amy winehouse - C or D? [RIP 7/23/11]

mostly my point is just that we know that the internet is terrible, we don't need it to be solemnly pointed out that people are racist

It's the same way everyone was super "concerned" and "upset" about deathdrone whiney bannings because no one wanted to admit its just titillating to watch a psychopath wreak havoc on the internet.

haha

Real talk though, it's really sad that an artist on Amy Winehouse's level has like an army of people working with her and for her—record labels, booking agents, handlers, publicists, managers, agents, accountants, lawyers... And it's like no one's job to make sure she doesn't kill herself with drugs.

sad as hell. Always meant to check out more of her music, didn't expect to do so like this.

Real talk though, it's really sad that an artist on Amy Winehouse's level has like an army of people working with her and for her—record labels, booking agents, handlers, publicists, managers, agents, accountants, lawyers... And it's like no one's job to make sure she doesn't kill herself with drugs.

― jay r?tard (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, July 23, 2011 3:51 PM (22 seconds ago) Bookmark

well, hold on now

mostly my point is just that we know that the internet is terrible, we don't need it to be solemnly pointed out that people are racist

― J0rdan S., Saturday, July 23, 2011 3:48 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

otm

xxx-post
tbh I continued bitching about Whiney even when he was gone

<3 u man

I responded to one friend who made the standard "why do people talk about this when norway etc etc" claim. Not like I knew Amy Winehouse personally but I liked her music and I know enough people who are trainwrecking their way through their 20s to feel slightly more personally connected and vocal.

also people putting a horrible thought or joke online for anyone to see is a relatively minor (and in most cases unpunishable) crime and it's arguably only as bad as how many people actually do see it, so spreading the word even in outrage is a pretty dumb idea of justice

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. No. No. No.

Maaaaan. I don't really have anything to say about this right now other than that this fucking sucks. :(

Oh Amy, why you do this to yourself?

Back to Black is still one of my favorite albums ever.

as with many current pop stars, I knew very little of her work, but quite liked "Rehab" and resolved to do it at some future karaoke. Will probably wait at least a year now.

yeah I regret re-posting that FB comment actually as it's nothing to do with Amy herself or her death. I was just shocked because this wasn't from 'the internet', but someone I used to get on with fairly well and gave me a horrible insight into how some people must see it/her (or like to troll, which is more likely).

maybe we can have a rolling "the worst of the web's reactions to the news of the day" thread or something to have a separate receptacle for this stuff from serious/well-meaning threads about deaths and tragedies

Yeah, it's called: NRO's The Corner: Rolling Bile, Spit, and Gnash Thread

duh dum ch

I had the same thought this afternoon, shiples!

it's honestly saying "I would like to laugh at this joke, but i don't want to risk social alienation, so I'll temper it with mock outrage." It's the same way everyone was super "concerned" and "upset" about deathdrone because no one wanted to admit its just titillating to watch a psychopath wreak havoc on the internet.

not that it's worth getting into an argument about, but this is bullshit & you're wrong, and you should sorta separate your own issues out before you make sweeping claims

God fucking damn it :(

(Also have to avoid forums in general now so I don't see the asshole commenters trying to be cool and cruel.)

I had the same thought this afternoon, shiples!

― jay r?tard (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, 23 July 2011 21:02 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

great minds...

now fuck off you cunts

god fucking damn it

fwiw i was only shitting up the thread in the short term in hopes of it being shitted up less in the long term but yeah i've made my point and will shut up

imo when someone repeatedly fucks up, it's usually because of a personal failure

when a person who is known to fuck up regularly ends up dying young like this, it's a failure of society in some way

trying to raise the level of discourse in some marginal way, probably not succeeding:
http://bloodletters.tumblr.com/post/7980466909/you-oughta-know

fwiw i was only shitting up the thread in the short term in hopes of it being shitted up less in the long term but yeah i've made my point and will shut up

― drowning cool (some dude), Saturday, July 23, 2011 4:12 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

me too

xxpost @ Josh in Chicago: If they're session pros then they're usually there to make that $$ with a smile on their face/looks of intense engagement with the music even if they couldn't really give a f*ck. And if they're really good at what they do then you shouldn't be able to tell they're hating their life as they play for you. (disclaimer: i've personally known/worked with some of these folks.)

― Vendo Caramelos A Veces Sin Dinero (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, July 23, 2011 2:47 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Seconded. I've met session players who loved playing, utterly regardless of what that entailed. I've also met session players who hated every single second of the music they were hired to play. In both cases, from all outward appearances, these players were a) nailing it and b) enjoying themselves.

Oddly enough yesterday I was reminded of Aaliyah's 10th anniversary of her death and that BET were going to do some tribute. I was going through a website called Metafilter and saw a thread talking about her recent death. I couldn't believe all the trollish/smart ass comments about how she was nothing special or mourning a celebrity is stupid and is part of a person being indoctrinated to the brainwash of mainstream society. That really irked as I could remember actually crying listening to "It's Whatever" on headphones and crying hysterically.

