walking upstream…
Sinéad O'Connor
photo: bryan ledgard · cc by 2.0 ↗Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor (1966–2023) was an Irish singer-songwriter whose 1990 cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" became a global chart-topper and made her one of the most instantly recognizable, uncompromising voices of her era. Equally known for confrontational folk-rock songwriting, political provocation, and — later in her career — a full-album turn toward roots reggae recorded at Bob Marley's own Tuff Gong Studios, she remained one of Ireland's most influential musical voices until her death in 2023.
the sound in question
1990
Nothing Compares 2 USinéad O'Connor
walk the tributaries ↓
Bob Dylan1960s · Folk / Folk rock / Rock
O'Connor named Dylan first and foremost when asked about her favorite singers when she started out — "Bob Dylan, he probably still is" — and a 1991 Rolling Stone profile likewise describes Dylan as one of her stated big influences growing up. She's spoken specifically about discovering "Idiot Wind" and being struck by how brave and unfiltered its anger felt.
listen: upstream & heresource: Rolling Stone (1991) — Sinead O'Connor interview referencing Bob Dylan as a stated growing-up influence ↗
1975
Idiot WindBob Dylan
1990
Black Boys on MopedsSinéad O'Connor
listen forListen for the willingness to say something genuinely unflattering or angry in a lyric and let it sit there unresolved — Dylan's confrontational directness on "Idiot Wind" is the same instinct behind O'Connor's own blunt, accusatory verses.
Bob Marley1970s · Reggae / Roots reggae / Ska
Marley is named in that same 2012 list of formative favorites, and O'Connor followed through on the connection decades later: her seventh album, Throw Down Your Arms (2005), is a full set of roots-reggae covers recorded at Marley's own Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston and closes with her version of the Wailers' "War" — a song she had already performed, memorably, on Saturday Night Live in 1992.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia — Throw Down Your Arms (2005 reggae covers album recorded at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Studios, closing with "War") ↗
1976
WarBob Marley
2005
VampireSinéad O'Connor
listen forListen for the unhurried, one-drop reggae pulse and the sense of a singer using the song as a vehicle for plainspoken protest rather than performance — the whole register Marley popularized globally, which O'Connor spent an entire album paying tribute to directly.
David Bowie1970s · Art rock / Glam rock
In the same 2012 interview, O'Connor listed Bowie among her formative favorite singers, alongside Dylan, Marley, Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Pretenders — artists Wikipedia's summary of her career credits as shaping her 1987 debut The Lion and the Cobra.
listen: upstream & here
1974
Rebel RebelDavid Bowie
1987
MandinkaSinéad O'Connor
listen forListen for the theatrical, gender-bending glam swagger and clipped, sneering delivery Bowie brought to glam rock — a nervy performing confidence that resurfaces in O'Connor's own bald-headed, uncompromising stage persona and delivery on her early singles.