Winehouse = Cobain?

Probing Amy's self-destructive public persona
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 16, 2007 9:47 AM CST

Amy Winehouse’s career, writes James Hannaham for Slate, is just the sort of brilliant train wreck you’d think would get cut short by tragic rock 'n' roll death: With her considerable talent and public penchant for self-destruction, Winehouse evokes other music casualties such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix or Ian Curtis.

Hannaham, however, sees Winehouse’s schtick as more calculated than Cobain, as if she picked her tabloid escapades with the same deliberation as the retro pastiche of R&B and soul that she sings over. This “sense of fakery” actually gives Hannaham hope that Winehouse might stick around: That addiction may be her muse, but she's still grounded in the creative process, and not simply hurtling towards chemical oblivion. (More Amy Winehouse stories.)

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