The Responsibility Project^®. Exploring what it means to do the right thing

The Amy Winehouse Effect

64 Comments

February 20, 2008 by Kathy McManus

By the time British singer Amy Winehouse received five Grammy Awards for “Rehab”—her autobiographical ode to dodging detox—the song had become Hollywood’s newest soundtrack.

In the week before Rehab was named record of the year and song of the year, news reports noted that the actresses Eva Mendes, Kirsten Dunst, and Sean Young had all entered rehab, and that Pat O’Brien—host of a tabloid TV show that routinely reports on the rehab struggles of others— was suddenly in rehab himself.

All of which prompted one culture-chronicling website to ask: Is rehab the new black?

Amy Winehouse’s own very public road to rehab has included a heroin and cocaine overdose, an arrest in Norway for drug possession, and various instances of disturbing behavior, such as wandering the streets outside her London home at dawn in her underwear, confused and with her signature beehive hairdo acutely askew.

The reality behind her wittily defiant lyrics—“They tried to make me go to rehab/ I said ‘No, no, no’”—finally provoked Winehouse’s father-in-law to make an unusual plea for fans: force the 24 year old into accepting responsibility for her sobriety by boycotting her records. “Perhaps it’s time to stop buying them,” he said. “It might send her a message.”

After Winehouse’s whopping win, former Grammy winner Natalie Cole said what some had been thinking: “I don't think she should have won.” Cole, who admits her own past battles with substance issues, said, “I think it sends a bad message to our young people who are trying to get into this business, the ones who are trying to do it right and really trying to keep themselves together. We have to stop rewarding bad behavior."

Tell us what you think: Are we irresponsibly rewarding celebrities’ bad behavior by buying their music and paying to see their movies? Would boycotting Amy Winehouse help her? How responsible are we as fans and consumers when celebs unravel?

64 Comments

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• February 20, 2008 by Dorothy Gardiner

  Personally I am tired of all this nonsense about going to rehab. It does seem like it is a new thing to do. This is a serious malady and not something that someone should be proud of or be rewarded for doing so. In the first place, to go to rehab you need to be a real drug junkie and this means you were irresponsible with the choices given to you in life. No one forces you to smoke pot or crack. No one pours a drink down your throat. These are all choices, bad as they are they are still totally and easily avoided with the word "no". I have no pity nor do I feel sorrow for those caught up in the druggie world - I especially don't feel anything for the young,rich and famous who think they can drug up and then go to rehab a hundred times to make themselves look like victims. Victims of what is the question. They have too much time and money on their hands and not enough proper upbringing and no brains. I think that all these stars and starlets need to be ignored and denied. People like Amy Winehouse should never even have had a chance to get a grammy. First of all her music is idiotic (all about "her" and her need to be noticed), secondly, she is a loser since she is not a poor young person living in the streets with no way out - she has money and chose to drug herself up. No pity from me and no money from me for her druggie music.

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  • February 24, 2008 by Eric

    Amy Is so very talented. I enjoy her music, and I think that anyone who wants to try to bring her down must live in a bubble. I think most of us know someone who may have a substance abuse problem. She has a a great singing voice. That must be the reason she has 5 grammys.

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    • February 26, 2008 by Dorothy Gardiner

      After working over 15 years in probation and Sheriff's Work programs environments, I don't live in a bubble especially when it comes to drugs and irresponsible behaviour. If you do things to yourself you are not a victim. You are doing things that you choose to do. After all those years of working with people who constantly make bad choices and choose lifestyles that are dangerous and unhealthy you become quite educated in knowing the difference between a real victim and a pity seeker. When it comes to Amy Winehouse, how many years did she study music? Who was her vocal coach? I personally don't see any value or talent in her - just another typical generation X spoiled brat.

