A stirring defense of Sinéad O’Connor’s music and activism, and an indictment of the culture that cancelled her. In 1990, Sinéad O’Connor’s video for “Nothing Compares 2 U” turned her into a superstar. Two years later, an appearance on Saturday Night Live turned her into a scandal. For many people—including, for years, the author—what they knew of O’Connor stopped there. Allyson McCabe believes it’s time to reassess our old judgments about Sinéad O’Connor and to expose the machinery that built her up and knocked her down.
Addressing triumph and struggle, sound and story, Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters argues that its subject has been repeatedly manipulated and misunderstood by a culture that is often hostile to women who speak their minds (in O’Connor’s case, by shaving her head, championing rappers, and tearing up a picture of the pope on live television). McCabe details O’Connor’s childhood abuse, her initial success, and the backlash against her radical politics without shying away from the difficult issues her career raises. She compares O’Connor to Madonna, another superstar who challenged the Catholic Church, and Prince, who wrote her biggest hit and allegedly assaulted her. A journalist herself, McCabe exposes how the media distorts not only how we see O’Connor but how we see ourselves, and she weighs the risks of telling a story that hits close to home.
In an era when popular understanding of mental health has improved and the public eagerly celebrates feminist struggles of the past, it can be easy to forget how O’Connor suffered for being herself. This is the book her admirers and defenders have been waiting for.
Allyson McCabe is a writer, reporter, and producer whose work is often broadcast on NPR, and her byline appears in the New York Times, BBC Culture, Wired, and other publications.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Framing
Take 1
The Lion and the Cobra
As Seen on MTV
Rock-’n’-Roll Cassandra
SPINning Sinéad
She’ll Talk but You Won’t Listen
The Takedown
Is She Not Your Girl?
This Means War
We Do Not Want What She Has Got
Wrecking Ball
Things Need to Change
We Need to Talk about Prince
Hurt People Hurt
Truthful Witness
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
What People are Saying About This
Sharon Van Etten
Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters is a thought-provoking look at one of the most influential artists and activists of our time that ultimately asks, "Why did we abandon her?" In her time of need, when she needed support, when she stood by her values—her audience trusted the industry more than the artist. I hope this book is read by those who don’t know Sinéad’s story, and those that do will gain insight into the pain and punk ethos she still stands for. Allyson McCabe makes us all want to ask Sinéad for forgiveness and, one hopes, ask ourselves how we can do things differently.
Vernon Reid
Allyson McCabe’s intensely engaging, thoroughly researched, and deeply personal critical assessment, Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters, makes a serious and sharply observed yet compassionate appraisal of its subject, inarguably among the most influential artists of the late 1980s and early ’90s. McCabe’s willingness to reassess her own dismissal of Sinéad’s work as being too pop to take seriously is rare; not many writers are willing to be honest about what they miss. Acknowledging that Sinéad's life story can be a difficult, contradictory mess, McCabe painstakingly relates this magnificent, irreplaceable artist's tale to her own heartfelt story, showing us in the process how and why so many of us also connect with Sinéad.
Shirley Manson
Sinéad O’Connor is a brilliant, fragile, and exceptionally courageous talent whilst blessed with the voice of an angel. This book underscores why O'Connor, having been treated so carelessly by the world, remains relevant, and it treats her with the reverence she so rightly deserves.
