Why did my post get deleted.... November 28, 2006 3:31 PM   Subscribe


This deletion is unfair and feels incredibly arbitrary. The links generated interest and discussion. Not everyone has seen this clip, and as the second link mentioned, it's been censored in syndication.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who had heard of this moment but never seen it until its recent YouTubization.
posted by hermitosis at 3:32 PM on November 28, 2006


(Also I had to sit and blink over whether the deletion comment actually referred to the photos of Britney's loins linked in the comments.)
posted by hermitosis at 3:33 PM on November 28, 2006


Fight the real enemy hermitosis.
posted by geoff. at 3:36 PM on November 28, 2006


I can't without an img tag.
posted by hermitosis at 3:37 PM on November 28, 2006


Yeah, the post could have done a much better job of framing the link, but it was a pretty dumb deletion and quite arbitrary. Kraftmatic should just repost it with better framing and, hopefully, it wouldn't be deleted again.

For the record, the age of something online is wildly irrelevant to its meaningfulness (or lackthereof) to metafilter. Over-moderation!
posted by The God Complex at 3:37 PM on November 28, 2006


I don't like this deletion either. This video clip is a cool example of something that has been suppressed by a media corporation for the last decade-and-a-half surfacing for public viewing on a user-contribution-based site. I think that this sort of phenomenon is very much the best of the web.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:38 PM on November 28, 2006


This post's subject is old enough to be having "self realtions" over the brittney spears photos.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 3:38 PM on November 28, 2006


The trouble with Kraftmatic reposting: this clip might not be available much longer. NBC doesn't want it seen, and they are fully within their rights to ask YouTube to pull it.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:40 PM on November 28, 2006


Plus now we can't tear apart Devils Rancher's ridiculous "bad singer" position.
posted by cortex at 3:41 PM on November 28, 2006


So a post about anything over ten years old should get axed. Gotcha.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 3:42 PM on November 28, 2006


What are you talking about? What is interesting about an old SNL music appearance that seemed so "controversial" at the time?

Did you read the first ten comments where everyone is all "wtf? delete this!"
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:42 PM on November 28, 2006


I normally sneer at complaints about deletion but I have to agree with this one. From the thread:

The reason this post is interesting is because it contains a link to the actual video. NBC has done its level best to completely bury this video over the past 15 years. The fact that we can watch it now is really quite extraordinary.


Someone wasn't paying attention. (But yes, the post could have been better worded.)
posted by languagehat at 3:43 PM on November 28, 2006


What is interesting about an old SNL music appearance that seemed so "controversial" at the time?

Guess you'd better axe those y2karl posts with links to old jazz and blues performances; they're not even "controversial."
posted by languagehat at 3:45 PM on November 28, 2006


It has a bunch of flags and most comments on the post are joking about how dumb the post is. And now, everyone here is saying it's a dumb deletion.

I'm going to go have a cookie.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:45 PM on November 28, 2006


The comments about it being a dumb post were the problem, not the post. The post itself was inadequately framed, which was made worst by the ritalin crowd.
posted by The God Complex at 3:49 PM on November 28, 2006


Have a watched_video_id_list_ :)
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:51 PM on November 28, 2006


Cookies can be very relaxing, especially with a nice glass of milk.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:53 PM on November 28, 2006


14 years ago I was 10. I had never heard of this and I enjoyed the post quite a bit.
posted by arcticwoman at 3:56 PM on November 28, 2006



I honestly don't see a lot of protests agains the post in the first dozen or even two dozen comments. Just the usual tug of war.

The flags were probably a reaction to its one-link-youtube-ness, even though it actually had a second (informative) supplemental link that points out how the clip has been censored ever since 1992.

I love you, mathowie. Enjoy your cookie. It's all going to be okay.
posted by hermitosis at 3:57 PM on November 28, 2006


Gotta say, just because you might think it interesting that NBC tried to squelch this clip does not make the post, or even the clip interesting. I suppose there might be a discussion about if she attempted that sort of behavior today ... it would be lauded, not despised, I might guess, by a great many more folks than it was. As it was, it was seen as juvenile and corny behavior. Frank Sinatra was pissed, for example, and that was as big and as newsworthy as the act itself was.You can read all about it and see the original clip all over the net. YouTube didn't free anything here.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 4:02 PM on November 28, 2006


NBC has done its level best to completely bury this video over the past 15 years. The fact that we can watch it now is really quite extraordinary.

