Anything goes' era terminal

The Boston Herald

BEVERLY BECKHAM

Could it be that a line has been drawn, that wrong has been rediscovered, that in this millions-of-shades-of-gray world, a bit of black has been sighted and rebuked?

History will determine if last Friday night's booing of Sinead O'Connor at a Madison Square Garden tribute concert to Bob Dylan is to morality what the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was to war: a first shot heard 'round the world.

O'Connor, the 25-year-old Irish singer best known for her sheared head and her acerbic politics, walked on stage to a crowd of 20,000 prepared to sing Dylan's "I Believe in You."

But the audience of usually permissive Dylan fans didn't cheer, they booed. O'Connor stood mute and immobile at the microphone for a full minute while the crowd continued to voice their anger.

What prompted this demonstration is what happened two weeks ago on "Saturday Night Live." O'Connor, a guest on the show, sang one of her songs and when she was finished, called Pope John Paul II "the real enemy" and tore up his photograph. The audience, used to "Saturday Night Live's" irreverence, sat stunned. In the studio they were silent. At home they phoned NBC in record numbers to register their complaints.

For the next two weeks O'Connor continued her attack on the Catholic Church, blaming it for everything from child abuse to genocide. At the same time, she vociferously defended convicted rapist Mike Tyson as well as the woman-hating rapper, Ice Cube.

O'Connor's music-loving public wasn't thrilled with her behavior. Tolerant people who hadn't blinked at her refusal to allow the national anthem to be sung prior to her concert in New Jersey; who had accepted, even applauded, her anti-establishment stance, no matter how offensively she presented it, seem to have had enough.

When O'Connor left the stage in tears Friday night, chastised instead of praised, it was obvious something pivotal had happened.

For three decades the I-do-my-thing-and-you-do-yours, there-is-no-right-or-wrong ethos that has dominated thought and behavior in this country, has been sacrosanct. Nothing has been off limits. Musicians, actors, TV hosts, DJs and writers have gleefully knocked down centuries-old barriers with songs that advocate rape and killing; movies that routinely exploit women; TV hosts who make celebrities out of slime; foul-mouthed DJs and unprincipled writers who say anything about anyone to make a name for themselves.

And all the while this stuff has been "cool."

Chill out, hang loose, lighten up, our own kids say. None of this means anything.

As if people aren't molded by example, by the sights and sounds they are exposed to.

But then last Friday night, suddenly and dramatically, the tide turned. Out of nowhere a judgment was made; a performer's behavior was condemned, not by the media, not by the church, not by the so-called moral majority, but by a crowd of fans. Interesting.

One wonders what fate awaits Madonna whose current album "Erotica" features a tune, "Where Life Begins," that extols the pleasures of oral sex and even tells the listener how. Will fans say "enough" to her, too? Her video "Erotica" has already been shelved by MTV. Will fans let her 128-page $49.95 wrapped-in-mylar book, to be released today, languish on store shelves? Will the five-color book - which features pictures of her naked in bondage, naked kissing men, naked kissing women - be a turn-off instead of a turn-on?

The 34-year-old self-proclaimed "boy-toy" is already in different stages of undress in Vanity Fair, Vogue and People and there are plenty of these magazines left on the racks. Is interest in her waning? Or is it that she, too, has crossed a line, going from flamboyantly outrageous to intolerably offensive?

Offensive. This word hasn't had much use in decades. Since the '60s the mindset has been that if a person finds something offensive he should block his eyes or his ears because it is his problem, and no one else's.

What the audience told Sinead O'Connor was that her actions were offensive and were her problem, not theirs.

Will fans give Madonna the same message? If they do, then the age of anything goes is indeed terminal.