At the end of the fucking day, when a fan connects to a person's music (whether they sing, sing/write, or whatever) you feel you know them to a limited extent. In the case of Amy, she was a super talented woman who I hoped would set her life straight and I feel genuinely sad for her passing. Every time I listened to Back to Black, the level of sadness permeating on that album was so deafening that I wonder if she could get control of her addictions. I also feel very angry how the media (and gawkers) would sort of bait her throughout the entire thing. I know it was her responsibility to stop drugs, but I can't help but feel like us pointing at her and calling her names didn't contribute to her downfall.

I know some of you are going to be like oh you are being humorless and super serious as usual, but I'm lucky my heart hasn't turned to stone when an artist I was a fan of dies. I guess I care too much. *shrugs*

in my experience there are a handful of dicks on Metafilter but the community as a whole is a lot kinder than that!

yeah...also the average celebrity is rarely more famous or talked about than on the day of their death, so a lot of people who have never heard of them or had any particular interest in them before are suddenly surrounded by chatter and want to join the conversation or at least react to it and say they don't understand what all the fuss is about

Yeah when it comes to the political/scientific type subjects Metafilter is great when people are being objective. However, when it comes to some social subjects/entertainment the assholes seem more apparent to me.

Notably, there's a thread on Amy Winehouse over there right now, and this is the most-favorited comment

man that site's been around forever

yeah...also the average celebrity is rarely more famous or talked about than on the day of their death, so a lot of people who have never heard of them or had any particular interest in them before are suddenly surrounded by chatter and want to join the conversation or at least react to it and say they don't understand what all the fuss is about

Guess I'm different because if it is a celebrity I don't know then I don't comment at all. Why talk about something you have no business talking about it in the first place.

prob coulda made it big if they had changed the color scheme

Also, I found that Metafilter doesn't see contemporary r&b/hip hop as a "legit" genre of music. Amy Winehouse may have get more love because she is "authentic."

uh, there are a lot of people there who do! You're kind of painting the site with a wide brush, although I'd agree there's a vocal minority that's overly bitchy about some contemporary music.

Thank you for all the video posts.. "I Heard Love Is Blind" is striking me as a particularly sad video. I didn't realize she was good-looking at one point, or that she was so talented.. kinda sad.

What year was that video? Just curious..

uh, there are a lot of people there who do! You're kind of painting the site with a wide brush

Uh, I don't think so. I rarely see anyone on there defending contemporary music that much. Maybe a few people here and there will give a good defense but it's mostly popjustice like snark but said with a bigger vocabulary and more sophisticated sarcasm. I like Metafilter as a community, but like all websites it has its cons.

Anyway, I'll stop. This should be about Amy Winehouse after all.

i know jokes are in bad taste but how is pete doherty still alive and amy not? rockism even in death.

ok more seriously, what a fucking tragic waste. like someone said upthread why wasnt there anyone looking out for her in this regard? or were they all cynical bastards out to ride the gravy train all the way to the grave. obv i know its never easy to stop an addict or someone trying to more or less kill themselves over a protracted period from doing exactly that but i really hope someone at least tried.

im just sort of shocked that this is what has happened. never expected her to die.

i think it's pretty dumb to assume that there weren't people around her trying to help her get better -- they were clearly overmatched by various other forces, but still

xp I think that take on Love is Blind is from 2004? Shortly after her first album was released. The extreme weight loss and beehive happened while Back to Black was being put together, iirc.

what do people mean when they say a tragic death is a "waste"?

that she wasted her talent?

I mean, I'm not sure if I agree with all the implications, but I think that they mean that her death (especially for reasons that they perhaps see as avoidable or within her control - again, don't necessariy agree with this) was a waste of her talent and/or future potential.

she should have made plenty more albums

same as lauryn hill really (who was one of her idols) who seems to be wasting her talent in a diff way (ok having babies isnt exactly wasting her life, but she is still wasting her talent)

she's not yours

worst internet post i've seen so far: "WHY AMY WINEHOUSE AND NOT LINDSAY LOHAN?!?! WHY??? WHY???"

Her manager Ray is a very popular and well-known guy in London, a genuinely nice man who was probably not equal to the challenge of looking after someone so troubled. As he is not a music industry leech, I'm sure he is absolutely heartbroken. OTOH, I can't think of anyone who would have been able to help her WRT her addictions.

When she was arrested a couple of years ago, she was taken to the police station 100m from my flat and it was besieged by hundreds of young female tabloid reporters who spent nearly 24 hours catcalling anyone who emerged from the station; it was really provocative, vituperative stuff and if they'd been student demonstrators or whatever acting like that, I am sure cops would have made some arrests. I have never seen so many nasty little cows converged in one spot in my life and I wanted to just line them up and start smacking them.

Anyway, RIP Amy.