“And everybody wants to see you fall, that’s why they always love to get you high”.
…Or so singer-songwriter Ryan Adams sings in his track “The Rescue Blues” from 2001’s Gold.
The recent release of Asif Kapadia’s critically acclaimed documentary, Amy, detailing the life of Grammy-award winning and Mercury-prize nominated artist Amy Winehouse, shows how the relationship between the media and successful women artists can be highly detrimental, often incestuous and almost always prying and ignorant towards the performer involved.
During Winehouse’s prime, the media ravenously fed upon the tragic circumstances of Amy’s character and personality, her relationships – which are almost always preceded by the phrase “much publicised”, and her family life past and present. It is clear to see that the media, not just in Winehouse’s age, favour the female sinner over the saint, the drunk over the sober. It is the image of tragedy, the ideas of the “27 Club”, that the media dwell upon in order to publish ‘shocking’ images and headlines to increase circulation.
Like a present-day Shakespearean villain, the press use the successful women’s flaws of character against them, publicising their private life and excessive living in order to charge them with “The Rescue Blues” when they finally ask for help and seek rehabilitation. Ironically it is the track ‘Rehab’ that Amy is most known for, her problems with substance abuse penned into lyrics. People were fascinated by her problems.
Careless reporting and disregard for a successful woman’s obvious problems will undoubtedly have deepened the isolation that Amy felt with the music world and general public.
As Adams’ lyrics note, the media desperately wanted Amy to fall, that’s why they loved to get her high.
Tom Willis
Brilliant piece of writing