Amy Winehouse - What's New?

I'm not from the Amy Winehouse generation - and the death of anybody at 27 is such a tragedy - and when an entertainment figure is involved it seems to be double so.

I guess my point is - tragedy that it is, how can it compare to to the losses in the 60's & 70's. Hendrix - drugs, Joplin - drugs, Brian Jones - drowning, Jim Morrison - heart attack, Ricky Nelson - Airplane crash, Ronnie Van Zant - Airplane Crash, Mike Bloomfield - Drugs, John Bonham - Alcohol, Marvin Gaye - murdered, Clyde McPhatter - Alcohol, Keith Moon - drugs. Graham Parsons - drugs, John Lennon - murdered, David Ruffin - drugs, Sid Vicious - drugs, and on and on.

Is there a theme here?

 

Common element in the situations being fame's effect not only on the famous person but also the people around them. We're just not wired to handle it very well.

For better or worse, fame is the magnifying glass that prevents the famous from hiding from their own frailties and enhances the odds that they'll fall because of them. Obscurity for the rest of us allows us a better chance of dealing with our demons.

 

I look at the whole Amy Winehouse situation and think that we are giving alot of time and attention to a one hit wonder. She was more famous (or infamous) for her off stage antics and drug problems than her music. As a matter of fact she probably had these problems before she was "famous".

The music industry loves very public bad behaviour. If it gets headlines it sells records and the company walks away with the cash. Plus drugs are an easy means of control. Get the artist hooked on dope they will do anything do get dope including working themselves into the ground and kill themselves slowly.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

Seems to me, that some of the most creative folks in history were indeed addicts. As someone stated, it's a tragedy, famous or not, & thousands of young people succumb to their own demons every year. I have found myself close to that edge, a few times, & thankfully, found my way back out of the darkness...thank goodness I didn't have an entourage to keep me fucked up (think Michael Jackson) & provide me with my slow death, rather, I was surrounded by caring people who picked me up by my bootstraps & helped me find a better way. But, I wanted that better life, & like many tortured souls before her, I'm sure Amy W. saw the light at the end of that long tunnel, but made her chose not to walk towards it...

 

Here's the thing. Both Winehouse and Cobain built their careers around their self destructive tendencies. You have to figure whether it's Winehouse singing about not wanting to go to rehab or Cobain singing "I hate myself and want to die". In an industry that isn't about art but commerce that shit is making mad scratch. And if the artist dies then shit howdy that is one less person they owe royalties to. Plus in the wise words of the Stranglers "Everybody loves you when you're dead." If you look at this from a business perspective every time another of one of these talentless hacks kills themselves their record sales skyrocket.

It's also sad that we have been so inundated with mediocrity over the last 30 or 40 years that death elevates performers like Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain to the status of genius. To me both performers were fine examples of style over substance. Even more accurately Substances over Substance.

To me the best thing to come out of the whole Amy Winehouse train wreck was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

Sharon Jones had been putting out really good soul records for a while. Amy Winehouses producer heard one of Sharon Jones' albums and called the leader of her backing band to bring them to England and play on Winehouses album. Then when Winehouse started to crack up the people involved with Sharon Jones decided to capitalize on it.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

Thank you! Every time I say i don't much care for Kurt Cobain everyone gets on my case. Then they jump on me even worse when I mention that I have no sympathy over his death. He killed himself, come on. It was his own fault, literally. People don't ever have a real reason for suicide. That's just a shame that anyone ever goes through with it.

I don't think Amy Winehouse was ever really famous anyway. I pretty much only heard of her once or twice until she kicked the bucket.

 

planned overdose death .. Look at me Im famous.. pttf..

 

She apparently died from a seizure caused by alcohol withdrawl. Some hardcore alcoholics who quit cold turkey can die from heart attacks and seizures, among other things. Which is why detox is so important, they give you things to help your body get used to being alcohol free, it's less of a shock.

Who would have figured cleaning up would kill sombody? Kind of ironic...

 

Thank you luna, that ^ is a point I made quite a while back...but I wasn't quite as eloquent perhaps. But everything you said is exactly what I think & agree with.

Also - comparing her to Cobain is just wrong...to me. She did NOT hang herself, plus it seems the tox "reports" are leaning more toward what is stated above and on my own post ( page ?)...which is the direct opposite of trying to kill yourself. She wanted to live if the tox results don't show od (again, imo) She was sadly misinformed, perhaps...and did not realize the consequences of going "cold turkey" on one's own.

In a profession I was once in, I sadly saw the possible results of it when someone tried that....to go cold turkey on their own. Some ppl truly do not realize their own physical dependence.

 

its frightening to think how many ppl think they can detox off of certain drugs w/o medical help- in fact instead of wasting money with our Just Say NO campaign, why don't we inform ppl how to be honest about how to get help properly so these things don't happen, or what not to mix?

