First I’ll point out that Sinéad O’Connor had by her word “reverted” to Islam. Stating she had always been a Muslim and didn’t realize it and therefore was returning to Islam versus converting to Islam. Shuhada’ Sadaqat was her name at her passing.
2006: I was lucky enough to meet Sinéad in 2006 after a show in Manhattan. She was tired but nice enough to meet us – me and my girlfriend at the time. I had been buzzing my hair for a few years at that point and completely didn’t realize it but Sinéad (name at the time) said “Nice haircut!” while she rubbed my head in a pal sort of way. We talked for a few more minutes but we didn’t want to take anymore of her time. So we said goodbye, hugged, and left. I have met various famous people in my life but Sinéad stands out the most for me.
Sinead O’Connor affected a large part of the world’s culture and religion from the single simple act of ripping up a photo on TV.
In my earlier years, maybe 8 – 13 years old, I had chosen to be a Catholic. My family was supposedly Catholic but no one knew anything about the religion EXCEPT the Pope was the most important human alive. A few years earlier, I worked for the church taking Last Rites calls. I went to catholic schools. I did poorly except in music and religion which I had near perfect grades and involved myself in.
1990: Sinead had released a video for a cover of a Prince song that she had done, Nothing Compares 2 U. My mother bought the CD. The song grew on me from the video which MTV played multiple times a day. I recently started buying CDs so I had a small selection and my mom had her album on CD. I liked the popular songs but LOVED Black Boys on Mopeds. I think I could tell that she put so much more of herself into songs about subjects that pissed her off or upset her.
1992: I had kept her in my music rotation which was usually a lot of Slayer and Megadeth but hadn’t been listening to her as much at the time.
The action:
SNL, Saturday Night Live a skit show on NBC in the USA, was the TV show Sinéad used to promote her message, “Fight the Real Enemy” before ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul II while singing a Bob Marley protest song. I am unsure if I watched SNL at the time but I more likely saw a replay on MTV News.
The Reaction:
SNL’s audience gasped then silence. The next day kids in my Jesus based school talked about killing her. I just wondered why she did it and should I be mad at her too. Frank Sinatra described beating her up. Joe Pesci discussed beating her up the next week on SNL and everyone laughed. Around that time, she performed at a Bob Dylan concert and the audience booed her.
In hindsight, I think it’s very obvious that the media and victims felt braver to speak against the church. Brave enough to bring out the molestation cover up allegations. The official Wikipedia page on the Vatican molestation cover up states “After decades of inaction, Sinéad O’Connor brought the scandal to a head when she tore up a photo of John Paul II on a 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live.”
Years later on a different TV show, Sinéad made an amazing point, the “Roman Curia” (words she didn’t use but is the official descriptive name of the people that run the Vatican) don’t actual believe in God because if they did they wouldn’t have knowingly covered up priest molestations by moving them to other diocese locations. If they believe in God they would know he was watching and wouldn’t have done it.
Meeting Sinéad is one of my favorite life moments and she’s one of the only people that I think truly did something beyond herself that affected the world and not for profit.
It hurt her sales. She didn’t care. She said music was her way to protest. She’s a protest singer.
——-
I suggest also listening to Universal Mother. It’s one of my favorite albums.
NPR Article
Wikipedia Article on the Church
Wikipedia Article on the Photo
