Two years after the massive success of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, Sinéad O’Connor blew up her career in spectacular fashion.

Critics and audiences were perplexed by her third album, 1992’s Am I Not Your Girl?, a collection of cover versions of standards. This is the sort of album artists usually put out deep into their careers, often to satisfy a contractual obligation. It’s certainly not what you expect from the follow-up to a ground-breaking and star-making release.

The real trouble, though, was prompted by O’Connor’s actions outside of the recording studio.

A couple of years earlier, O’Connor refused to perform a show at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey after she learned the national anthem would be played prior to her appearance. The decision was in keeping with a rule she followed for any country’s anthem but it predictably stirred up ample controversy in the States. The following night, Frank Sinatra played the venue and said he’d like to “kick her in the ass.”

The much bigger scandal came in October of 1992, when O’Connor used an appearance on Saturday Night Live to protest child sex abuse by the Catholic Church, tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II and encouraging viewers to “fight the real enemy.”

I can only imagine the firestorm this would have created in the age of social media. Even in 1992, it became national news. Angry viewers called NBC to complain, and O’Connor was widely ridiculed and attacked by political commentators and fellow artists. Joe Pesci and Madonna used SNL appearances later that season to criticize her.

Two weeks after the incident, O’Connor performed at a Bob Dylan tribute concert and was booed by the audience (kudos to Kris Kristofferson for embracing her onstage as she soaked in the abuse and applauding her “courage and integrity”).

Much of the reaction to O’Connor’s death last week centered on the fact that, whatever you think of her methods, she was vindicated by the uncovering in subsequent years of the horrific and wide-ranging nature of the Catholic Church’s abuses. If only people had cared more about putting an end to those atrocities than attacking a brave young woman for speaking out about them.

Needless to say, none of this controversy helped Am I Not Your Girl? find an audience. It’s a perfectly fine album, not very adventurous in its approach but featuring typically lovely vocals. It does have one standout moment in O’Connor’s rendition of ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.’ This performance gripped me at the time and still does.