USA TODAY
August 27, 1990, Monday, FINAL EDITION

Sinead, anthem not a musical mix

Edna Gundersen; David Landis


    The Star-Spangled Banner is back in the headlines because Irish singer
Sinead O'Connor wouldn't allow it to be played before her concert Friday.

   O'Connor said she wouldn't go on stage if the national anthem were played at
the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., where 9,000 fans were waiting.

   ''I don't see what (anthems) have to do with me or my music or my fans,''
O'Connor, 23, told USA TODAY Sunday.

   Fearing a commotion, center officials didn't play the anthem, but banned
O'Connor from any future appearance.

   ''I didn't mean it to be disrespectful,'' said O'Connor, who was unaware the
center played the anthem - rarely heard at a rock concert - before every event.
She said she wouldn't perform after any national anthem - even that of Ireland.

   But O'Connor had a particular objection to performing after the U.S. anthem:
''I feel very strongly about censorship, and I don't want to go onstage after
the anthem of a country that's arresting people and harassing people for
expressing themselves onstage.''

   At the arena Saturday, Frank Sinatra got a standing ovation for saying
O'Connor ''should not have been permitted to go on.  If she didn't like it, she
should have just left.''

   Actress Roseanne Barr's screeching rendition of the national anthem before a
baseball game last month caused a national furor and drew a rebuke from
President Bush.