RIP Amy Winehouse

That last sentence is about as wrong as wrong can be.

 

hey, j.d., chalk it up to this all you'd like. but no one here can possibly know what goes into everyone's stance on this issue. there is NOTHING 'ignorant' about it.

 

Fought that fight, hard, and have no empathy.
I beat it, why couldn't she?

 

i'm not saying that is so. just sayin' that's what the argument seems to be here: 'it's tragic and i mourn because a human life has been lost.' and those of you who feel otherwise are a--holes.

maybe some of us are. but it's not because of our stance on this one.

 

Boy, Shockey ... I dunno...

I've battled some of these issues, not to her extent in terms of drugs, but a lot of the rest of it.

There comes a point for some people where it's simply out of their control. Some fight for years and never get right. Some fight for years and finally get right. Some fight it, win some battles and lose some -- and then die.

When someone loses that fight, it's sad.

I don't particularly give a shit if you don't have "empathy." What I do give a shit about is people who say, "If you have the problem, just stop or it's your own fault" and don't understand that it's not that simple for some.

 

Who is to say she wouldn't have?

One extra snort, one bad batch. That's what separates Amy Winehouse, potentially, from someone like yourself. It's a thin, thin line.

Look, I understand where people on here are coming from. I am not going to play dumb and pretend to not understand that it's hard to sympathize with somebody who seemingly chose their demise. But I truly believe it's a disease. As someone told me who fought heroin, you're not chasing a high. You're chasing a normal.

I think CarltonBanks might have said it best. That was someone's little bundle of joy a couple decades ago, innocent with her whole life ahead of her. I hate when it ends this way. For anyone.

That being said, I'm mystified, Carlton, that anyone could "hate" her music. Her stuff was about as mass-appeal as it gets, in a good way. Not telling you what to like. Just surprised to hear someone say that.

 

Not for nothin', but oy.

 

And she had the means and numerous chances to kick it. The talent, by the way, is open to indvidual interpretation. And if she didn't give a rat's ass where she lived or died (which was all too apparent), why should we care that she was "taken from us far too young."
Street junkies have kicked it cold turkey and gone clean and sober. Some rich chick who could afford the best, most posh rehab clinics kept going back for more, and you expect us to care?

 

Sadly, she did, numerous times, when people tried to get her help. She even made all her money with a song about it.
It is chasing normal after the first few times it's fun, and after a while you realize that normal isn't ever going to be normal again and it's then you have to figure out if you want to keep chasing or you just want to be yourself again even with everything that has changed in your body and your mind (and it's a lot of changes).
My only bad feeling here is she had so much money she never gave herself a chance to decide if she wanted to chase or not, there was likely never a break, never a chance for reflection at herself and her life and what her normal had become.
I'm not going to argue it's a shame, but it's tough for me to feel bad for HER. Do I feel bad for the people who love her? Sure, but they didn't put themselves into this situation, it is a situation that was thrust upon them and they just had to deal and try and try again to help her.
But do I feel for HER, no way. The same way I wouldn't want a soul to feel bad for ME if it would have happened to me during that stretch.

Oh, and rehab is useless if you don't want to quit. Plain and simple. I had friend after friend get thrown into rehab after rehab only to come out and use the next minute. They didn't want to stop. I quit cold, I knew it was time to end it.

 

A wonderful voice, silenced too soon.

Yes, it's her own fault. It's still sad.

Putting on a music critic hat: As for an "immense" or "amazing" talent (or whatever is being cast about across the interwebs today), I don't see a white English girl with an affected southern black vibe as anything particularly remarkable. Marketable, yes.

 

Hondo, you do realize that fame, success and the pressures that come with them often exacerbate the problem, right?

 

RIP.

And the money is coming across the table at me as I write this.