    • February 29, 2008 by Linda Cross

      I've read almost everything there is on Amy Winehouse. I do believe she has a lot to offer the music business, I truly do. She's not only musically talented, but she can actually sell herself, even though the clothing she wears is a bit too much for us conservative people. That being said, however, she still manages to sell herself, what with her clothes, beehive, eyeliner and all. There's a lot to be said for that. Trash sells, it always has and always will. I don't believe Amy started out wanting to be trash, and I don't believe she is trash now but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure her personality out. Can't you see that she's reaching out for help? When Amy started out, her hair, makeup and clothing were suitable for her. She didn't have a beehive and her eyeliner was barely recognizable in comparison to what she looks like now. This is what I see and you can take it or leave it. I see a very young girl who has loads of talent, both in singing, songwriting, and the ability to play an instrument. That alone is such an accomplishment to someone like me, who can't carry a tune in a bucket, much less write a song or play an instrument, so Amy - sober or straight - gets a lot of respect from me for that. Now here's a young girl with all that talent and honestly she doesn't know which way to turn with it. She apparently had problems with "her people" along the way, her initial record company or whomever these promotional people were not doing her right. Amy, unlike Natalie Cole, who's father paved her way, had to work her way into the music business, she couldn't ride in on her Daddy's coat tail like Natalie Cole did. Amy's unfortunate downfall is ultimately her husband who saw dollar signs and has used Amy over and over. Amy, being a young female with no real experience with good men who are respectable, has ended up with a user. Blake is a user and he's riding on Amy's coat tail and she's so "love struck" she can't get passed it - so what happens is, she has turned to the drugs and alcohol, like so many other celebrities have and let's not leave out the normal people either. Not many people left on this planet are totally "straight". With the way our country is now, how many people do you know who doesn't drink or use some kind of drug, whether it's prescription or not. Until Amy wakes up and realizes that she is somebody, and that she's worth something and that she's made out of more than any drug can induce her to, she isn't going to get very far. It's up to us to pray that she will get good help. I don't believe 30 days in rehab is going to help anybody. I think it would take a year or longer and then these people have to move away from their friends so they won't be tempted. Kindness works wonders even with drug abusers. They need love too, they goofed up their life, but they can turn it around if they finally see for themselves what they have become. During Amy's husband Blake's incarceration, she has never forgotten him not even on her great days such as her awards, but also, through every bad drug day she's had since he's been in prison, then when she falls off the wagon, he tells her not to bother to come and see him. What kind of jerk is he? Has he already forgotten how he's used her to get pictures of her so he can get heroin so he can OD? That's the pot calling the kettle black in my book and the sooner he's out of her life the better, but Amy has to get clean so her brain can function and all you people who down her needs to look in your own back yard. How many straight people are in your family?? We don't need to kick this girl while she's down. We need to uplift her and forgive her and yes, forgive her husband Blake too. They are the kind of people that the more you down them and the more you preach to them, the worse they are gonna be. It's up to us as a decent society to pick them up when they fall, every time. For those of you who think I'm nuts for my way of handling people who are on drugs, trust me, I have family who are drug addicts and not once has being mean and overbearing to them worked, but being nice to them and understanding, they were more likely to be with me and straighten up when they needed somebody. Without that, they might be in a ditch dead somewhere like so many stars have done lately. People on drugs do try your patience, no doubt, but I believe that downing them and making fun of them only deepens their desire to take drugs and lock the world out. I'm jussayin'.......be a better person and lift these people up so they can be all they can be. With love, kindness and hope maybe they can make it. Even with intervention, there is love and caring that is shared with the person who they are intervening.

  • February 25, 2008 by Lyn

    ...people (performers are people) become/remain addicted to drugs and enter rehab. just to keep you sympathetic... as an interesting, life-threatening publicity stunt... ; ) ?? Quite a shallow and self-centered conclusion, in my humble opinion. I heard/saw Amy Winehouse for the first time on the Grammys, believe it or not. Her charisma, vocals, musical material and performance absolutely floored me! I was neither aware of her existence nor her personal problems while I watched and listened. I enjoyed every moment of it and did not want it to end! She, as well as anyone who is struggling with addiction, has my sincere prayers.

