I only heard of Amy Winehouse in the past couple of months, after the hype had built up... i am just now hearing the actual music, and I guess I am missing something. I think her voice is a tuneless honk, and the jazzy retro vibe seems manufactured. There must be mountains of original 50's records with more soul and musicality. Joss Stone had the same effect on me- maybe if she had the business sense to load up on reds & Southern Comfort, they'd have been chucking Grammys at her, too.

Nope, you don't get it. :)

Art and aesthetics are pretty subjective most of the time, so I'm not going to argue with you, but Back to Black was my favorite album this year. It stood out to me because it was innovative (the album shows love for hip-hop but not overtly) and it was so much better than most of the rest of the stuff I bought this year.

Anyway, it sounds like you don't really care for R&B that much, so it shouldn't be surprising that Back to Black didn't do it for you. If you played me the best Ac DC album ever, it wouldn't move me.

McQuacken:

I only heard of Amy Winehouse in the past couple of months, after the hype had built up... i am just now hearing the actual music, and I guess I am missing something.

I have to agree 100%. If there is something about Ms Winehouse that you don't get, then I don't, either. I think what's happened is that the public, as usual, has latched onto "troubled artists" as if the only real art can come from druggies, drunks, weirdos and nutballs. In other words, the art is unimportant, it's the cult of personality that prevails.

The fact is that good, worthwhile art can, in fact, come from all sorts of people.

There MUST be some well-adjusted, professional (as in, "having a professional demeanor") artists out there, who work hard, don't make asses of themselves, don't take drugs or otherwise break the law, and don't bounce in and out of rehab. Why aren't we promoting them instead?

Which leads to another question: Why would a record label -- which ostensibly must invest capital in developing an artist, recording and producing his/her/their music, and marketing and distributing it -- be so stupid as to make that investment in such unstable people? Are they so hard up for musicians that they can't find anyone else? I doubt that. Why then do they persist in making such inherently-risky investments? It defies logic that they would do so.

I'm trying to think of a rational reason why people worship losers and wingnuts ... but it's just not coming to me. I'm also trying to think of a rational reason why someone who is supposed to be in rehab, would proudly and defiantly sing about refusing to go to rehab. That's not coming to me either.

... I dunno, maybe I'm just too sensible a thinker ...

I agree. I don't get it either. Not helping Winehouse: a nervous drummer. I see this alot in live shows- too much caffeine, nerves, or what have you: the drummer's tempo is too fast. Didn't he have an ear piece? That's why she was dragging her vocals- to slow him down. Still not enough though. And if you can't control your band, how good are you?

Thanks for posting this. I feel the same way. I felt the same way about Ricky Lee Jones. They repackage another style and I agree, it sounds manufactured.

I agree as well. I don't get all the hype and I also agree that she can't control the tempo of her own band. Yet another "great" singer that cannot sing with real instrumentalists. It's actually pretty depressing to think that this is the state of our popular music industry.

It's called the fastest way to make a buck and don't give a rip who it hurts mentality/ attitude and how fast can we burn this one out attitude and so one and so on. It is the times we are living in. A time of total direspect to others and ones self.

Last night another one of our basketballs was taken. This is the third basketball that we have had taken from the Intramural program. Until this basketball is returned, all Intramural Basketball Games are hereby suspended.

Yes, Prytania3, you are very clever and funny. Now it's bedtime.

Adrasteia:

Thanks for posting this. I feel the same way. I felt the same way about Ricky Lee Jones. They repackage another style and I agree, it sounds manufactured.

OK, now you are pissing me off! Ricky Lee Jones? How can anyone say anything bad about her?

Th Paine:

Adrasteia:

Thanks for posting this. I feel the same way. I felt the same way about Ricky Lee Jones. They repackage another style and I agree, it sounds manufactured.

OK, now you are pissing me off! Ricky Lee Jones? How can anyone say anything bad about her?

You get pissed off over Ricky Lee Jones? Her style is ripped off and not even ripped off well. She really doesn't have a voice and most of her music is just candy. Good for a short period of time. Then again, perhaps it's just a matter of beauty in the eye of the beholder.

And which musical artists DIDN'T rip off someone else's style?

And many of my favorite singers might be said not to "really ... have a voice," including Dylan, Tom Waits.....

I agree about "beauty in the eye of the beholder," although beauty is often NOT what I am looking for in an artist, in whatever medium.

As for Amy WInehouse, I think I have perhaps heard at most 2-3 of her songs -- "Rehab" for sure -- and I DO like what I hear, although at age 58, I am not exactly in her prime demographic.

I was being facetious about being pissed off

But serious about really liking her music.

She's got a ska sounding song called "Just Friends" that gets heavy rotation on my mpr player.

Awesome.