Alfred Soto‘s tribute sent me back to Marcello Carlin’s superb write-up of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, and to this:

But she, Sinéad, is still willing to give life another try, declines to die, will not be dissuaded no matter how much shit is rained down upon her head or jammed into her heart; and so her “Nothing Compares 2 U” cut through all the jive bunnies, jovial teenpop cutouts and bogus AoR compassion which had preceded and still encircled it – its appearance at number one was a defiant and shocking bolt of thunder thrown into an arena of bland acceptance of business-as-usual, since business, the WORLD, just STOPS when you’ve lost someone, I mean, how DARE it CONTINUE…there is something about the record which gets as close as pop has ever dared to “the truth”…and no, if you know what that is, it doesn’t require definition. Think of Sinéad struggling through the snow and cold, sometimes seemingly on the point of death, but refusing to stop until she finds the candle of life which she knows is glowing at the other side, at the entrance, after confronting apparent demons which are only bigger guides…back to life, however we do want it.

Forget about the Guardian, a newspaper committed to justice only insofar as it doesn’t cause its writers any grief at the big family Christmas party. You can patch Morrissey while you’re at it, and if you can’t tell that he’s more interested in his own story than anything else you’ve got a helluva quarter century to catch up on. This list of Sinéad’s best songs, also composed by Soto, is a better use of your time.

Of course, this leads us back to the music, which tell a story without ever flinching from its place in the world.