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  • February 29, 2008 by Linda Cross

    I didn't know God had died and left you in charge of the judgement seat! In your comment, I saw I, I, I, I a lot!! I hope that no one in your family ever needs you cause we can see here that you have already made up your mind and you are ready to send Amy to hell. Shame on you!! Amy may need more medical help besides Rehab. Personally, I think you should consider going to Compassionate Rehab. You don't seem to have any kind of compassion for anybody. That's a shame and disgrace. People like you is why there's more and more addicts on the street. People like you give people like Amy drugs so they end up in the gutter and you can now say, I told you so.

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• February 22, 2008 by Ray Barcia

  Fortunately Awards are about strictly the content. Amy is a diamond in the rough.That she has problems should have nothing to do with the fact of how good she is...having said that, the media should have more responsibility in their priorities..as if that will happen anytime soon!!!

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• February 24, 2008 by m

  Her personal life is her business, not ours.Let's sit back and watch her shine.

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  • February 25, 2008 by ada yetunde ngozi

    Drug addiction does not make women (or anyone) shine. It destroys their looks and their vocal integrity. I think boycotting AW's music is an ingenuous, effective way to keep her from imploding--particu-larly since she has the audacity to scoff at the very idea of getting help by making a hit selling record of her disdain for rehab--while concom-mitantly having a public meltdown. What's the sense in that? By supporting with our $ the use of proceeds from a song that makes light of resources for interven-tion in a case such as hers, her fan base is tacitly aiding & abetting her demise. Public implosion of an artist is not sexy. Just look at Billie Holiday. In death, her life has been romanticized ad nauseum, and the ravaging of her life by drug abuse has been romanticized & glorified as a requisite for the evocation of the blues she sang, but it was nothing pretty when she was alive. She seemed to have been surrounded by persons who were willing to keep her doped up--the better to control her--and after all the accolades and "glamour" she died relatively young, alone, a pauper, who was refused medical treatment by well-known U.S. hospital (probably by some of the same people who admired her vocals and still listen to her music out of nostalgia for the past, and collect anthologies of her work to this day), while caring nothing of her suffering.

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    • February 25, 2008 by John Lockman

      I think your comments are expressed very well and are accurate- I wish I was as artculate as you at expressing them. I just don't think we can and should stop these people from their self destructive path. If we intervene we simply enable them. In Al a non they call this loving detachment. All the pyscho therapy in the world never could have saved Hendrix, Joplin, Britney Spears, Kirt Kobain and the great Billie Holiday. Anna Freud tried to disasterous results- one of her most cherished patients committed suicide in her own home. The truth is these people are probably Bi- polar and they pay a great price for their creativity and craft. They could solve their issues with some very effective medication( lithium was approved in 1970 by the DSM) - but then they would lose their edge. All of these people are given the choice ( Hendrix and Kobain sang openly about the subject)and they almost invariably prefer the limelight to lucidity- except for Patty Duke- but do you rush out to her movies? What I am saying we would not have Billie Holiday if she did not have these same issues- the music is borne out of the suffering-lest you get guys like Pat Boone to serenade you. Emily Dickinson said it best Fame is a bee. It has a song— It has a sting— Ah, too, it has a wing. Emily Dickinson

• February 25, 2008 by John Lockman

  Nat"King" Cole was not only a great singer but an awseome Jazz painoist. He came from modest beginning and always remained humble. Not so of his daughter who was always a spoiled brat and never hesitated to boot strap off her father's name who she barely even knew. I don't think we would even be spending anytime in this dialogue had it not been for her father. Lets not even dulve into the non events about Natalie Coles past addictions or even broach the subject that jazz often spawned from characters with rather shadowy pasts from Robert Johnson to Charlie Parker and Lead Belly. Amy Winehouse is the greatest jazz singer since Billie Holiday, self made and is an incredibly talented songwriter as well. Natalie Cole is really not in the same class as her father or Amy. ( His smokey voice was intentionally derived from excessive cigarette smoking, a drug that took his life as well. Natalies affected smokey voice therefore is anything but genetic. Something few critics ever point that out. Even great black musicians have nothing but awe for Amy. Give Natalie credit as she is always very astute at getting her name in the limelight off the reputation of others. From the beginning of her annointed career, she used her father facial resemblence and father's namesake to advance her career. The only comparible Jazz singer to Amy winehouse is Billie Holliday and she died a heroin addict. .... So I refuse to burn my reocrds of her fathers or Billie Holiday. Natalie's records are safe though,I own none!

