Robert Christgau had grossly underestimated O’Connor when, in 1990, he dismissed her as a “folkie Madonna.” Jon Pareles was the one who had it right when he noted that for all of Madonna’s attempts to shock with sex, “O’Connor [had] stole[ n] the spotlight with one photograph of a fully-clothed man.”
Pareles pointed out that if a male artist or band had torn up a picture of the pope, it would have scarcely made a ripple. Male rebels were lionized, while women were crucified. But more than simply seeing herself as a rebel, O’Connor saw herself as a specific kind of antihero who believed herself to be the “property of Jesus,” in the mold of the Christian-era Bob Dylan.
It was Dylan whom O’Connor most emulated, whose music had sustained her through the difficult years of her childhood and adolescence. Dylan knew what it was like to really be misunderstood, rejected, and criticized for who he was—for everything from his appearance to the sound of his voice to his right to make the kind of music he wanted to.
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