my job. Having this music would have ended all that? Obviously I have not forgotten or gotten over what I learned that day.

Fucking hate the military culture.

I love her contributions to a bunch of loosely similar dubby UK electronica. Like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUVErnrbVEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEr0Bxl6yhw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLR2ZPFz8CE

these are all so good, I love her in the "Visions of You" video just like, grooving

One of my favorite things of her is this groovy collab she did with U2 “I’m not your baby” (discovered it on Wenders’ End of Violence OST but it might have been recorded before that)

She sang Visions Of You with the Invaders Of The Heart when I saw them at The Marquee around the time of the single. I was impressed!

She is currently receiving treatment for mental health problems in a Dublin institution following the tragic death of her son. I hope she gets better help than he did.

Absolutely. Speaking as someone who has had relatives struggling with mental health, it's really sad to hear about her struggles on a regular basis, much more than any other news. It's really daunting and unfortunate to see how it can be a lifelong struggle, and how much unending work it can take to deal with it. Not just for her but for anyone.

I'm seeing the new documentary tonight!! I am SO excited.

Just got a message that Sinead has pulled out of her gig for the arts festival next month.

Had her hug me once in Dublin in the mid 90s.

Looks like she cancelled a current tour due to having to deal with coping with the death of her son. Tour would have included date in GIAF.

yeah, the announcement (advised to take the rest of the year off and reschedule in 2023 when she's feeling better) is on the opening page of her site https://www.sineadoconnor.com/

Those are all great Josh, thanks for reminding me of them - I always slot this with them as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ31yNp6Nao

I'm seeing the new documentary tonight!! I am SO excited.

― music for A★TEENS’ musicians (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, June 17, 2022 11:14 AM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

how was it? might see it on Wednesday

Mikal Gilmore has a long and great Facebook post more or less reviewing the documentary (starting with a few comments on the new Marilyn Monroe and Elvis movies to create some context), but you need to have an account and follow him to see it.

Also I watched Year of the Horse again - great performance, it's worth tracking down the DVD that pairs it with an earlier, lesser concert video (also an excellent performance, but ruined by intrusive video effects). Otherwise, it's visible here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iTviZRVKxA

A helluva post.

that was a great post.

This is infuriating, fuck Prince's estate: "The urge to insult her some more even crept into the making of this film, when Prince’s estate refused the use of the song “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Prince’s sibling, Sharon Nelson, said, “I didn’t feel [Sinéad] deserved to use the song my brother wrote in her documentary, so we declined. His version is the best.” It was an ungenerous refusal on the estate’s part, and an unworthy statement. Prince’s version was not the best. He didn’t even originally stake out the song for himself, but instead assigned it to a side project of his, the Family, and it sat merely as filler on the band’s sole album from 1985. Though Prince had recorded his own version in 1984, he never released it. That version didn’t appear until 2018 as a posthumous single, though Prince had taken to performing the song live years after O’Connor had her hit with it. Sinéad apotheosized “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and in doing so won her place on the international popular music stage with her mesmeric rendition. She is the whole—and sole—reason people know the song, the sole reason why, thirty-two years later, it still speaks to a hurt memory that can still speak to our hurt hearts. Sinéad O’Connor is why “Nothing Compares 2 U” is indelible. It stands as one the greatest singles of all time."

Seems like a perfectly normal reasonable person, this sister:

https://twitter.com/Sharon_L_Nelson

oh jesus, fuck that family

i'm sure she really dislikes all the money Sinead's version of that song has made for the estate

Yeah, it's fascinating to realize Prince never ONCE got "Nothing Compares 2 U" right.

I love Prince, but he's always been a real dick to O'Connor over that song. It's like O'Connor did something to it that he didn't/couldn't and that hurt his ego.

I'd drop the "it's like."

*shakes head* Fuck, man.

Oof, terrible. Way too young. I'll be honest, I just never really clicked fully with her music, but I always respected the hell out of her and understood why people did fall so hard for her. RIP, hope she's found some degree of peace.

RIP little bird. You'll be missed.

I kept hoping she'd have her late-career renaissance moment.

This is a terrible loss. RIP.

horrible, horrible news

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z_GXwF6GE4

damn. she was a real one. that's all I can say about it.

This is terrible news and makes me sad

the documentary on showtime was very affecting...some amazing footage of her as a young performer.

i thought a lot about it, like i feel like most musicians, or a least i feel this way, have a certain knack for something, or at least a clever way of going about it...but not to sound uh rockist or anything, but there's something about people like her

it's beyond regular musical talent, like a pure thing, that pure voice she had, whoever gave it to her, i guess sinead would say god did...just a pure pure pure thing, that sound that came out of her, like something so profound you are born with it, that ability...not to say you don't learn how to sing better or have craft but it's got to be there, inside you when you were born. it's just a really deep thing to think about, how it must be to have that.

I know I posted it well upthread somewhere but this performance has lived with me for years, and years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeIHZvZTJTg

The Lion and the Cobra was one of the first two CDs I bought, back in...1987? Early 1988, probably, 'cause I bought it after seeing the "Mandinka" video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNXYFOPRuQ0

awful yet unsurprising news; given her life in some ways I can't even say I blame her, but I wish this had been different

man, i remember seeing that grammy performance of "mandinka" when I was 10 years old or so and just being amazed — nothing else like that.

i've always loved this one, not sure if I could actually listen to it today, though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRgnU4C1S-g