Normally the Grammys are a parade of phony lighting and self-congratulation (but great costumes). The event just reminds you of how boring the music industry has become. Last night, however, was different the moment Amy Winehouse came on the screen. In a second she reminds you of that great parade of female singers that rip your guts out – Janis, Lady Day, etc. Does a woman have to be a self-destructive junkie to sing like that? Maybe. But it sure gets your attention. (Other notable moments – Little Richard still appears to have it at 75. But why didn’t they let him stand up and”rip it up”? Knees shot? “The Killer,” Jerry Lee, unfortunately, seems finally to be winding down. Too bad, but all good things must come to an end. Tina, however, is a force of nature – see below.)
Ever seen Jerry’s eyes. Coldest, meanest I ever saw.
hmmm
difference of opinion I guess
I’d compare her to Janis only in that she had that stoned out zombie look Janis would get when she was zoned out on the heroin that finally killed her.
Hopefully Winehouse will get her life together before she meets the same fate.
I find her derivative and unoriginal, as well as an uneven singer when forced to perform live. She is also an extremely badly groomed person, which is not very attractive to look at. She is one of those people who _looks_ like she smells bad.
A wasted Amy Winehouse butchering Michael Jackson even makes Charlotte Church look good by comparison.
Unprofessional, ignorant, boorish disrespectful of her audience to perform like this. Church is clearly disgusted. According to the celeb blogs, Amy performs live more often like this than otherwise.
I find Ms. Winehouse horrid. Her singing impresses me not. And she looks like a woman you sleep with on Saturday while stoned and try desperately to avoid on Tuesday.
I made the huge mistake of watching the Grammys and agree that Winehouse is a horrible performer. Perhaps, like Miles Davis (another drug pounder), she isn’t all that interested in performing songs once she’s recorded them. Having said that, her disc “Back to Black” is a gem; one of the few pop recordings that got me interested enough to listen to it multiple times.
I look forward to her making that idiot David Letterman very uncomfortable.
In situations like this I wish there was a grown up willing to break the prime directive of not interfering. Anybody?
Two records are not enough.
She’s wonderfull, she might still be worth saving.
Amy reminds of http://tinyurl.com/2md22z
Amy Winehouse is a very talented singer – about 10% of the time – and obviously a very troubled person. She may also have some sort of underlying mental illness that, combined with the drugs, fuels her erratic behaviour. Some people are stronger than others, and she doesn’t look like she’s going to live very long if rehab doesn’t take. The problem with trying to be Keith Richards is that most people can’t handle the pace of working in the music business, let alone while simultaneously doing a lot of drugs. Richards wrote and recorded “Exile On Main Street” and learned to ski all while he was a horrible junkie – as he likes to point out. And like many others – Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Jimmy Page, and on and on, he also worked very hard at his craft – a lifetime’s dedication. Practicing, traveling, getting like five days off a year. It’s brutal when you’re *sober*. I don’t see this chick mustering that kind of commitment but I wish her well anyway. Her life is worth more than entertainment.
As for The Grammys, they’ve always been sort of a joke. Great music still gets made and, as always, you still have to search for it. The industry is as slimy as ever.
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”
–Hunter S. Thompson
Part of the problem is that being a drug addict and alcoholic party animal behaving badly gets you on E!Entertainment, in the gossip blogs and tabloids, on the daytime talk shows and in the public eye. Witness the biggest attention getters of ’07-08: Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton. Look at Brad Renfro and Heath Ledger, not to mention the gamut of celebs from Kate Moss to Pete Doherty to Rush Limbaugh to Sean Young.
People destroying themselves gets press, so making a spectacle of yourself will get you in the papers on and on the news. I guess that helps sell records, because Britney’s execrable new record was a hit and Whinehouse won 5 Grammies, Paris Hilton makes millions, appears in movies and puts out a CD just on the strength of being a party girl.
Society’s to blame, I guess.
Amy Winehouse won the Grammies in spite of her behavior, not because of it. You may not like her, docweasel, but many consider her wildly talented. The same cannot be said for Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.
Well, her behaviour is the first thing I heard about her, long before I was familiar with her music (only recently did I listen to more than the 2 songs played incessantly on radio).
I disagree. I think her behaviour makes her image attractive to kids, who like a bad girl, rebel image, the same way many sub-par rock stars of the past enjoyed short spurts of popularity due to their noteriety, but not long lasting fame.
Please, by all means, link me to a vid of her singing LIVE, not in the studio, where she sounds even marginally in key and sings (or grunts, as is her wont) the correct lyrics, even on her own songs. I was unable to find one on YouTube.
“In a second she reminds you of that great parade of female singers that rip your guts out – Janis, Lady Day, etc. Does a woman have to be a self-destructive junkie to sing like that?”
“…in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michaelangelo – Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance… In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?… The cuckoo clock.” – Orson’s memorable speech in ‘The Third Man’
I thik you may be looking for this doc…
http://tinyurl.com/yoxanz
You got to give that Church lady credit.
Lem ?
that is the very video on the page I linked, but the page i linked has the added value of a REAL singer, for comparison’s sake, and so the kid’s can hear, if they have a yen, what an actual talent sounds like, as opposed to a posing, mugging, skanky looking, drug-addled wannabe.
Driving around today, a song came on the radio that got to me. Had to know who was singing. Googled a few lyrics when I got home… Amy Winehouse. Then I remembered Roger’s post. He’s right. She’s the real deal.