SOD: Amy Winehouse "Valerie"

Losing Amy Winehouse was a tragedy. It's a reminder that no how big a star someone becomes in any field, they're still flesh and blood at the end of the day, and they can be hurt by the same things your average person is hurt by. Be it a mental or physical disease, a bullet, or an accident. Nobody is really "larger than life," because life always catches up. 


When I first heard of her death, I thought about it a lot. After much reflection, with little meaning coming form it, I realized that Amy Winehouse's death was too fresh to be looked at logically. I think Winehouse will be better remembered 30 or so years from now. I know that's a tough charge to take, but down the road, when people are nostalgic about our time in music, Amy Winehouse will be one of the fondest remembered artists. It's not that people don't think of her fondly now, but you can't mention her name without thinking about all the drugs and alcohol, stints in rehab, and bad decisions. We lived through her media raping, the future won't have to. All that can finally be a footnote.  

It's like Janis Joplin. My father always loved her music, but you couldn't mention her without the drugs and the booze, and untimely death at, of course, 27. When I think about Janis, I think of the music, and only the music. I remember what everyone else, like my father, said about the drugs and booze, but its that incredible raw talent that shines through. I think Winehouse has that same raw talent, and will endure a similar fate. When the future hears her songs, they won't be tied to the tragedy, and tabloid headlines. 

Winehouse was a trailblazer. She has spawned a slew of copycats musically, and inspired even more. That will be her legacy. That her name will be used in the same sentence with Billie Holliday and Janis Joplin, and all the other great female vocalists, well that's the best fate she could face. The Adele's and Duffy's of the world wouldn't have had a platform to stand on, had Winehouse not brought that style and genre of music back to the young.

I love her music. Just like anyone else who does, the rawness of it is remarkable. Her affectations could be adorable, uncomfortable and grotesque, but they were real, and they were a by-product of the force that flowed through her tiny frame. You couldn't take your eyes off her, for better or worse. So a little after a year since her death, I think its high time to keep the celebration of her music alive. It will be interesting to see as the years pass, if her music stays relevant. I see no way that it won't.