For the month of October, I’m selecting a song each day from the decade that has the most meaning to me: the 80s. It was the decade that I grew up in. The period of time where I discovered my love for music — and explored many different genres. For the next 31 days, I’ll highlight a handful of songs that I truly loved and that were representative of the decade. #31DaysOf80sSongs
The thing I love most about Sinead O’Connor’s catalog isn’t her musicality. It isn’t her lyrics. It’s her fire. O’Connor sang with such raw emotion, more than any other female artist I can think of from the 80s . At times, the singing felt more like fits and outbursts. Her angst, fear and lust had a way of expressing themselves, and the melody and words were simply along for the ride. The perfect example of this is “Mandinka” off her debut album.
This was a song that I didn’t like at first. Truthfully, I thought it was strange. Why is this woman howling? Eventually, I came around. I started to think, this is truly awesome, this woman is howling. What O’Connor was able to do in falsetto is nothing short of impressive. She hit the upper octaves with ferocity. She spews the chorus with such conviction that you can feel every syllable. Every other musical element in the recording is simply there, riding along the powerful momentum of her voice.
“I don't know no shame. I feel no pain. I can't see the flame.”