First let me start by saying that I am way behind the ball with Amy Winehouse… I took my sweet time to give her a chance and it was for the exact reasons I’ll be discussing in the upcoming paragraphs. I’ve been waiting for a while to post this but I wanted to wait until I heard her whole CD and saw some performances of her before some of her lows.

I heard stories of her being too intoxicated to perform, getting booed off the stage, in and out of rehab, a mutually abusive relationship with a now incarcerated husband. Frankly when I heard the name “Amy Winehouse” for some reason I pictured another Indie chick with a Takamine and a necklace made from weird rocks or something. Fair? No. But as I tend to do with everyone I hear of that makes music, I decided to give her a chance.

After not watching all of the Grammys for whatever reason it may be, I got on the computer the next day and did a YouTube search for “Grammys 08.” I was hoping to find a bunch of the performances (the only thing I cared about). I ran across the link for Amy Winehouse’s performance. I was curious what this was like because when I first heard she was performing via satellite, I almost felt bad for her. Not to mention that she took home 5 awards that night…so I think I finally realized I need to see what is so good about his “crackwhore” that I heard about all over E! News.

I started watching the performance and with the opening shot of the full band, a very bandstand-ish looking stage, a horn section and three male back-up singers [choreographed dancing of course], I was very shocked. The sound was that of an old Soul band bridging the gap between then and now. As for Amy’s appearance, she is clearly a drug/alcohol abuser. Her actions back that up, as well as her shaky but still intact soulful singing.

However, her talent was visible, both in performance and in her voice. Pretty much everything in life is deeper than the surface. To someone who isn’t giving Amy that benefit…she is a junkie putting on a terrible performance. To someone like me who had the benefit of shock value (thinking I was about to hear Indie Singer/Songwriter but hearing this Soul Pop), and who has decided Amy deserved that chance, I saw something different. I saw this talent, this woman obviously struggling in her personal life and putting it to music in a format that has really been lost in the past years. An artist who bridges a gap between soul and the pop mainstream. Someone who can take top 40 to where it used to be.

But her addictions are a big problem and she needs to get them under control. But so is almost every influential artist we’ve seen in the past. Without being accused of comparing Amy Winehouse with already established musical icons, let me just throw out some names. Starting with one of the most influential artists in Rock and Roll. Elvis. I don’t think I need to explain that one. Then theres Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham, Keith Moon, John Entwistle (have you caught on that I’m naming dead people? How bout people who died as a direct result to a struggle with addiction).

Do you understand where I’m going with this? People are so quick to disregard her talent and call her a junkie. Natalie Cole and Janet Jackson say she doesn’t deserve rewards for her addictions. I understand what they are saying but getting praise and awards has nothing to do with people supporting her lifestyle… these are praises and awards for her music. And she deserves it.

So I urge people to stop whining about how Amy Winehouse is not a true artist and a true talent because she struggles with addiction. Realize that addiction is a part of life and has been a part of music specifically since the day the first note was sung. It’s a driving force behind a lot of music in our history and will be for the rest of life. No I’m not supporting the use of drugs or consumption of alcohol. I myself have never done a drug in my life and plan to keep it that way, music career or not. All I’m saying is…

This is rock and roll people. It’s a mess, it’s controversial, it’s provocative, it’s dirty, it’s sexual, it’s drugs, it’s your parents worst nightmare…

It’s a beautiful thing.

Currently listening to:

Amy Winehouse – Back to Black