Yesterday on July 23 Amy Winehouse died. If you haven’t heard this already you really must be living under a rock. ‘Could have seen it coming’ I hear you say, ‘She did it to herself’. And while I don’t dispute these comments, certainly not as a fan, I write in argument of what the death of Winehouse should be seen as. Rather than another predictable drug and alcohol-related death, whatever the cause of death was, it should serve as a warning to the rest of us.
Everyone only earlier this week was laughing at Winehouse’s appalling performance in Serbia. Looking back, the video suddenly becomes less amusing, and more of an ironic foreshadowing. It becomes a sad tribute to a troubled young woman.
Drug addiction is becoming all too commonly reported these days, even glamourised. Despite the condemning view that the media takes on drug-addled celebrities, that doesn’t hide the fact that young people see celebrities taking drugs, and will inevitably associate drugs with the ‘glitz and glamour of the rich and famous’. The media are naming Winehouse as the newest member to the ’27 club’: a list of musicians all of which who have died at the age of 27 due to drug and alcohol-related problems, such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin.
Amy Winehouse’s death should be a reminder that people die from drugs and alcohol, whatever your age, or bank balance. Without trying to sound like those videos you get shown in primary school, drugs aren’t glamorous. Alcohol certainly doesn’t make you into a better person. As students I’m sure we’ve all done things we aren’t proud of under the influence. Tragedies like this make us realise that we forget all too easily that these substances kill people.
Sickeningly a website was set up called ‘When will Amy Winehouse die?’ in a ‘humorous’ attempt to guess the death date of the singer, the winner ‘to guess Amy’s final breath and be crowned Mr. Or Mrs. Death…will be rewarded with an iPod touch.’ Even before yesterday this website would surely be considered vulgar and tasteless, let alone now. Unfortunately her death is likely to disappear into the media oblivion, and we will look back and remember her as a drug-addicted star who, like many before her, lost her life because of the effect they had on her.
Yes any of us could have predicted it happening. But regardless, the talent of one young woman is gone. A young life was lost yesterday. But most importantly, a young life was lost needlessly. None of us can say that this couldn’t have been prevented. Let’s not mutter ‘Could have seen it coming’, but consider how deaths such as hers can be prevented from happening in the future. Let’s hope that this can go some way towards promoting the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse, and serve as an example of how even the richest and most talented people can be destroyed by them.
This is really good, like! On a grammar point though, should the title be ‘What should her death really mean to us?’