Why Amy Winehouse is Like Jeff Buckley
We’re hearing a lot about the spike in sales of Amy Winehouse albums since her death on Saturday. And yes, death can be good for business. Ask anyone in the Jackson family or at Sony Music.
Since the weekend, Winehouse album sales have shot up 3,400% in America to a total of 55,000 albums. pushing Back to Black into the Top 10 on the Billboard charts.
An additional 110,000 digital downloads were purchase, which is up 2,120%. Impressive. (I’ll have the Canadian numbers next week.)
But just like Jeff Buckley–a talent singer who died much too soon–Billboard writer Jem Awad points out that Amy didn’t leave behind much. There are two albums, a couple of B-sides collections and an assortment of odds’n’ends. Her best stuff was recorded by the time she was 23. In the four years that elapsed before her death, she apparently didn’t do all that much.
Not much of a legacy, really. Compare that to Jimi Hendrix and Tupac. They’ve been dead for a long time but they’re still releasing albums. How much material came out from Sublime after Brad Nowell died? Michael Jackson left behind material as did John Lennon. And come this fall, we’re going to get more unreleased Nirvana with the 20th anniversary release of Nevermind.
As Aswad correctly points out, Amy will soon disappear into the category of artists who died before they had to chance to fully realize their potential.
Regarding Jeff Buckley
I don’t think it is quantity but the impact of the quality = Jeff’s unique, highly emotive, vocal stylings; his fantastic song interpretation skills;
his at times, unique, chime-like electric guitar playing; his, sometimes, stellar lyrics;
his (solo), and also w his band, improvisational playing = changing the songs up each time live . (Etc, Etc, Etc =
See more below! 🙂
Jeff Buckley had mental issues that seemed to make the Sophmore studio album even more challenging. Of course, Sophmore studio albums are generally known for being challenging — especially if the first album was thought highly of.
Jeff Buckley gave as best he could back to music — that had meant so much to him.
I see it as a highly significant and mindful contribution.
I am a rabid Jeff Buckley fan and would be so had he not died young, had he not had agreeable looks. I, personally (and as you well know, so many musicians) feel Jeff Buckley’s rather unique contribution to vocal style = so highly emotive, makes his short career surpass many with long careers.
Jeff Buckley’s guitar playing served the music, not his ego. He COULD play more virtuosically, but instead he played appropriate to the song (did not flaunt his abilities).
Jeff Buckley’s lyrics included some really stellar ones.
The highly improvisational way Jeff Buckley solo or with his band performed live, just thrills Provides such variety. Sometimes the changes were HUGE. Jeff could play the same song 3 times, on the same day, yet play them wildly differently; still, all equal in quality.
He really was quite an amazing musician.
Jeff’s ability to do sooooo many genres well and his desires to do so, to not be limited by genre = special.
Sooo, you can see I’m a rabid Jeff Buckley fan, but I feel I can WAY WAY WAY justify my fandom. I DO NOT give my fandom lightly!!
Same with Amy. There is something in her voice that I’d be sad to miss should she have only recorded two songs.
Jeff Buckley thought he was Bi-Polar.
I have zero proof, and I could be off on my hunch, but, sometimes, Bi-Polar is comorbid with Borderline. I think it’s a possibility. (Disclaimer: This Borderline+Bi-Polar idea is my guess and some other people’s guess, but these guesses are not validated and could be completely incorrect.)
Again, suffice it to say that Jeff, himself, said that he thought he was Bi-Polar (a mental illness). This was recounted by his fiancé and Manager after his departure. (Note: Many Borderline people are diagnosed w Bi-Polar first, and many Bi-Polar people can often have Borderline as well.)
Regardless, whatever mental challenge Jeff was trying to identify within himself, makes it all the more impressive to me, his significant contributions of unique vocal styling, fantastic song interpretation skills, and unique chime-like electric guitar playing —- and so many more amazing performance and musicianship qualities.
I do not agree on the publication of excerpts from Jeff’s journals by his mom (since he was a private person), yet, his mom’s publication might help readers who struggle and can at times be so terribly hard on themselves = sometimes so highly abusive in their self-talk.
Thanks so much for writing about Amy and Jeff Buckley.