{"id":481837,"date":"2026-02-21T11:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/481837\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T11:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:35:11","slug":"on-this-day-35-years-ago-sinead-oconnor-took-a-stand-at-the-grammy-awards-without-even-attending-the-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/481837\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day 35 Years Ago, Sin\u00e9ad O’Connor Took a Stand at the Grammy Awards Without Even Attending the Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite famously never wanting to become a pop singer, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor did just that upon the release of her 1987 debut album, The Lion and the Cobra. Three years later, more success followed with her sophomore record, I Do Not Want What I Haven\u2019t Got\u2014featuring the chart-topping<\/a> Prince cover \u201cNothing Compares 2 U.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that, the reluctant Irish pop star found herself up for four awards during music\u2019s biggest night\u2014the Grammys. On this day (Feb. 20) in 1991, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor made history at the 33rd annual Grammy Awards\u2014but it wasn\u2019t for her victory in the Best Alternative Music Performance category.<\/p>\n

Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor Blasted the Recording Academy in Open Letter<\/p>\n

Just weeks before she was set to take the stage in New York, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor stunned the music industry by pulling out <\/a>of her planned Grammy Awards performance of \u201cNothing Compares 2 U.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter explaining her reasoning, the \u201cMandinka\u201d singer slammed the music industry for what she deemed its \u201cfalse and destructive materialistic values.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey acknowledge mostly the commercial side of art. They respect mostly material gain, since that is the main reason for their existence,\u201d she wrote, according to the Los Angeles Times. \u201cAnd they have created a great respect among artists for material gain\u2013by honoring us and exalting us when we achieve it, ignoring for the most part those of us who have not.\u201d<\/p>\n

[RELATED: 3 Songs That Prove Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor Was One of the Most Underrated Singers of All Time]<\/a><\/p>\n

Also taking aim at her industry peers, O\u2019Connor continued, \u201cWe are allowing ourselves to be portrayed as being in some way more important, more special than the very people we are supposed to be helping\u2013by the way we dress, by the cars we travel in, by the \u2018otherworldiness\u2019 of our shows and by a lot of what we say in our music. How can we sit there hoping to win a Grammy when we have failed in our duty as artists to speak the truth.\u00a0How can we sit there hoping to win a Grammy when we have failed in our duty as artists to speak the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others Supported Her<\/p>\n

True to her word, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor did not attend the Feb. 20, 1991 ceremony at Radio City Music Hall. The \u201cDrink Before the War\u201d singer\u2019s rebuff marked the first time in Grammys history that an artist had refused their award.<\/p>\n

In a show of solidarity, Living Color lead guitarist Vernon Reid accepted the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance sporting a shirt<\/a> that bore O\u2019Connor\u2019s likeness.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences] doesn\u2019t dictate my dress code,\u201d\u00a0Reid later said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Featured image by Jeff Kravitz\/FilmMagic, Inc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite famously never wanting to become a pop singer, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor did just that upon the release of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[50829,88,216,17172,32716],"class_list":["post-481837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1990s","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-pop-music","tag-sinead-oconnor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}