‘The 27 Club’ is one of the most depressing things in popular culture. That’s because its a construct of regrettably long-living music pundits, trying to put a glamorous slant on the needless, untimely death of a young person.
And so, Amy Winehouse has now ‘joined’ Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin in the number of people who have died aged 27. Looks like a cool, druggy, too-fast-to-live list, eh?
Well, no-one ever mentions other musicians that died at 27, like Linda Jones, the soul singer who died of diabetes or Helmut K?llen who died of incredibly boring carbon monoxide poisoning. No. It’s all pointless glamour which encourages lonely, successful people to destroy themselves for the sake of beatifying rock and pop. And it seems that Winehouse fell for it like many before her.
Her friend Alex Foden, who used to lived with Amy, said:
“Unfortunately, Amy had a very obsessive personality. She did everything to extremes, especially when it came to food and drugs. She loved food. But she’d either have binges ? eating loads before running up to the toilet and getting rid of it all again ? or she’d go up to four or five days without eating, surviving on alcohol, drugs and sweets. Amy always told me she thought she would die young and that she knew she’d become part of the ’27 Club’.”
And just imagine how gaspingly dull the 27 Club is. Brian Jones being immensely irritating, throwing pies at Jim Morrison tugging himself off in the bath while Cobain cries in a corner. Every single one of them being a crushing drug bore.
Now, Amy Winehouse is there (well, she isn’t. She’s dead. She has ceased to be and nothing lives on apart from her records) and perhaps offering everyone a line of coke.
See, her chum claims that she’d get through ?1,000 worth of cocaine in one night… mainly because she was buying it for everyone else as well.
Alex explains:
“Amy was very generous so she’d pay for all the drugs ? mainly coke, heroin and cannabis. At her worst she could get through about ?1,000 worth of gear in 24 hours. Her limits were incredible, but she usually knew how much she could take.”
Sounds grotty.
“She was incredibly clean and tidy at home, and could be a real matriarch, looking after everyone and cooking for all her friends and family. At the heart of it, Amy was simply a lovely, bubbly Jewish girl who wanted to be loved.”
Alas, a lovely girl who didn’t know her own limits, ravaged by a selfish mental illness. Still, at least those vultures from the music press have got something to mythologise, eh?
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Liam Tuckerer says
I hear ‘manly coke’ is the most strongest of all of the cokes.
*typo gag*
EssBen says
Well done, you finally gave me the bad AIDS, and make a little bit of sick come up into my mouth.
Doug Rea says
Yes, the 27 Club is a depressing thing, and very sad. I wouldn’t call any of it boring or dull, though. Most painful for me is the death of German prog musician-singer-songwriter Helmut Koellen, who is my favorite musician, living or dead. At least he lives on in his music with Triumvirat, Jail and the posthumous solo album “You Won’t See Me”. I think fondly of Helmut Koellen ever day.