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• February 25, 2008 by ada yetunde ngozi

  Thanks for your compliment to my writing. Using your logic, however--that one needs to be tottering on the brink of psychoses in order to access their creativity does not jive when you consider the number of artists who create beautiful work appreciated by the masses without the attendant psychotic behavior. Consider Quincy Jones for example. He has had 79 Grammy nominations and 27 Grammy awards and has stayed around for the long haul, still creating at the tender age of 75. He has done it all: conducting, composing, producing, arranging--and is still tapping his creative resources at the tender age of 75. How do you explain him and thougsands of others like him. I tend to believe that what we see as a correlation between necessary psychoses and creative license and the use of the term "bi-polar" to label it is really the result of some artists having grown up living unbearably oppressive lives and never having dealt with it, either in the home and/or from society at large--as was the case with Billie Holiday) had the opportunity to deal with it OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT. Fame just compounds the number of demons they have to deal with. Typically they are usually too famous too young--and fame having less to do with talent, than the era one lives in and what the masses are hungry for at a give time, simply compounds the number of demons one has to deal with.(Consider Paris Hilton--not much discernible talent there, but FAMOUS nonetheless.) In Holiday's time, there was not a lot of areas where a Black woman could live her life as a normal human being and respected human being. She probably was not so much moving between two polar opposites as living within one at any given time and self-medicating the depression suffocating oppression causes. Imagine performing for a club in a society so racialized that you were good enough to perform before an audience in, but had to enter and leave through the back door, even though people love your talent and ability, they care nothing of YOU. It is this kind of madness and schizoid behavior that has made madmen and madwomen of artists--those simply want to bring beauty. For someone who truly wanted to live, to be free, to express themselves in healthy ways and had the talent, the will and the drive to do so, socially this was and still is a very oppressive culture.

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• February 26, 2008 by rbrigid1

  Amy was recognized by her peers for her great music, which BTW is already critically acclaimed everywhere and has sold astonishingly big numbers world-wide. The awards have nothing to do with her personal demons. Ms. Cole can spend the rest of her days handing out awards, but perhaps never winning any herself. She's washed up. If you don't like Amy's music, fine. That's your own taste. To each his own.....but aren't you curious why millions have listened and became immediately addicted to this young lady Amy's tunes? There were other great records in 2007 that won zilch. Does that mean they aren't great? Of course not. Listen to Amy's voice on her first release, 'Frank'. She's a gifted jazz vocalist, leaning toward a sassy, naughty lyrical and melodic style that draws you into her world. When you finally understand what she's telling you, you come to know that heartache and longing are things we all relate to and it's often not a pretty sight, so you may as well be 'frank' about it!! Her second release, 'Back to Black' is a successful crossover into the world of R&B;, soul, reggae, and other styles. There's that same hauntingly beautiful voice, telling you yet more bizarre tales that are chapters from her life. Personally I think her 'look' is a work of pure genius, albeit borrowed. She's going for the girl-group 1960's alien behive thing, and it's all show-biz, something no one can ignore. Look underneath and what's revealed is a pretty girl, with a smile and bright eyes that would charm anyone. All that aside, it's still her writing talent and voice that endures. Unlike many other "stars" of today like Carrie Underwood...if you wipe off the makeup, all that's left is a plain Jane with no artistic vision. Remove the layers of production and there's nothing left but a voice in desperate need of clever marketing and "producing". Lastly, isn't it ironic that so few of today's young recording artists barely understand what "soul", jazz and R&B;actually are? Amy understands it all and can perform it better than the American artists like Ms. Cole who hasn't recorded anything worth listening to in over a decade. Other American recording artists are 90% groove, programmed, sampled noise...and 9% attitude. Did I forget to mention 1% crotch grabbing? These kids can learn a lesson from the Brits in 2007. Do as the Brits have done and listen a little closer to what came out of Detroit and Memphis in the 196o's and understand that it's the real deal, heartfelt music the world will never forget. Amy is on the right musical track, and she's kicking major ass, while the media can kiss her's. America, wake up. You're losing a game you invented! It's happened before in rock and roll with the British invasion, and it's happening again. This time around, though...you're getting beat up by girls!

