RIP Amy

[rockfotze]

What a sad day. A talented musician plagued with a deep sadness that prevented her from successfully fighting her battle with drugs and alcohol passed away at the tender age of 27. As Tammy said, “She sang the blues so well because she knew it so well”.

It saddens me that so many people think “Oh well, she was a drug addict, it’s no surprise really and I don’t feel bad for her”. In my opinion, people don’t choose to be come drug addicts, there is something inside them that makes them feel the need to kill themselves slowly with harmful substances. I’m sure she didn’t wake up one day and say “I am going to start doing drugs for a bit of a laugh so that it makes me extremely sick and ruins my career”. She was a tormented soul who couldn’t deal with the fame and the horrific paparazzi who hounded her ceaselessly. Her outlet was drinking and taking drugs and it eventually killed her.

She was so extremely talented and until the addictions ravaged her, she was a gorgeous young woman who had a bright future ahead of her. If only singing about her woes had been enough to get her through the dark times. I try not to look at the photos of her where she is emaciated and a shadow of her former self, because that was not who she was. Instead I look at her in happier times and listen to her music and think about what could have been had she had the strength to pull through.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_telecaster/]

I respectfully disagree.
I don't mean to offend anyone, but she was an addict who refused help - any sort of help. Its one thing to become addicted, but its another thing to let it take over your life in this way. Surely people cherished her for her talent. But it was really her drug addiction that made her famous, esp. outside the music-lovers-community. And that is something I strongly oppose to.
She wasn't an role model, yet many young girls mistook her for one. That is just wrong.
As I said, I don't mean to troll or to offend anyone. But what I find particularly shocking is that your blog-entry as well as all the other memorial-pages all over facebook etc completely ignore those 80-something teenagers, who lost their lives in the bloom of their youth when this insane wanker went on a killing-spree in Norway. A rockstar whose drug addiction more or less made her commit suicide doesn't really add up to this tragedy that happened in Europe this weekend. But that's just my opinion...

[dienacht.livejournal.com]

Don't worry you haven't offended anyone here. Thank you for sharing your opinion, this is why I blog, to share my opinions and hear what others have to say on the matter.

I absolutely understand what you mean, and for a long time I felt the same about Amy Winehouse. I'd criticise her for wasting her talent with drugs and alcohol and make fun of her appearance in her music videos. It wasn't until a friend stopped me and explained I was being unfair on her, someone I didn't know and who was clearly having troubles that I didn't understand. She reminded me it wasn't my place to judge and that drug addiction is a disease and I was being unnecessarily cruel. From then on I have stopped looking at Amy from the media's perspective and hoped she would have the strength to recover. Sadly, it wasn't to be.

As for the press coverage of her death vs the mass killing in Oslo, that's just how media works, fair or not. She was famous so her death will generate a lot of publicity. Sure she was the one who brought about her own death, but she was a famous singer so she will attract a lot of attention. As for why I blogged about her instead of the shooting in Norway, I knew people would question this but as I blog about music, I felt I had more to say about Amy's death than those of those poor teenagers. Honestly, all I can say about the shooting was that it was a horrific tragedy and I wish people took all types of religious extremism seriously, not just those from the middle east. I hope justice is swift for that mad man and hope those poor families can recover eventually. I'm still thinking of posting a log about it anyway, but I want to make sure I say it well.

[mayet.livejournal.com]

What I found striking was that the quotes from her own mother were basically that "we've been expecting this for a while". I do think there is something to be said for the fact that even with access to the right resources, she made no attempt to help herself. But I also think that is just sad, that she felt like that about her own worth- that she was not worth helping. Perhaps she is less tormented now.

[dienacht.livejournal.com]

It is sad, I think her parents did try to help but she moved on from drugs to alcohol and her body just couldn't handle the abuse. I wonder if they really tried to help her, and worry that maybe they didn't do everything they could. But that's not for me to know, so I try not to think about it too much.

[modestmaya.livejournal.com]

It wasnt up to her parents, unfortunately. If Amy didn't want to get help and get better, then no matter what anyone else said/did would have made a damn bit of difference.

I lost my best friend and father to drug/alcohol abuse 5 years ago, and their deaths occurred only 3 weeks apart. All the years of begging and asking and crying and blah blah blah didnt work. Close calls with death didnt work. Support no matter what didnt work. People close to them that they loved telling them to fuck off and leaving their side after all else failed didnt work.

Some people do abuse substances as ways to cope with other issues, but the bottom line is that they let have succumbed to their weaknesses instead of choosing a better path to get help. This is no one's fault... it is up to each and every individual to overcome and grow from the terrible experiences life can throw at us.

[honeymink]

What you said about deep sadness might as well have been major depression disorder and the drugs were a way to self-medicate. Therefore, yes ... it's really sad. Also, I'm feeling so sorry for her parents. They raised an extremely talented daughter and couldn't keep her safe. It must be devastating for them.

[dienacht.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I can't even imagine how they must feel, because they must have worried constantly about the phone call saying she had died. I sincerely hope they did everything they could to try and help her, unlike many celebrity parents (ie. Lindsay Lohan).

From what I've read she was extremely depressed, self harmed and had eating disorders. But 90% of the people she would have encountered probably made no effort to help her, they just wanted to make money off of her. Such a shame :(

[tangochocky.livejournal.com]

It's a waste, I agree. You should honor her my dressing up as her for the zombie walk! At least her music lives on :)

[dienacht.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at least she was able to release her music so that she'll always live on in some way :)