Is that really true? I doubt they want to broadcast it or be responsible for it by selling it on to syndication, but I doubt they care about people seeing it in general. It's pretty lame by anyone's standards.
posted by cillit bang at 4:08 PM on November 28, 2006


It has nothing to do with youtube "freeing" it. Don't be thick. The actual mechanics of what NBC has attempted to do is interesting in and of itself, which is why the framing was somewhat inadequate (I would have liked to see that set up within the post itself, so people were in the right place to view the clip).

And, uh, good for Frank.
posted by The God Complex at 4:08 PM on November 28, 2006


What's with that ugly scar? Is that what an unneeded C-section leaves you looking like?
posted by davy at 4:09 PM on November 28, 2006


the holocaust: meh, it's sixty years old. it's got arthritis and it's growing bunions.
posted by quonsar at 4:11 PM on November 28, 2006


If the second link had been first, and if Kraftmatic hadn't called the post a one-link YouTube post (it wasn't), then this would still be up, I warrant.

But "putting links in the wrong order" is a stupid reason for deletion. If anybody had bothered to read the second link-- a pretty interesting article which framed the post nicely-- then this wouldn't be an issue at all. If "put links in wrong order, and mentioned YouTubery" translates as "framed post badly," then, hell, everybody but languagehat should stop posting now, as we're probably fucking everything up.
posted by koeselitz at 4:12 PM on November 28, 2006


Frank Sinatra was pissed, for example, and that was as big and as newsworthy as the act itself was.

Actually, Sinatra's beef with O'Connor was over her refusal to allow the national anthem to be played before one of her concerts. Their feud was already a few years old by the time this happened.
posted by jrossi4r at 4:16 PM on November 28, 2006


you can pile on Devil's Rancher for the "can't carry a tune" comment, but he made me laugh out loud with the "Doesn't she know that Jah would never give the power to a bald head?" one.
posted by micayetoca at 4:27 PM on November 28, 2006


Frank Sinatra had the market cornered on "juvenile and corny" years before Sinead came on the scene-- no wonder he got pissed.
posted by hermitosis at 4:35 PM on November 28, 2006


I was nine when this happened and I remember it very clearly. I didn't care then either.
posted by bob sarabia at 4:38 PM on November 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


Second chapter of the Second Book of Kings.

23 He [Elijah] went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, "Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldhead!"

24 He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of Yahweh. Two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths.


I think Jah loves the bald, micayetoca.
posted by cgc373 at 4:43 PM on November 28, 2006


It was poorly framed, but I am confused by the deletion. The comments weren't even that negative.

It may have been better to have other links about how this affected her career in the US, did she go on to make navel-gazing, one issue albums that deserved to be ignored, and, if so, was it in knee-jerk reaction to the reactions to her, but we never had the chance to get there.
posted by QIbHom at 4:48 PM on November 28, 2006


Crap post. Good deletion.
posted by ColdChef at 4:59 PM on November 28, 2006


Sinead O'Connor - the terrorists had already won.
posted by scheptech at 5:01 PM on November 28, 2006


the real enemy is spider veins in your nutsack
posted by matteo at 5:03 PM on November 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


"Teenage Mustache"
posted by bardic at 5:04 PM on November 28, 2006


Iffy post, slightly iffy deletion. I'm confused.

Still, I've had Nothing Compares 2 U in my head all day, so it's not all bad (except that in my head that song always ends up swerving between her version and The Family's original.)
posted by jack_mo at 5:09 PM on November 28, 2006


You know, if it weren't for this callout, I'd have never seen Britney Spears' vagina, and for that, Sinead O'Conner, I thank you.
posted by stet at 5:29 PM on November 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


Terrific deletion reason, mathowie, probably the best in a long while.
posted by blasdelf at 5:57 PM on November 28, 2006


My wife has been looking over my shoulder as I scroll through this thread, and when I explained what it was about she said, "So what? That was ages ago."

Then she told me that Ms. O'Connor is "some wierd priest now." As evidence she has directed me to Ms. O'Connor's website promoting her new album, and has directed my attention to the cross Ms. O'Connor is wearing in the splash page image.

I love my wife.
posted by mwhybark at 6:02 PM on November 28, 2006


Her exact words on reading my previous post were, "I hate you."
posted by mwhybark at 6:03 PM on November 28, 2006


Plus now we can't tear apart Devils Rancher's ridiculous "bad singer" position.