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• February 29, 2008 by Ashley Newman

  I like her music and I think she is very brave to be doing this by being who she is. I have chosen her for my British Lit report because she inspires me and she has a wonderfully beautiful voice and i wish i could be as brave as her she is a true inspirration.

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• March 1, 2008 by Linda Cross

  Now that Amy has not been charged in her husband's alleged charges, maybe she will take a second look and wean herself away from Blake. I think she showed something of that when she didn't show up for his last hearing. Amy sees Blake through drug crazed eyes. When and if she stays clean, she will finally see him with clear eyes and an unfogged mind. Only then will she see Blake for what he truly is. He is very controlling by telling her not to bother to come to see him if she's still doing cocaine. What if she didn't go see him cause he overdosed on heroin and he got that by trading her signed pictures. I hope she sees the light soon. I hope she doesn't fall for his "reverse psychology".

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• March 2, 2008 by shanda witt

  Amy is a wonderful artist & she needs a lot of support from her fans now. She is obviously going thru a difficult time, and the last thing she needs to hear is how she "doesn't" deserve the awards she worked so hard for. She earned those awards for her musical talents and she deserved it.

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• March 2, 2008 by Evelyn Quinones

  The first time I saw Amy was in her music video "You know I'm no good." I was taken in by the music, her voice, and her look. She is very different and talented. I asked my daughter who is she? A new artist. That was early last year. Just recently I was flipping thru the channels and I caught her in concert. I've become a diehard fan. I went out and bought both her cds and dvd. I missed the grammys this year. I did not know she had a substance abuse problem until my daughter told me. My feelings were of sadness. I thought of Janis Joplin. I don't go out and buy music quite often. When I do I don't buy any of the new artists. I'm not compelled to do so. I hear the music out now because my children play it. I don't become a fan easily..My favorite artists that come to the top of my head are Patti Labelle, Prince, and Annie Lennox. I admire these artists for their voice, their music, and individuality. They truly stand alone as true talent and artists. Amy has joined this list for me. Her first cd is awesome. I have seen her singing with just acoustic guitar online when she was younger and she is amazing and true. Her tone and style is definitly unique and not typical of just any good singer. She cannot be touched or compared. As far as the grammys, the grammy is awarded for music, not for behaviour. Based on music alone, I am happy she won. I am praying that she stands alone strong surrounded by people who truly love her, encourage and support her. I pray for her to be truly happy, to love herself and be inspired to make her music. In the end, it is all up to Amy to take control of her destiny.

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• March 2, 2008 by Cecilia Santana

  "Mind your own business and you'll be busy all the time!' ... Amy Winehouse has a 'sound' that no one has EVER HAD! No matter if she's stoned or not its none of your concern. No one is going to stop buying her records and who knows what her destiny is. Natalie Cole is just pissed off cause Amy sounds better than her, she's got a sound that no ones heard before and she's got soul. She's young and she does drugs and I hope she gets off of them too but no one is going to 'make' her do it and dumb asses saying 'their sending the wrong message by awarding her 5 Grammy's are JEALOUS....PERIOD. Hellooo???? It's about MUSIC.....PERIOD. So you hang in there Amy and if you 'make it' then you do and if you don't then maybe you were only destined for this world for a short time but 'baby' your music is unlike any other/s and I hope you keep on singing and staying alive! Ciao Ciao Bella, Cecila & Enrico Santana p.s. hey email us we've got about a 200 songs that you might like to sing and put 'your' music too, really really great and unusual lyrics too!

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• March 2, 2008 by tessa white

  too bad if she's a cokehead. sure, that's a terrible thing., and she needs to change. but it's the grammys. it's not "lets see who the best role model is". it's based on talent and who sounds original. her addictions have nothing to do with that. sure, she's not a good role model, but she deserved all five of those awards.

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