I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got by Sinéad O'Connor

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, the second album from Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, came out in 1990 on Ensign and Chrysalis, with O'Connor producing alongside Nellee Hooper. It is a stark, brave and often beautiful record, and its most famous moment is a borrowed one: her version of the Prince song "Nothing Compares 2 U", which went to number one in several countries.

Her take is all naked ache and that voice, cracking and soaring by turns, and it set the tone for everything around it. The rest of the album moves from the snarl of "The Emperor's New Clothes" to the hushed, spectral "I Am Stretched on Your Grave", with "Black Boys on Mopeds" landing soft and seething. There's folk in its bones and rock in its spine, and it never sounds like anybody else.

The Grammys put it up for four awards and handed it the prize in the alternative category, and O'Connor refused to accept either the nominations or the award. It has sold more than seven million copies around the world.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.