Back in the 90s,
was it Sinéad O’Connor or Madonna that moved and inspired your 20-something
soul?
Last night, my
husband and I found our selves four rows back at a Sinéad O’Conner concert for
her “American Kindness” tour. With her
trademark shaved head and wearing a shapeless Bob Dylan long-sleeve t-shirt, she
at once seemed to flash her adorable dimples and her transfiguring scowl. She morphed before our eyes – first as a
beautiful, self-possessed women, and then as a rebellious teen-age boy. She was hard to capture, even though I tried
with my iPhone camera:
But her sound was
extraordinary – her voice clear and transporting. She had the audience in a frenzy – men and
women alike –and it gave me cause for reflection…
In 1990, Sinéad’s
breakthrough album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got,” contained her most
famous single, “Nothing Compares 2 U” (written by Prince), winning her a Grammy
award in 1991. The album was an
international success and the music video of “Nothing Compares 2 U” (she was
even before her time using texting characters) focused on her heartbreakingly
expressive and beautiful face, and is still riveting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUiTQvT0W_0.
I think I felt at the
time, that she and the album were mine.
That Sinéad Bernadette Marie O’Connor, a singer-songwriter from County
Dublin, was talking to me – a single Jewish girl living in Hoboken, NJ. It was the soundtrack of my 20-something
years when I was studying voice, starting my career and involved in a romantic
but tumultuous relationship with an Irishman (a County Kerry man with a thick
Irish brogue). But last night, as I watched all the 40-something women and men dance
and sway in the aisles, I realized that she deeply affected us all.
And then in those
same influential years, there was Madonna, maybe the biggest role model for
women at the time. Sinéad’s album, “I Do
Not Want…” was straddled by Madonna’s, “The Immaculate Conception,” in 1990 and
“Erotica” in 1992.
I never saw
Madonna in concert, but I watched her closely, listened to her music and danced
my heart out to her hits in the clubs.
In 1990, she went on the Blond Ambition World Tour and gave a
controversial performance of “Like a Virgin” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s__rX_WL100
and was criticized by the Catholic Church and the Pope who asked that we not
attend her show.
As you may
recall, Sinéad was also soundly criticized by the Pope and the Catholic Church –
particularly harshly for her defiant ripping of the Pope’s photo on “Saturday
Night Live.” Sinéad’s personae and sensibility was really the polar opposite
of Madonna’s. Both artists railed against the Catholic Church – but Madonna took
on sexual freedom and Sinéad, sexual child abuse.
While Sinéad
could transform herself from the inside with a mere look or sway, Madonna was
able to transform her image on the outside – reinventing herself with every
album and music video. While Sinéad
didn’t care about style and clothing, Madonna could “strike a pose” and inspire
a whole new fashion trend. And, while
nothing Sinéad did or does on stage seems choreographed, Madonna started out as
a dancer, and is still today, the consummate entertainer – complete with
back-up dancers.
At last night’s
concert, Sinéad treated us to some of her biggest hits, including one of my favorites,
“Emperor’s New Clothes,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFpregq5eJ4
. I recalled how her line, “How could I possibly know what I want when I was
only 21?” struck me then, and how even
now, at 40-something, I wonder what I want (but that goes under the middle age
crisis category).
All of Sinéad’s newer
songs from her album, “How About I be Me (and You Be You)?” rocked the
house. She had great chemistry with her
band and the harmony was spectacular, particularly in “4th and Vine”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIoi7s42lrA
and “Take Off Your Shoes.”
The show ended
with her vocal, accompanied only by the drone of an electronic organ. She combined her unique artistry as a
musician with her soulful talents as an ordained priest…and we all walked out
knowing that we had witnessed something substantive and remarkable.
So, who is it for
you, Sinéad or Madonna? Would love to
hear your thoughts and insights…
###