#408 - Sinead O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990)

MUSIC HISTORY WRITTEN BY HEAD WRITER DJ MORTY COYLE:

Released on March 20th 1990 on Ensign and Chrysalis Records and produced by Nellee Hooper, Chris Birkett, Sean Devitt, and Sinéad O’Connor this is the second album by the Irish singer/songwriter.

Born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on December 8th 1966 in Glenageary, Dublin, Ireland she was the third of five children.

After her parents’ divorce in 1979 and due to her mother’s extreme emotional and physical abuse she went to live with her dad. Understandably willful by her teens she got into trouble with truancy and shoplifting and was sent to 18 months in a Catholic juvenile detention center.

Although at times traumatic her musical development thrived while she was there and her talents were noticeable.

When she got out she started a band called Ton Ton Macoute while still in school but dropped out to pursue her career.

Around that time her abusive mother was killed in an automobile accident which further complicated Sinéad’s past issues.

She quit her band and was soon noticed and signed to a solo record deal with Ensign Records at 17 years old.

And along with her attitude and her outspoken controversial political views about Ireland she also rebelled against the record execs who wanted her to grow her hair out long and wear miniskirts to sexualize her for marketing.

She went right to the barbershop and shaved her head.

She got the ex-head of U2’s record label as her manager, co-wrote a song with The Edge for a soundtrack, and sang on World Party’s debut album before starting her own debut.

She was also pregnant with her first child during recording.

Her first album, 1987’s “The Lion and the Cobra” was a hit and she earned rave reviews, alternative and college radio airplay, and award nominations.

She took all that acclaim and energy back in to do this somber, confessional, and emotionally bare second album.

While most songs were centered on her relationship with her late mother she also took on her past relationship, and expressed her political views.

The tone of the record led the rise of Alternative music’s darker underbelly which clashed with her contemporaries.

As she described it, “I was a square peg in a round hole. I saw myself as a protest singer, really. I was representing child abuse survivors. That’s how I saw myself. So I didn’t fit in to the pop star thing....”

The record was received even better than her debut and went on to sell seven million copies.

However some very controversial moments and statements effectively derailed her career trajectory.

And public bouts with her family and associates and open struggles with substances as well as mental and physical illnesses including bi-polar disorder, depression, and fibromyalgia have continued to plague her.

But there has been some recent positivity and we’ll get to that later