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.
