Amy Winehouse’s young death not to be admired

Singer Amy Winehouse was found dead July 23 in her home in Camden,
London.

Given the singer’s age at her time of passing, the chatter about the 27 Club started in earnest.   

The 27 Club refers to a group of rock musicians who all passed away at the age of 27. The members of the 27 Club include Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain.

Making a fetish out of dying young and turning the dead into some sort of martyr is one of the most loathsome aspects of rock ‘n’ roll mythology.

Rock stars who died young because they couldn’t handle the fame or the drugs shouldn’t be revered — they should be pitied.

Winehouse clearly had problems, and I’m sure the cause of her early death will be her drug and alcohol habits. Success seemed to have taken a harsh toll on her well-being, as the increasingly dismal photos of her in tabloids showed.

What’s most angering about her passing is that she seemed to want to join the 27 Club. Seeing someone with great talent throw it all away because they want to live up to some rock ‘n’ roll ideal is truly heartbreaking.
 
It’s a shame the music industry’s emphasis on youth and beauty has made an early death such an appealing prospect.

Kurt Cobain also got the wrong idea of what it means to be a successful musician. Cobain’s suicide note featured lyrics from the Neil Young song, “My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue).”

The lyrics, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away,” have been misconstrued to be nihilistic.

John Lennon was asked about the line in an interview he did with Playboy shortly before he died.

“I hate it. It’s better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out,” Lennon said. “I don’t appreciate worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or of dead John Wayne.

“It’s the same thing. Making Sid Vicious a hero, Jim Morrison — it’s garbage to me. I worship the people who survive.”

An artist should not become complacent. An artist should find ways to keep the music vital.

Don’t install the departed Winehouse as an icon in that death-worshipping cult.
Take pity that she was beyond help and the rest of the world was happy to see her destroy herself for something as inane as rock ‘n’ roll.

­— ajcrowle@indiana.edu