https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAfLE39ZZ8 Every decade has its own tragic fallen hero or heroine. Amy Winehouse was linked to heroin/e in both meanings of the word and both would contribute to her untimely demise. Like Kurt Cobain before her, the celebrity that accompanied her success made her desperately unhappy. But amidst the tabloid scandals, its easy to forget how powerful and extraordinary her music was. Whilst Rehab was the raging against the dying of the light, Back to Black was a majestically modern take on the blues. It updated the sadness and melancholy of Billie Holiday and reintroduced the idea of the confessional in music. Jettisoning the third person narrative of the 90s, this was autobiography at its rawest. We only said good-bye with words, I died a hundred times, you go back to her and I go back to black. Nothing is wasted here. The introductory piano sounds like a sample of Where did our love go? by The Supremes. As with Crazy in Love, if Diana Ross was an emergent artist in the 00s, she would have thrown the mother of all hissy fits to get her hands on this. The vocal is worthy of the words. Resigned and beaten, but still trying to get up off the floor after the sucker punch has been landed. Back to black is a tale that is equal to, and sadly mirrors, Love will tear us apart by Joy Division and All Apologies by Nirvana. The writers of all three songs died in their twenties and both Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain joined that stupid club at the cursed musical age of 27. Back to black takes the title because it showed how the slick production of the 00s didnt have to sound synthetic. The real tale here is ultimately back to the blues. So ends our story.
What makes music fantastic? Star quality, amazing music, breathtaking lyrics and the ability to bring something new to the table, even if that means a new take on the classics. That's what I love to listen to and write about.
As well as writing for What Culture, I occasionally write a blog http://tedney.blogspot.co.uk and sometimes use Twitter, but sparingly @TedneyNash