to think WTAF at the Amy Winehouse statue?

[BattlingFanjos]

Apparently this is old news but I've only just seen it so apologies!

According to her dad Mitch, it is going to be unveiled at a "Live Aid type concert where we get maybe four, five, six hours" in Sept 2014. It doesn't say anything about money for charity or anything just that it will be a tribute to Amy at the Roundhouse in Camden.

AIBU to think that she could sing, had a good voice, sold many records and made a fair bit of money not my taste but she was obviously talented but that doing things like this are taking away from what she did in her personal life? If she was such an inspirational public figure why was it allowed to be so public that she abused drugs, alcohol and her whole body/mind?! They are sugar coating the dark side of her life! It was not fucking cool! It was sad and inevitable!!! I think her death was so sad and I have every sympathy for her poor, poor family. But come on! A fucking statue?! WHY?!

Please, someone tell me what I am missing!!

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

i hope so too. but we'll never know either way.

[BattlingFanjos]

I hope you're right, I really do. If you can't be a good role model, be a good warning my mum has always said. Hopefully it will deter people...doubt it tho

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

see i think the opposite. i think it will be a reminder/lesson to people. for example if someone mentions george best to me i think alcoholic, wasted talent. it certainly doesn't make me think he led a fun filled life that i would want to emulate.

[BattlingFanjos]

I agree no one could force her to take drugs and as I said before only those close to her know what happened in terms of help. I am merely speculating on what was told to us, I am in no way blaming anyone for what happened (I have no rights to do that, obviously lol).
Yes she was an adult who made her own choices, bad choices. They have set up the foundation to help people in her situation which is great! I just think that putting up the statue contradicts what they are trying to do in her name. They don't go hand in hand. No one in a million years is going to look at that statue and think "Wow! I must stop the heroin or I might end up like that!" Yes, glorified and immortalised in bronze (probs not true lol) for all eternity by the people they have been desperate to accept them

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

the thing is though, she was an adult and couldn't be forced to take the help. AFAIK she didgo into rehab (could be wrong) and her family were constantly trying to get her to stop. Addicts have to be ready to take the help otherwise it wont work. she wasn't anyone's responsibility. i dont think you can blame anyone for not stepping in an saying 'enough'. obviously i wasn't in her close circle of friends so i dont know who did what but from what i remember she did have good family support. but none of them can force her to quit drugs.

[BattlingFanjos]

I guess my main point is that I haven't seen anyone in the media stand up and say "yeah she was a nice lass, but she fucked up. She was in a bit place and needed real help, not to make more music" it's all very, "she was amazing, she was an angel, a tortured soul (so cool!)" She was so obviously in need of someone to step iin and say "Enough!"

[BattlingFanjos]

Lots of opinions!! (Love these threads lol).

I'm with Ghost I agree with everything you've said. I am a massive music fan and hold several artists in high esteem, but they're still just people, they're not 'gods'. peerie yeah I read that. But it was so widely publicised that she was an addict/excessive drug and alcohol abuser and she has been hailed for it that's my issue with it. Although I agree with whoever it was that said it isn't about Amy as a person. People have such a dark curiosity about situations like this, (think Kurt Cobain) I've been there myself in my teenage years thinking I knew everything and "they will never get me". Young people do not need anymore pushing into holding these tragic people on a pedestal!

[Mrsjay]

I don't think anybody on this thread is saying Amys death wasn't tragic it was she was somebodies daughter and friend and had fans all over just some can't understand what the whole adulation is all about,

[Alisvolatpropiis]

YANBU.

Don't get me wrong,I enjoyed Amy's music a great deal. I simply don't think her contribution to the world warrants having a statue. She's hardly comparable to Churchill is she?

It doesn't matter how she died in terms of her having a statue. I would feel the same if it was John Lennon.

It's just encouraging children to buy in to vacuous celebrity culture.

Yes of course she deserves an epitaph...on her headstone in a cemetary. Or a plaque on the wall of the house where she lived/grew up.

[jessiegeesusinamanger]

I think it's horribly sad how the poor girl died and it was an awful waste of a young life. To me though, she was a moderately talented singer/songwriter and I just cannot see why all the fuss about her. There are so many equally talented people out there. Cannot see why she would warrant a statue?

[Mrsjay]

she was drunk a few days before she died and was withdrawing from alcohol , I dont think singers should be help on a pedastal cos she is dead

[GhostShip]

:o

[peeriebear]

She was free from drugs when she died. Just saying.

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

yes they are paying for the statue. not sure about how they get permission to put it where it's going. i will assume they will either be granted permission or not (and wont erect it) so wont be breaking any rules. i dont think they are intending to plonk it anywhere.

[GhostShip]

Are they paying for the statue? Will they be paying for the land its put on? Because as far as I know you can't just go plonking statues anywhere.

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

'we' aren't. her family are.

[GhostShip]

Yes but WHY are we commemorating her life? Its doing nothing but glorifying dying young because of a drug addled life style. Its a shitty message to put across.

There's many many more people, famous and no, who deserve their lives commemorating in such a way. So I can't say I'm sorry for not wanting this one. No point trying to argue with me over my opinion.

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

they wouldn't need a statue if she hadn't died. she'd still be here. no-one would need to remember her.

and you really cant work out that it's a statue to commemorate her life?

[DayShiftDoris]

I won't even listen to her music on the radio...

If she had been a nurse, a police officer, a shoppe assistant with that behaviour lifestyle and making those choices then talented at her chosen profession or it would have unacceptable. If the same consequences of her actions had been applied then she wouldn't have got much past song 1 or 2.

I often wonder if the outcome had been different if they had deemed it unacceptable. I read an article by her dad when she disappeared for a while and he said the same thing.

My issue with a statue is that it will, again make money for an industry that did not seek to protect one of its own or it's own values...

This whole charade is not and never will be about Amy Winehouse the person... a person I thought was continually crying out for help whilst pushing at boundaries that unfortunately were not there.

[GhostShip]

What is being commemorated then, pray tell? She wouldn't be having a statue had she not died.
She died due to drug abuse. Because she's died they're now wanting a statue. Why?

[IAmSoFuckingRock]

"Dying from being a drug addict isn't something we should be commemorating. "

that isn't what is being commemorated.

[Mrsjay]

She's not the first though and doubt she will be the last, 'tis the society we live in.

yes it is lots of artists were 'tortured souls'

I am not heartless though she did die and it was tragic

[BattlingFanjos]

Glad I'm not the only one!

It's just so sad, they are holding her up like some kind of martyr, when all I saw was a young woman who needed help. Which I'm sure she had and only those who were close to her know how much, it just doesn't sit right with me.
She's not the first though and doubt she will be the last, 'tis the society we live in.