5 Musicians That Need To Shut Up And Sing

4. Sinead O'Connor

Like Morrissey, Sinead O'Connor is no stranger to controversy and like Morrissey her causes are usually worthy ones. Most notably she has taken a stand in the past against child abuse in the Catholic Church and spoke out on numerous occasions against the Magdalene Asylums of which she was once a part. Unfortunately her means of speaking out have not always been the best way to do so. Her most famous past transgression was an appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1992 when she went of script and ripped up a picture of the Pope while performing. Though her cause might have been just, she betrayed the trust of SNL and disrespected the image of someone that a huge amount of people admire and respect. Would she have had the same guts to disrespect the image of Mohammed? I doubt it. There are much better ways to get noticed than by insulting a huge percentage of the audience in the process. Most recently, Sinead was in the news for penning an open letter to Miley Cyrus following Miley's extreme image change. Miley famously responded in a less than respectful way and the feud began. Firstly, Sinead is smart enough to know that Miley knows what she's doing. In a year when her biggest rivals Katy Perry and Lady Gaga both released albums, Miley made herself the most talked about woman in the world. Whether you agree with the method or not is besides the point. If Miley is running the show then respect her wishes. Sinead's point was that she was prostituting herself for success but if Miley is using the general public's obsession with sex to become a mega star, who is the idiot really? Miley? or the people who buy into it? O'Connor inserted herself into a situation that had nothing to do with her and seemingly just did so to make herself relevant again for a short while. Despite her music always getting favorable critical responses, she's only had one real spell in the mainstream with, "Nothing Compares 2 U," in 1990, but even that was a cover of a Prince song. Instead she has used her controversial actions as her way to gain more attention from the mainstream. Considering her attack on Miley centered on similar accusations you can't help but feel it a bit hypocritical. That week, Sinead appeared on Irish talk show "The Late, Late Show" booked at the last minute due to her sudden thrust into the spotlight again. Except, she refused to talk about the incident at length despite it being the only reason she was invited on in the first place. Instead she insisted on talking about how the music industry is dying and being murdered by reality TV shows. Typically doom and gloom, she could have instead used the TV time to mention any of the huge list of great bands that are still playing music. Instead she gave attention to the very shows that she is complaining get too much attention. Whether she deserves it or not is arguable but when Sinead speaks, people listen. Maybe she should use this power to focus her attention on promoting the stuff she considers good instead of what she considers negative. As the show continued she interrupted the host as he attempted to make viewers aware of the show's phone-in competition. Sinead claimed it was a disgrace that the show had prize money to give away when the country was in such bad shape. While she sat there clutching her expensive smartphone and showing off a new facial tattoo. Again, she made some fair points but they were almost drowned out by the waffling and erratic behavior. As evidenced by her Late Show appearance, Sinead is one of those people who insists on making an issue out of absolutely everything. She continues to make music though as always it's her other antics that gain her the most attention. Despite what she may believe, not every female artist has to follow the tortured Sinead O'Connor route. The same year that Sinead took aim at Miley was a year that numerous great female artists made a name for themselves. Artists like Lorde and Haim have proven this past year that you can still release great music and get attention without doing outlandish things. But mentioning these artists who gain success the "right" way isn't in Sinead's wheelhouse. Next time instead of latching on to the most famous person in the world and pointing out what they're doing wrong, use your influence to highlight the people that do it right. As Amanda Palmer wrote much more succinctly at the time, they need to let young women make her own choices of how to approach the industry, even if they aren't what you'd agree with.