Last Saturday's death of troubled UK singer Amy Winehouse was obviously traumatic for her family. But it was not unexpected: her battle with drugs, drink and depression made daily headlines. She was constantly in the tabloids, often bruised up, sometimes barely dressed, occasionally under arrest, drunk or stoned. For years, one website even asked contestants to predict the date of the singer’s death for the chance to win a free iPod!
What's also not unexpected is the on-line discussion about "27" - her age at death and rock-and-roll’s supposedly 'killer' number. It’s the age at which Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Janis Joplin, Ron McKernan (The Grateful Dead), Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones (Rolling Stones) and Jim Morrison (The Doors) died.
That death-age coincidence has spurred decades of theories in music circles — enough to inspire Eric Segalstad’s book The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock And Roll. Is it the age when fate decides to give you a disease, have you murdered or wrap your car around a telephone pole? Nupe: I'm thinking its the age when your money and access to excess, exceeds your actual intelligence and talent. As seems to have been the case with Winehouse...
Winehouse inspired countless tattoos, beehive hairdos, upper-lip piercings, and Halloween costumes - golly gee, is there a bigger sign of pop superstardom? She certainly did not leave a musical legacy with which to be immortalised - just two albums (if you forget her forgettable debut). No great output, so no great loss. One of her few hit songs was Rehab...but she 'flipped the bird' at such help.
So the 'rending of garments' among fans is a tad over-the-top: she brought her demise upon herself. Amy Winehouse was a train wreck waiting to happen. She'll only be remembered for her image. She was never going to live long enough to slide into mediocrity.
PS: 27 Oct.2011 - Inquest shows Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning.
3 comments:
You obviously don't know her work. You don't know what it was like to be in her shoes, so stay in your lane. When you reach sainthood with your own good acts and blessed deeds outside of talking trash about others, THEN talk about how her death was meaningless.
On the contrary, I DO know her work, and do not consider her worthy of beatification.
Nothing of Winehouse's life or actions constitutes "good acts and blessed deeds" unless you're referring to keeping the alcohol merchants and drug dealers in business.
As for her death being meaningless, they were your words, not mine. But her death DID rocket her album to No.1...
I agree. It's interesting to see how many people Idolized a junkie. Could she sing? Don't know never really listened to her. Was she a good person? I don't know .. maybe? I never knew her nor do any of the people who will defend her actions.
Should she have won any awards? Absolutely not. She didn't accomplish anything great regarding the music industry. Just putting out a couple of albums doesn't cut it. It's a shame that the youth of today seem to think so. You know true talent when their music is being listened to decades down the line. I fear her music will only fade into obscurity. What I find even more atrocious is how many celebrities pretend to "love" her and know her so well when they might have worked with her once or saw her in passing at some music event. It seems the music industry is more concerned with quick record deals and short term returns. Shit at least certain members of Nsync went on to do better things and the totally blow. In my opinion nothing more than a junkie that got lucky and didn't know how to cope. Shame
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