Quite frankly, I was looking forward to that. And for the record, I didn't call her a "bad singer," I merely said she didn't have great pitch. There's plenty of singers I love who don't have great pitch, (Hell, two of my favorites are Andy Partridge & Peter Garrett) but I do think pitch is sort of a prerequisite for being considered a great vocalist. Sinead O'Connor is an artist, with a unique voice, but it wavers, and she has the occasional problem hitting her notes.

And don't anybody forget the great Metafilter Maxim, "Your Favorite Band Sucks." (so does mine, I assure you)
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:03 PM on November 28, 2006


I'm going to go have a cookie.

If you're not going to finish it, can I have it?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:11 PM on November 28, 2006


So, the other day, Michael Richards had a slur-spewing meltdown. People are talking about it, naturally. But will they be talking about it in a month? A year? If there is a link to it in fourteen years on MetaFilter 7.0 and it gets deleted for being old news, will there be a callout like this?

Sinead O'Connor's controversial protestation on SNL is not in the same arena as the godamned Holocaust.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 6:36 PM on November 28, 2006


Man, I thought this MeTa was to celebrate a pretty good deletion quip, is my finger not on the pulse... anyhows.

This video clip is a cool example of something that has been suppressed by a media corporation for the last decade-and-a-half surfacing for public viewing on a user-contribution-based site.

I swear I can't watch 5 minutes of MuchMoreMusic (Canada's VH1) without seeing this sandwiched between Bjork hitting the reporter lady and Axl Rose jumping offstage to beat on that photographer.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:42 PM on November 28, 2006


Bloody hell, I had never seen the Axl Rose St. Louis thing before, though I had heard lots about it. That was some wild dive he took just for a camera, wasn't it?
posted by micayetoca at 6:53 PM on November 28, 2006


This happened when I was a young lad of 30. I saw the original airing, and it was kind of weird, but I was shocked more by the public outcry. It really was a bizarre time.

So... when I saw this post, my first thought was "Ugh... who HASN'T seen this?" But then, as I thought about it and watched it, it took me right back there. And I was converted to the "great post" squad.

Not to overblow the importance of this, but it is indeed one of those events in my life that I specifically remember, like when Reagan was shot, or the Challenger exploded.
posted by The Deej at 6:59 PM on November 28, 2006


Really?
I remember rolling my eyes, along with everyone else I knew at the time. It was about as "shocking" as Andrew Dice Clay, who had some kind of thing with her at the time also, if I barely remember correctly.
It seemed like weekly she was changing her religion or something, so tearing up the Pope was just kind of lame. Perhaps in the States it was more of a deal.
posted by chococat at 7:08 PM on November 28, 2006


Sinead O'Connor's controversial protestation on SNL is not in the same arena as the godamned Holocaust.

50 years ago, we would have strung him up and stuck a menorah up his ass.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:11 PM on November 28, 2006


It's old and it wasn't even that interesting when it happened.
posted by clevershark at 7:13 PM on November 28, 2006


Fourteen years! Christ...
posted by timeistight at 7:22 PM on November 28, 2006


Good deletion. The spoiler: she tore up a picture of the pope at the end of the song.

And we're comparing this act to the Holocaust and y2karl's wonderful post of rarely seen blues greats. Bizarre.
posted by justgary at 7:45 PM on November 28, 2006


Didn't Prince write Nothing Compares 2 U?
posted by OmieWise at 7:46 PM on November 28, 2006


She was a cute bald chick.
posted by jonmc at 7:55 PM on November 28, 2006


Is that what an unneeded C-section leaves you looking like?

Pretty much. Mine looks just like that. The scar.

Didn't Prince write Nothing Compares 2 U?

Yes.

She was a cute bald chick.

Again, are we talking about Britney Spears or Sinéad O'Connor?
posted by iconomy at 7:59 PM on November 28, 2006


I support this and all deletions.
posted by LarryC at 8:08 PM on November 28, 2006


Bad deletion. I wanted to chime in to say how I remember the event very clearly, but realized when I watched the clip that I never actually saw it. I also wanted to make fun of the typical "heh-heh, what a gross skank" comments in the Britney link. Yeah, boys; you're all too good for the likes of her.
posted by yhbc at 8:10 PM on November 28, 2006


Yep, you've got to at least be a backup dancer to get britney, or a high school pal. But a boy can dream!
posted by justgary at 8:14 PM on November 28, 2006


Frank Sinatra is very pissed at Britney Spears.

