Amy Winehouse’s sad death has spurred stories and morbid chatter (including a Twitter trending topic hash-tagged ”#27Club”) noting she’s the latest star-crossed music star to succumb to celebrity excesses and personal demons at age 27, joining a gone-too-soon pantheon that includes Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain.
The sad coincidence of that tragic number aside, perhaps there’s a more apt and current comparison to be made between Winehouse and a performer who somehow made it to 50: Michael Jackson.
Sure, both were trying to mount comebacks that were never to be. But the biggest similarity is that, to different degrees, we watched their respective declines play out in multiple media over a period of years. Their deaths elicit both a haunting sensation of inevitability – and a frustrating feeling of helplessness amid being unable to stop these slow-motion train wrecks.
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And now the same celebrity-obsessed Internet- and TV-driven pop culture that gave us an open window into the stars’ immolation is helping fuel their exploitation in death.
Let’s be clear: Winehouse’s short-lived career didn’t approach Jackson’s four-decade entertainment reign in scope and impact, and his music likely will resonate far longer and louder. Winehouse, who offered sultry, contemporary twists on the merger of pop and soul, owes much to Jackson who, as a child, helped propel the genre, and as an adult reinvented it a couple times to become the most influential performer of his generation.
Both Jackson and Winehouse died in the summer, a time when the news cycle is traditionally slower than usual. The media circus that sprouted around Jackson’s June 25, 2009, death, has yet to leave town and probably never will. We’re already seeing sordid accounts of Winehouse’s last days, overshadowing news of far wider impact, such as the horrible massacre in Olso.
Both Jackson and Winehouse’s final weeks were captured on video as they vied to return to the stage. Only hours before Winehouse lifeless body was discovered in London, lawyers battled in Los Angeles whether the King of Pop’s doctor is responsible for his death will get to see hours of outtakes from the tour rehearsal film, “This Is It.”
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