St. Patrick's

It is nearing St. Patrick's day and so I was trying to think of an Irish band to talk about. Sinead O'Connor popped into my head as a very good topic. O'Connor was born in Ireland and most well-known for her controversial actions on Saturday Night Live. O'Connor's career took a political shift on October 3, 1992, when she appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest. She was singing an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War," which she intended as a protest over the sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, by changing the lyric "racism" to "child abuse." She then presented a photo of Pope John Paul II to the camera while singing the word "evil," after which she tore the photo into pieces, said "Fight the real enemy," and threw the pieces towards the camera. Two weeks after the Saturday Night Live appearance, she was set to perform "I Believe in You" at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary tribute concert in Madison Square Garden. She was greeted by a thundering mixture of cheers and jeers. During the booing, Kris Kristofferson told her not to "let the bastards get you down," to which she replied, "I'm not down." The noise eventually became so loud that O'Connor saw no point in starting the scheduled song. She called for the keyboard player to stop and the microphone to be turned up, and then screamed over the audience with an improvised, shouted rendition of "War." This time, she sang the song, stopping just after the part in which the lyrics talk about child abuse. She then looked straight to the audience for a second and left the stage. Kristofferson then comforted her, as she cried. On 22 September 1997, O'Connor was interviewed in Vita, an Italian weekly newspaper. In the interview, she asked the Pope to forgive her. She claimed that the tearing of the photo was "a ridiculous act, the gesture of a girl rebel." She said she did it "because I was in rebellion against the faith, but I was still within the faith." She went on to quote Saint Augustine by saying, "Anger is the first step towards courage."