The Curse Of Fame

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I read a (rather poorly-written) comment piece about Amy Winehouse's Mercury Awards appearance yesterday. Apparently her performance was 'electric' and it was generally agreed that somehow over the last year, Amy had transformed from a talented soul singer from Camden into an International Megastar Icon!!1!1.

"Every generation needs its Kurt Cobain!" wailed the writer, gnashing his teeth and already writing the poor lass off for lost.

Well, does it? Do we need self-destructive pop icons like Cobain/Hendrix/Sid Vicious? If Amy is the latest victim of rock'n'roll, then who will be next?

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I was wondering when someone would ask that :) The 'we' could apply to a number of groups of people: tabloid/Heat readers, music consumers, The Kids Today, a combination of all three?

[mooxyjoo.livejournal.com]

when i was a teenager cobain was one of the most important people who figured in my awareness of the world and what and who was in it - mostly, i'm sure, because i was a teenager and he happened to be famous and a musician. (it probably could have worked with a much less famous musician, if i had access to records and if the effect ended up being different.) i don't think many other than teenagers can have anything like that relation to a pop star, though. it wasn't even like i idolized him, identified with him, or thought often about him, or made huge distinctions between him and his colleagues and competitors. it's more like being a fixed point in the universe. (i know that putting it that way makes it sound like adults could perfectly well have that same relation to a pop star. oh well.)