Amy's Choice

It is rare that I can't appreciate an artist's work because it's been eclipsed so monumentally by their antics, but Amy Winehouse is an exception to that rule.  When she first came on the mainstream radar for me, I was too busy to pay much attention.  By the time I ever first heard a song by her, her troubles had all been splashed across tabloid after tabloid, with video evidence to back up most of the claims.

Tragically, Amy had 'short shelf life' tattooed all across her.  We can hope the best for these train-wreck celebrities, and some sail through to old age and are the better artist for it.  Amy Winehouse wasn't destined to be one.  She was someone who took "Live hard and die young" to heart.  Her refusal to change was apparent in the song Rehab. While a groovy number with great jams and catchy rhythms, it was a defiant rebel yell to the concerns for her state of mind.

This isn't going to be a sudden idolization of Amy from the ashes of her tragic end, nor am I looking to make a pariah of her legacy.  I'm listening to songs right now, Back To Black, You Know I'm No Good, Stronger Than Me, and I'm hearing what she's telling me.  She made her choices, and created a lifestyle, and it eventually claimed her.

Legacy?  I wonder.  IHow sad to be leave a legacy of being a tabloid queen, a troubled performer, and someone who couldn't care enough to see the ride through, just another unfinished story that will simply become a True Hollywood Story in a sea of many.