As to the other thing- yes - there are two types that die young and/or tragic deaths of drugs/destruction - the kind that are just talentless train wrecks,(aka 99% of the ones on US magazine), and then you have the tortured ARTISTS, the ones that really had gone through ordeals in their lives and used ART, through any platform, whether it be writing, art, acting, you name it, but were severely troubled mentally and usally with drugs and alcohol too (I'm thinking everyone as way back asVan Gogh, or Poe, who obviously had mental illness that back then wasnt treated and basically died of alcoholism too) to Tennessee Williams to Marilyn Monroe and on - and obviously its debateable and often subjective who fits into what category (as I see ppl we discussing cobain), like for me I took it horrible when Brad Renfro and Brittany Murphy died- they were actors whose work and personalities, vulnerabilitities had meant something to me...so the most important thing, IMO, is just not to judge either side, one side may be troubled genius, one side may be just troubled, both sides may be trainwrecks, but just have compassion for both!!!!!

 

You're right, SC...and I was overlooking the tortured artist type. Which I mean that and am not being sarcastic. Some of the most intellient and gifted people also have addiction problems, and some have those "gifts" to their own demise.

 

very well said- it's like that old saying, your strength is your weakness! But I understand though your cyniscim bec. we don't focus on the geniuses, we just market the "celebrities" (aka famous ppl who have NO artistic abilities and are basically paid by hollywood to be ne'er do wells so they can sell their magazines and make reality shows) and meanwhile we never focus on true artists, we just exploit a bunch of confused and ignorant ppl who want their 15 minutes of fame and a chance to share their exploits in front of the camera. Its so frutsrating!

 

speaking of tortured artist movies that just get me in the gut everytime- The Rose with Bette Midler- now I don't know how biographically accurate it was, I love Joplin's music but I don't know the story of her life, but even just as a pure work of fiction- that one, omg, Bette Midler should have gotten 10 Oscars for that one- just like Nicholson should have gotten 10 oscars for playing RP McMurphy in Cuckoo's Nest lol! Same goes below for Brando in Last Tango in Paris- see, in my opinion, THOSE movies are works of art, because they show that the heart is the battlefield of the most exquisite agony, pain, and beauty- and one never can uncover all it's mysteries and which shall win in what heart and why....sorry i really expound alot my apologies!!

 

OH MY! The Rose w/ Bette Midler is actually one of my favorite movies. At the time, it seems that the producers/marketing (whomever) tried to make a big deal out of saying that it did NOT mean to imitate nor reflect Janis Joplin...and I distinctly remember thinking...well of damn course it "reflects" Janis. JJ is one of my very favorites, of all time...not counting that I still can play and sing her on the ole piano. :2thumbsup:

Anyway, this has been so many years ago now, and I haven't remained a JJ "groupie/junkie"; but, I will never forget what all I learned and read about her, and her talent, and how she never really felt she fit in.

There are so many sources of info about her nowadays - but all my info is what I read in regular books that were available on shelves (about 100 yrs ago?)...at any rate, there were different "facts" that intimate friends knew which didn't add up with her OD...like how it could Very Well have been set-up/a murder. Her tolerance was amazingly high, even after being in rehab for a bit...just sayin'. Several intimates have claimed thru the years, the whole ordeal didn't not "add up".
Yet, it was also said many times that it was the booze, the Southern Comfort, that was "killing her"...not the smack (which she supposedly od'ed on).

 

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong; (LOL - like I really need to say that here ) but I think Janis was the daughter of a Methodist minister, or choir leader...

 

Amy's music is beautiful. She was immensely talented, and its unfortunate people spend more time on her addiction than her message

 

Yeah the "Rehash" er Rehab song was fucking great.

Anyway. I've read a theory from various astrologers about "The 27 Club". Musicians such as Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin, Pigpen, Hoon, Cobain, Noell, Winehouse, etc.

Saturn has a 27 (or 29 depending on the astrologer you are talking to) year orbit. That means when you hit 27 Saturn is in the same position as when you were born. In some indigenous tribes it is believed that you are not officially an adult until you hit 27. The energy that surrounds this "Return of Saturn" so to speak is one of death and rebirth. Some can handle that energy. Some can't so they opt out. Usually by their own hand.

It is a theory and if you don't believe in Astrology you can call me full of shit.

Stay Brown,
Rev J

 

Apparently she's dead.

 

Yeah - but that's not the point. All these people were at the top of their game. Fame, money, success - and yet they're dead. What drives them to these excesses and or crushing depression - ie Kurt Cobain. Where does inner peace come from - where does inner turmoil come from?
Yet people who barely eke out a living hold onto life like grim death.

Apparently money and success are not the answer.

 

Joplin - God, what a magnificent performer - where did her agony, pain, beauty come from - why do we weep from her death.