[Landline] Singing truth to power

Our beloved revolutionary furie

Where I first heard Sinead O’Connor: this collaboration with The Edge, played occasionally on San Diego/Tijuana radio station 91X in 1986...

I was a huge U2 fan at the time — I was 15 — and so, naturally, was intrigued/enamored.

Watching Sinead (from afar, of course) go from semi-obscurity to superstardom within a few years was thrilling, especially when, improbably, she walked onstage at the 1989 Grammys, bandless, in combat boots, with the Public Enemy logo dyed above her ear…

Who else showed such solidarity with the hip hop artists being denied their rightful place on that stage? No one.¹

She was so incredible — so fierce — so beautiful — and so absolutely undeniable.

Look at this — listen to this — stoic, righteous fury, as she sings, a cappella, Bob Marley’s “War” to a sea of idiot hecklers, in 1992, shortly after her infamous SNL performance:

And witness this almost unbearably heavy Mahalia Jackson cover, memorializing George Floyd and benefiting the Black Lives Matter movement, recorded with David Holmes and released in 2020²… ("Every movement needs a soundtrack and the soundtrack for the Black Lives Matter movement was written and recorded in the Fifties by artists like Mahalia Jackson," said Sinead.)

But for now, I want to try and also keep in mind Sinead singing classic roots reggae covers with Sly & Robbie, for a little heard album³ released in 2005…

Marijuana (which she loved), devotion & righteousness, gentleness & pain, retribution threats, joy and groove and inspiration: that was her, too.

In awe and gratitude for Sinead, across the decades,

Jay

Tucson, Arizona

1. For more on this performance, see “When America Met Sinéad O’Connor” by Allyson McCabe

2. For more on this 2020 recording, see “‘Oh my God, this is like recording Nina Simone’: David Holmes on producing Sinéad O’Connor’s final album” by Daniel Dylan Wray

3. Arthur Magazine’s C & D disagreed over Throw Down Your Arms’ merits — at first. Click here and scroll down for the review.