I just wanted to type that so it will be in google forever and ever.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 8:27 PM on November 28, 2006


people who think i was comparing sinead's protest to the holocaust are dimwits. i was using absurdity to highlight the bizarre quip in the deletion reason - it didn't say the post sucked, it didn't say the event was insignificant, it said it happened too long ago to be a mefi post. which is a dumb deletion reason.

the sistine chapel: meh, dude drew on the ceiling. centuries ago.
posted by quonsar at 8:36 PM on November 28, 2006


Say, does anyone have a clip of Elvis Costello singing "Radio Radio" on SNL (the first time)? I wouldn't mind seeing that (before it got deleted).
posted by timeistight at 8:44 PM on November 28, 2006


Maybe not a bad deletion, but definitely a bad stated deletion reason. This continues my campaign against cryptic deletion reasons.

Giving the appearance of deleting something because it's old further cements the idea that metafilter really IS intended to be newsfilter.
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:48 PM on November 28, 2006


meh, it's a ranting monologue that scarcely pretends to be set to music.

CHILDREN! CHILDREN! FIGHT!

I'm as idealistic a lefty fuck as the next man but sheeeeeeezihoozis... this is lame.
posted by scarabic at 8:51 PM on November 28, 2006


[The following is a fake FPP created to illustrate a point]


God and Some Angels, But No Cat Watching You Masturbate
posted by quonsar at 8:51 PM CST - 4 comments (4 new)

Great post! I've heard about this but have never been bothered to do the one google search required to find it on my own!

posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:52 PM on November 28, 2006


I thought "meh" was code for "this sucks" but I guess I'll be more straightforward next time.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:55 PM on November 28, 2006


I guess Sinead had the last laugh on ole blue eyes and John Paul Deuce though. Teach 'em to mess with her.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:55 PM on November 28, 2006


it didn't say the post sucked, it didn't say the event was insignificant

Perhaps matt gave members credit enough to realize both of those things on their own. If it had been significant enough, or not sucked, I doubt the age would have mattered. Matt's better off eating a cookie than spelling out each deletion reason as if we were children.
-dimwit
posted by justgary at 9:00 PM on November 28, 2006


And we're comparing this act to the Holocaust and y2karl's wonderful post of rarely seen blues greats. Bizarre.

You forgot Britney's vagina. We're comparing it to that, too.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:27 PM on November 28, 2006


I rarely care about deletions, but I think the rarity of this video made it postworthy. If you didn't see this the night it aired, you probably never saw it. I had never seen it.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:33 PM on November 28, 2006


I saw it and I was so fucking high on the headbanger boogie that I turned to my friend and said "why did that elf just tear up a picture of Archie Bunker?"*

Sometimes you can't exactly get it right for tryin' you know?


*I knew what was happening but that is what it looked like for a minute.
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:47 PM on November 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


I thought "meh" was code for "this sucks" but I guess I'll be more straightforward next time.

Actually, that reminds me: could we get a reason for flagging in the list that says "OK, this is just lame"? (I'm completely serious here.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:48 PM on November 28, 2006


You know, if it weren't for this callout, I'd have never seen Britney Spears' vagina, and for that, Sinead O'Conner, I thank you.

I'm thinking about calling out MetaFilter for not FPPing the best of the web.
posted by cillit bang at 9:51 PM on November 28, 2006


I thought "meh" was code for "this sucks"

I always thought "meh" meant "whatever", "I can take it or leave it", "I'm underwhelmned but not over-disturbed", "who cares really", "I dont find it hugely significant or meaningful but I can see where someone else might", "shrug", or something along those lines... meh.
posted by scheptech at 10:10 PM on November 28, 2006

Yeah, the post could have done a much better job of framing the link
[...]
This video clip is a cool example of something that has been suppressed by a media corporation for the last decade-and-a-half surfacing for public viewing on a user-contribution-based site.
It's not a matter of framing. What is now being called the point of the post was absent from the post altogether and cannot be inferred from the post. The post as written is newsfilter and 14-year old news too.
posted by winston at 10:23 PM on November 28, 2006


I always thought "meh" meant "whatever", "I can take it or leave it", "I'm underwhelmned but not over-disturbed", "who cares really", "I dont find it hugely significant or meaningful but I can see where someone else might", "shrug", or something along those lines... meh.

