Today it was announced that Pop-Star Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London home, the nation seemed to be surprised and shocked as it had lost one of its most talented individuals. The social networking sites went crazy at the news as it spread like wildfire. Amy Winehouse is yet another musician to join the famous 27 Club which already plays host to such members as Jimmi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison. The 27 Club is a name attached to a collective of musicians who died at the age of 27, to be perfectly honest I do not see what it is that is so appealing about this Club, and I for one will not be joining it.
Don't get me wrong, it is never nice to hear that someone has died especially when it is no fault of their own, the harsh reality sets in and you naturally feel sad to hear it, that is unless the death itself was self inflicted either at one moment in time of over a sustained period of time. So when I heard the news about Amy Winehouse's passing I was somewhat sceptical as to how much of a shock this really was. There will be a lot of people out their, mainly TV Celebrities like Peter Jones or Dom Jolly, who will harp on how she was a "fantastic person", how she was a "free spirit" (whatever that is) and how she, regardless of being a horrendous drug addict, alcoholic, terrible role model and ultimately one of the worst examples of humanity, "is still someones daughter, best friend and friend".
Now that is true, she is someones daughter. I mean how else would she have got here without parents and if that was the case and she had managed to come into existence without the aid of a mother and a father then maybe it's not her music or her illegal lifestyle which we should be remembering her for. But at the same time as being those things she was also a drug user who shunned any external influence or help to assist her in overcoming such addictions so that it would not put her life in any further danger. Instead of taking these wise words on board she ignored them and continued to slowly but surely destroy her body, mind and reputation.
Again, don't get me wrong, Amy Winehouse was clearly a talented individual who managed to have an initially successful career in the music industry and Back To Black was the best selling album of 2007 selling over a million copies in the United Kingdom, in 2008 she went on to with Grammy Awards for the album and for various songs which were released on it. Despite all of this success, which came as a result of hard work and incredible talent, Winehouse continued to experiment with various different drugs and alcohol and as a result her life spiralled out of control. She became publicly scrutinised for it as the reality of what she was getting herself into was available for all to see.
She was voted as "The UK's Ultimate Heroine" in a poll carried out by Sky News in 2008, but to be honest I think the people contributing towards the poll totally misunderstood the question due to poor grammar and the failure to include the word "User" at the end of the poll's title. Was she a good musician? Yes. Was she a drug user? Yes. Will she be remembered for her music and not her personal life? No.
The reason I write this is not totally focussed on belittling Amy Winehouse, though that is a large part, but more the fact of highlighting how and why that the news of her death has come as a shock to the nation after years and years of abusing her body and how it seems to become the biggest story in the news. Despite the fact that in Norway there has been an explosion in a government building in Oslo killing 7 innocent people, which was shortly followed by a massacre at a youth camp where a gunman took the lives of at least 85 innocent people, some who were children, yet Amy Winehouse's death dominates the news as the tributes come pouring in. Tributes like the one from Fearne Cotton, a BBC Radio 1 DJ, who tweeted "Cannot believe the news. Amy was a special girl. The saddest news.". I would like to personally thank Fearne Cotton for providing me with more reasons to dislike her and I will end by saying this, at what point will the nation wake up and realise that the death of a drug user who had no care for her own life isn't news, yet the massacre of at least 85 innocent people by a crazed gunman is news and a lot more attention should be paid to it. What is wrong with the people in the world.