POOR SINEAD - SO MISUNDERSTOOD

We just can't begin to imagine how Sinead O'Connor has suffered. Mainly because when she tries to tell us, she wanders off down some sort of confused path:

“It’s a very difficult thing to grow up in the public arena,” O’Connor said. “That’s a very hard thing to go through. All your learning and all your foibles and all your fuckups and everything else in full view of the entire human race.

“(It’s) great in one way. Like cutting off all your fucking hair, you can’t fucking hide nothing. So I’m not saying I had no responsibility in the fact that it became such an unhappy situation, but the relationship basically between me and that arena was extremely damaging to me. That is a vampire world that feeds upon young people.

“Look at what it does to people on (American) Idol. Look at poor Britney Spears, the way she’s treated in the papers. Why should she have to deal with this shit?’ I don’t think any of them inspire the hatred that I used to inspire, but to be honest, I’m quite pleased with it too. In retrospect it’s fun, when you understand it. When you’re young and going through it, you think that actually they’re all right and you’re a complete piece of shit and you don’t deserve to live.”

To be fair, Sinead, the reason why people disliked you more than they do Britney is you stomped about saying fuck all the time, and ripped up a picture of the Pope and wouldn't do the American antem... none of which is entirely designed to endear you to the more conservative of cultural commentators, is it?

music sinead o'connor