Indeed. "Meh" is the sound that someone makes when they can't muster up the energy or interest to say "whatever".

It is the sound of Paris Hilton getting more news coverage than Abu Ghraib, it is the sound of Generation Ironic caring more about game consoles than civil rights, it is the barely-audible sound of the police nightsticks hitting soft flesh as you pull down the blinds and close the window, it is the media-conditioned faux-worldly detachment of the neoserf in the face of corporate citizens and celebrity whores and rock-star CEOs and underpaid teachers and gun-toting children and god-bedazzled policitians, it is the sound of a once-great nation circling the bowl one last time before the final flush.

I seem to have had too much coffee today. Just riffing, there, Matt, not dissing.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:27 PM on November 28, 2006 [3 favorites]


Sinatra was personally offended? That makes this skit even funnier.
posted by O9scar at 10:30 PM on November 28, 2006


stavrosthewonderchicken : "It is the sound of Paris Hilton getting more news coverage than Abu Ghraib, it is the sound of Generation Ironic caring more about game consoles than civil rights, it is the barely-audible sound of the police nightsticks hitting soft flesh as you pull down the blinds and close the window, it is the media-conditioned faux-worldly detachment of the neoserf in the face of corporate citizens and celebrity whores and rock-star CEOs and underpaid teachers and gun-toting children and god-bedazzled policitians, it is the sound of a once-great nation circling the bowl one last time before the final flush. "

I thought the sound of that was "This is an outrage, an OUTRAGE, I tell you, and if we all just post on MetaFilter about how very angry we are about all this, certainly it will all stop!"
posted by Bugbread at 10:33 PM on November 28, 2006


Hell, I dunno.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:36 PM on November 28, 2006


Classic:

Frank Sinatra: You don't scare me. I've got chunks of guys like you in my stool!
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 10:56 PM on November 28, 2006


I remember watching it. And I recalled being annoyed with her because although I agreed with her sentiments, I also thought it was irresponsible for her to do this in the US where Catholics are a minority and there's still a considerable amount of anti-Catholic bigotry. Of course I grew up among fundies, so my perception of that is heightened.

But this is ancient. It's far from the only clip from SNL that doesn't appear in reruns.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:22 PM on November 28, 2006


I loved it when she channeled V'ger.
posted by sourwookie at 12:14 AM on November 29, 2006


14 years later we still have a Pope and everyone has forgotten we are at war. Perhaps Sinead should fly a jet into the Vatican to remind us.
posted by Joeforking at 1:25 AM on November 29, 2006


please put it back
posted by caddis at 3:34 AM on November 29, 2006


I thought it was worthwhile. It also could have used a link to the aftermath at the Dylan tribute mentioned at the bottom of the thread.
posted by EarBucket at 4:35 AM on November 29, 2006


I don't really agree with the deletion but I don't feel passionately about it. People would've complained either way and so it goes. But I was happy to see that clip again. I think people who were still young at the time might not realise what an uproar her actions caused.

Sometimes I muse about how controversial "I Want Your Sex" was less than 20 years ago. It's a stark reminder of how slutty we've gotten.
posted by loiseau at 4:57 AM on November 29, 2006


chococat: It was about as "shocking" as Andrew Dice Clay, who had some kind of thing with her at the time also, if I barely remember correctly.


Wait- Wha....?! If that's true, I'll be scooping my frontal lobe out through my nose with a novelty spork. Anything to make the mental images go buh-bye.
posted by maryh at 5:10 AM on November 29, 2006


God and Some Angels, But No Cat Watching You Masturbate

No, Ceiling Cat is in there. Look closer.

I still don't understand why the fact that the clip is OMG 14 years old!!! is at all relevant. It was interesting, most people hadn't seen it (at least not in 14 years), if you weren't interested you could skip it, just like with the zillion other MeFi posts you're not interested in. It's not as if every other post on the front page is a timeless classic. This just smacks to me of the door guy looking at the line of people waiting to get into the Cool Place and picking one out at random: "You! Take a hike! You're not getting in." It may not make sense, but it makes everybody else feel better.
posted by languagehat at 5:20 AM on November 29, 2006


(I'd have posted this in the FPP before it was deleted, if I'd seen it in time.)

I saw this when it was originally broadcast; at the time it was shocking, and I knew she'd written her pop career's death-warrant by doing it. It was an incredible moment of bravery.

