My first thought when I heard about the tragic death of legendary singer Sinéad O'Connor was, "I'm going to deck the next right-wing mofo who claims he's being 'canceled' because someone called him names on the internet."
OK, that's not exactly true. My first thought wasn't really a thought at all, just grief over this loss. At her best, O'Connor could equal Tori Amos in cutting through the sardonic Gen-X emotional defenses so many people around my age developed in our macramé-covered childhoods. Songs like "Troy," "The Emperor's New Clothes" and, of course, "Nothing Compares 2 U" revealed a singer with the rare power of heartbreak, which was especially rare in the cooler-than-thou college rock era when she was a platinum-selling artist.
