I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Sinead O'Connor emerged in the '90s with a powerful voice, big hits and a fair share of controversy. Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra sold over 500,000 copies and went platinum. With the 1990 release of O'Connor's second album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got” the smash hit single "Nothing Compares 2 U" (a once-obscure song written by Prince and first recorded by a band called the Family), ensures the album shot to the top of the Billboard charts and nabbed O'Connor four Grammy Award nominations including Best Album, Best Song, Best Female Vocalist, and Best Alternative Album. The video for "Nothing Compares 2 U" won the MTV Award for Video of the Year, and O'Connor was named Artist of the Year in 1991 by Rolling Stone.

Before Sinead O'Connor became conservative America's most reviled musician when she ripped up a picture of the Pope on TV and refused to perform live at a New Jersey venue following "The Star Spangled Banner," she vocally supported the IRA at home in Ireland and generally roused the rabble. Indeed, she's one female pop star who's truly earned her army boots. Though her once meteoric musical career has suffered due to her outspokenness, the powerful voice and presence found on her second album is beyond reproach. Best known as the source of O'Connor's breakthrough cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U," this is a moving, intensely passionate work full of dark beauty and longing, constructed with a fierce independence and a taste for the unique. This undeniably pop album (albeit with modern-rock and folk elements) has more than held up through the years. --Lorry Fleming