I hadn't seen it since for 14 years. Thank you, Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese, for finding it so I could see it again.

Best of the web.
posted by seancake at 5:20 AM on November 29, 2006


psst, timeistight, here is the Elvis clip.
posted by piratebowling at 5:53 AM on November 29, 2006


It must just be a Texas thing (we don't exactly have a ton of Catholics), but the general reaction at the time (I was 18 or so) was one of general bemusement and puzzlement, not anger or shock. We heard on the news that some folks in other states were upset at her, and I heard Sinatra was pissed, but it wasn't until this thread (and the blue thread) that I realized that regular people really were shocked. I just thought it was largely a media exaggeration in order to drive up ratings. You know, 5 people write in complaint letters and the news says "there was a flood of complaints", that kind of thing.

Note: I was still going with my mom to Catholic church at the time, and I didn't hear much buzz about it there, either. It was just a non-issue.
posted by Bugbread at 6:46 AM on November 29, 2006


Didn't Prince write Nothing Compares 2 U?

Yeah, for The Family (basically the remnants of The Time, plus Susannah Melvoin and Eric Leeds). Interestingly, he generally gives away the writing credits to members of his side-project bands, but on The Family album, Nothing Compares 2 U is credited to him - must've made him a packet when Sinead's version came out.
posted by jack_mo at 6:49 AM on November 29, 2006

What is interesting about an old SNL music appearance that seemed so "controversial" at the time?Guess you'd better axe those y2karl posts with links to old jazz and blues performances; they're not even "controversial."
I agree--axe them all. And the classic rock ones, and the Janis Joplin ones, and just about anything similar that someone who was interested in them could find by searching YouTube himself. YouTube posts are good when they show us something we wouldn't ordinarily have found on our own, like the Numa Numa guy, or crazy squirrel movies, or LineRider creations, or great animation, something odd and off-beat, or insanely creative and new. If I want to see old blues and jazz (or SNL) performances, I can just look them up.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:45 AM on November 29, 2006


I saw this when it was originally broadcast; at the time it was shocking, and I knew she'd written her pop career's death-warrant by doing it. It was an incredible moment of bravery.

Or stupidity. It's such a fine line.

I actually wish I had been with a viewing group that was shocked so maybe I could understand. I remember it as being underwhelming. As far as her career, she's done plenty on her own to kill it.

Best of the web.

Deletion or no, not even close.
posted by justgary at 7:50 AM on November 29, 2006


I’m sorry for the loss of that thread if only for its poetic juxtaposition of Britney’s vagina with Sinead’s head, both proudly, defiantly, and hairlessly displayed.
posted by found missing at 8:02 AM on November 29, 2006


If I want to see old blues and jazz (or SNL) performances, I can just look them up.

Only if you know about them in the first place. How do I look up old blues and jazz (or rock, country, classical, &c.) performances by artists I didn't even know existed? Isn't it great when somebody knowledgeable, like y2karl, aggregates performances by a particular artist and puts them in context with some background? I wish there were more posts like that on MeFi, frankly.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:03 AM on November 29, 2006


I, too, thought I had seen this footage, but after viewing the clip, I realized that I was mistaken. I'm guessing I saw one of the many parodies of the event (most likely performed by Jan Hooks on a later episode of SNL) and conflated it with the original, after the fact. I'm glad I finally got to see this.
posted by gigawhat? at 8:06 AM on November 29, 2006


"It's 14 years old" is precisely why the post should have stayed. My first reaction on seeing the post was "yeah, I remember that, so what?" My second reaction, a second later, was "Not all MeFites are in their 30s or older, and some of the younger ones will not have heard about this before." If the incident had just happened a few months ago, the post could have safely been deleted. As it is, it's new to a large segment of MeFites.

I'm usually one of the ones wishing Matt and Jessamyn would delete more than they do, but not in this instance.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:39 AM on November 29, 2006


some of the younger ones will not have heard about this before

Lucky stiffs.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:42 AM on November 29, 2006


Thanks, pirate bowling. God, that was great. Like punk, but played by musicians.

I still don't understand why the fact that the clip is OMG 14 years old!!! is at all relevant.

Because, languagehat, mathowie is still a very young man.
posted by timeistight at 9:55 AM on November 29, 2006


I saw it live, and I also recall the offending bit replayed on the news at that time. That was it?
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:43 AM on November 29, 2006


Sinatra was pissed because she refused to allow the American national anthem to be played before her shows in the States, which was apparently standard procedure at the time. He said something on the order of wanting to kick her ass. Someone (maybe it was Sinatra again?) also offered her money to leave the States, which she took.

