The 27 Club Rejects Winehouse in 4-1 Ruling

July 24, 2011

Amy Winehouse will not join the famed "27" club comprised of musicians that died at the age of 27. Brian Jones,  Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain voted 4-1 to reject Winehouse who spent the last three years trying to make a case for her 27-hood. The vote split along talent lines.

Pictured: Anorexia Mimosa

Writing for the majority Jimi Hendrix laid out the case against Winehouse. "Being a 27 is about making your art more important than even self-preservation," Hendrix wrote, "It's about pushing the envelope so far, bending the rules so much, and pushing yourself so hard that you ultimately die trying."

The most damning passage concerns the real reason for Winehouse's decline. Hendrix wrote, "She suffered from eating disorders, which is about putting your physical appearance ahead of your health in your priorities, rather than suffering for your art. She went from a Foxy Lady to a Dolly Dagger."

Writing for the minority, Brian Jones argued that Winehouse was talented and influential and therefore her small body of work shouldn't matter. Winehouse's two LPs contained a scant 24 tracks. However, Jones pointed out that Winehouse's body of work is arguably larger than Joplin's.

"I don't know why we let you in," Morrison said of Jones, "you died cause you sucked too much."

Ultimately the 5 member club was persuaded by Hendrix's argument. Membership in the club is about caring about your art more than yourself. And that's a litmus test Winehouse couldn't pass.

The club also has two honorary non-voting members, John Lennon and Elliot Smith. Both singer-songwriters sided with the majority.