Friday, December 30, 2011

Nothing compares 2 who?



Sinéad O'Connor's emotional performance in this video for her 1990 chart-topping hit "Nothing Compares 2 U" won the hearts of many, but not mine. Something about the long long duster coat, short short hair, and that angry/wounded thing just got under my skin. I never liked You Oughtta Know by Alanis Morissette either, with that big brave "would she go down on you in a theater" line.

Angry heartbroken singing chicks make my bullshit meter quiver. (Quiver? O'Connor's painful five second to yooooooooooooou wail at the 1:18 mark above practically pins the needle.)

O'Connor's histrionic effort may have been 21 years ago, but hey, what compares to the following admission regarding her 16-day marriage?
O'Connor owns up in the interview that she went on a frantic hunt for cannabis on their wedding night.

"We ended up in a cab in some place that was quite dangerous," O'Connor is quoted as telling the Sun. "I wasn't scared – but he's a drugs counselor. What was I thinking?"

She adds: "Then I was handed a load of crack. Barry was very frightened – that kind of messed everything up a bit, really." --source
I am vindicated.

* * *

8 comments:

Dan Bushman said...

"Angry heartbroken singing chicks make my bullshit meter quiver."

You too? I thought it was just me having to face up to a shallow guy thing.

Not that I'm not shallow, mind you.

Anonymous said...

Erin-
-She is a FUH-reeek...I linked to her blog once, let's just say she was trolling for some shame...
MR

Anonymous said...

Contrarian here. 21 years any human will provide evidence of flaws.

"My Sister Sinead" Kris Kristofferson

"It’s askin’ for trouble to stick out your neck
In terms of a target a big silhouette
But some candles flicker and some candles fade
And some burn as true as my sister Sinead

And maybe she’s crazy and maybe she ain’t
But so was Picasso and so were the saints
And she’s never been partial to shackles or chains
She’s too old for breaking and too young to tame"

RJ

DogsDontPurr said...

Oh, Sinead. Way back in the day, she made a departure album of cover tunes from the 50's. Classics like Tony Bennett might do. It was actually great.

When I first opened my antique store, that was one of the soundtracks we played over and over. We figured out early on, that certain music almost guaranteed there would be sales that day. My customers LOVED Sinead belting out the classics.

I don't think I could bear to listen to it now. That first year of the antique store was a cold rainy struggle on the Oregon Coast. Each of those songs brings back every cold wet memory.

Your essay here, as usual, has nailed it.

Al The Retired Army Guy - And Iraq Veteran said...

My take is pretty simple - Sinead ... your "music" sucked then, and it sucks now.

Al
TRAG

P.S. There are about five chords in the whole song, BTW. That she can drag out such mediocrity for as long as she does qualifies as "talent," I guess.

twinkly sparkles said...

I don't care beans about Sinaed. But I do like this song, better without the visuals. She is pretentious, annoying, cloying, but Prince wrote it and I think that is its salvation.
I can see how it would be grating, completely. Who does that for me is Natalie Merchant. Nails on a chalkboard.

I think her magnum opus is "The Last Day of Our Acquaintance." In spite of her veneer of fake, that one gets me every time.

Happy New Year, EOB and family and all of the Owner's Manual crew!

Hal said...

Q. What does Sinead O'Connor do when she's done combing her hair?

A. Pull her up pants.

Thank you and good night.

Kelly said...

Alanis still feels edgy to me just because that album, when it came out in 1995, scandalized my goody-goody second-grader mind.