In 1993, Sinéad O'Connor was one of the world's most famous and recognisable musicians. Partly due to the huge global success of her cover of Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U - a number one single in at least 20 countries - the Irish singer's second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, sold more than seven million copies worldwide. But it was her controversial October 3, 1992 appearance on US TV show Saturday Night Live, during which she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II as a protest against the Catholic Church, which put her on the cover of newspapers across the planet. Anyone expecting an apology knew nothing about O'Connor.
On a recent appearance on The Michael Anthony Show podcast (not that Michael Anthony, Van Halen fans), Irish rock star Gavin Friday, the former frontman of Dublin post-punks The Virgin Prunes, shared an anecdote which speaks to O'Connor's fearless and indomitable character.
Six months after her provocative SNL appearance, O'Connor joined Friday and Irish songwriter/composter Maurice Seezer to record a song, You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart, co-written by Friday, Seezer and Friday's best friend, U2 frontman Bono, for the soundtrack to the 1993 film In The Name Of The Father. Before the recording session in Dublin, O'Connor asked Friday if they could go to a bar to discuss the song's lyrics.
"It was a Saturday night [and] we were recording from like 6pm to midnight, and we went to The Clarence [hotel, co-owned by U2] which was packed at the time," Friday recalls. "She walked in with this cape and it was like the red sea opening, people just went, 'Jesus Christ it's Gavin Friday and Sinéad O'Connor.'
When the pair reached the bar, Friday asked O'Connor what she wanted to drink, and the singer asked for a pint of Guinness.
"I says, You don't like Guinness, and she says, 'I want a pint of Guinness'," Friday recalled. "So I gave her a pint of Guinness and takes she one sip, and says, 'Will you get me another one?' I said, You haven't even drank it! and she says, 'Will you get me another one? I said, You want another one, you'll get it." So she gave her the pint. And then she says, 'I'll be back in a minute, Gav'."
O'Connor got up from the table with the second pint of Guinness and began walking across to a corner of the room, where Friday recognised a well-known Irish journalist from the Sunday Independent newspaper having a drink with friends.
"And I went, Oh my god," he recalls. "And she said, screaming, 'Don't you ever mention my family ever again in your rag!' and fucked it over his face. [Note to those unfamiliar with Irish expressions, this means that she threw the pint of Guinness over the journalist.] Then she came back down and says, 'Anyway, let's look at the lyrics, Gav.' And I'm going, Wow. Wow! Nuclear! Bambi turned into Darth Vader in seconds... I fucking loved her."
O'Connor passed away, aged 56, on July 26, 2023.
Watch the Gavin Friday interview in full below.