Also, since when has it become mandatory for young women to shave their pubic hair? I'd rather see fluff than razor burn anyday.
posted by jokeefe at 11:09 AM on November 29, 2006


As someone who read about the kerfuffle surrounding Sinead's performance but hadn't actually seen it, I'm glad this was posted. Thanks, Kraftmatic.
posted by deborah at 11:49 AM on November 29, 2006


Sinatra was pissed because she refused to allow the American national anthem to be played before her shows in the States, which was apparently standard procedure at the time.

Where? Not once have I ever heard the anthem played before a concert here in the US.
posted by NoMich at 3:35 PM on November 29, 2006


I recall her being involved in an "Anthem" brouhaha as well, but seem to recall it was a singular incident at one hall. New Jersey comes to mind. It was at roughly the same time as the SNL Pope thing, probably shortly thereafter.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:34 PM on November 29, 2006


OK, jokeefe what does shaving down there have to do with this thread?
posted by caddis at 4:38 PM on November 29, 2006


Sinead's bald. Someone accidentally posted a link to Britney's bald punani in the Sinead thread. An internet meme was born, or stillborn, as the thread got deleted before it could sweep the planet. Thank G*d.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:54 PM on November 29, 2006


It's pretty popular among people my age, jokeefe, so at least since the turn of the century. Disturbingly. And then you get people who expect it, and well, I was once dumped for thinking that my special place wasn't up to such grooming. I would have pissed if it hadn't been hilarious.
posted by dame at 5:40 PM on November 29, 2006


When I read the name "dame" and the text "pretty popular among people my age," my mind goes into a self-protective shutdown.

No disrespect intended toward dame, older women, nor anyone who shaves or does not shave their pubies.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:30 PM on November 29, 2006


What do you mean? There's a big write-up on the Brazilian Wax in this month's issue of Modern Maturity.
posted by found missing at 6:46 PM on November 29, 2006


I remember hearing about it, but I don't remember seeing the performance. What I find interesting is that in the US she was bringing up child abuse & the RCC about a decade before the sex scandal (although I seem to have a memory about child abuse allegations that occurred in Ireland--which would probably be what Sinead what referencing).
posted by MikeKD at 10:11 PM on November 29, 2006


People should always nether-groom, be they man or lady. /cough
posted by The God Complex at 10:49 PM on November 29, 2006




meh: when you don't even care enough to say whatever.
posted by blacklite at 12:56 AM on November 30, 2006


Wait, fff, how old do you think I am?
posted by dame at 6:02 AM on November 30, 2006


I don't think fff has been paying attention. He may be having a pavlovian reaction to the word/title, but the Wikipedia article tells us "The youngest person to receive a damehood is Dame Ellen MacArthur at 28," so it ain't all about the septuagenarians.
posted by languagehat at 6:36 AM on November 30, 2006


Going further, in the film noir "this dame came into the room. I knew she was trouble, the kind of trouble you want" sense, the average dame age is probably in the mid-twenties, with 28 being the upper end.
posted by Bugbread at 7:51 AM on November 30, 2006


Resolved then: dame is probably definitely either younger than or older than 28, but definitely definitely 28 at either the minimum or the maximum.

Well played, bugbear.
posted by cortex at 8:07 AM on November 30, 2006


My birthday is coming up.
posted by dame at 8:28 AM on November 30, 2006


28 going on 28?
posted by cortex at 9:20 AM on November 30, 2006


Very close to that actually. Maybe I'll get a hoodie.
posted by dame at 9:29 AM on November 30, 2006


While we're on the subject of rare SNL footage, does anybody know where to find the Chris Farley sketch where he and his buddies fall through the ice and meet the devil? A lot of people have told me it's funny but I can't find it anywhere.
posted by concrete at 9:40 AM on November 30, 2006


Blame Dame Edna. And my grandmother, who at times seemed very like Dame Edna, in her manners, graces, and ability to be offensive.

[shudder]
posted by five fresh fish at 10:03 PM on November 30, 2006


(I'm in this thread for no reason I can rightly recall. But while I'm here . . .) Happy birthday, dame!
posted by cgc373 at 8:34 PM on December 20, 2006


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