And then there's this little tidbit.

I don't know about great, but she was pretty funny on Never Mind the Buzzcocks (a comedy pop quiz) a while back, so she's not entirely charmless and vacuous.

chewie, I'll likely get piled-on for this, but 'tis my opinion that she has/had much more talent than Britney to begin with. Not that her meltdown is any less egregious for the press to focus on, or anything, nor does she deserve the attention for being a royal fuckup, but, well... I think in my perception it's a bigger waste. Britney's only talent was that she has, or used to have, a knack for finding great producers / writers.

If Britney had kept her shit together she likely would have been this generation's Madonna. Madonna was never a fantastic singer but she's a genius at knowing how to put together a catchy, appealing act, and work the media and public opinion in her favour.

Amy Winehouse - dunno, I feel like she is more along the lines of a Tori Amos (is that right?).

It's not like I'm a fan, but Britney, at least at her best, is/was a fairly talented dancer/performer/'entertainer.' Don't get me wrong--she's not a singer, or a songwriter, or an actor, or anything even remotely resembling any of those things.

If pressed, I'm a slightly bigger fan of Winehouse's, because she plays with the Dap-Kings, and gets Ghostface and Pharoahe Monch to appear on her remixes. But, at their best anyway, I think Britney is probably more talented.

that's a fair assessment, box. I forgot to include that whole dancing/performance/entertainment factor equation in my assessment of "talent", which was not fair.

I tend to (rightly or wrongly so) be very biassed towards a singer's vocal talent / abilities / quality, which is why I've never been able to stomach acts like Dylan, Springsteen, Tom Petty, Neutral Milk Hotel, et. al. 'tis all like nails-on-a-chalkboard to me, unfortunately, and it totally occludes my ability to focus on the instrumental / compositional / lyrical talent. At all.

It took me awhile, and a lot of work by the mister, to get me cottoned onto the Decemberists, because despite how catchy and adorable they really are (and they are really catchy) Conor Oberst sounds like a muppet, end of story.

Her music is pretty fun. Sad to see her struggle with an addiction like this. Although I wonder if seeing people struggle with addition so openly in the public eye could be a lesson for others? Not sure, but perhaps.

Drug addiction is hardly new to the entertainment circuit, but today, celebrity addiction is more public. Whereas once trashing a hotel room barely got a mention in the rock press, now every vice is a potential headline on ET.

I think Britney is probably more talented.
I politely disagree.

I can dig it. Modern pop music has a similar problem, I think, to big-budget movies, where it's such a collaborative medium that it's sometimes really hard to isolate one person's contributions. That, or I overrate Britney's talent because people keep telling me (well, or they used to--what was that, like, eight years ago?) what a great dancer/performer/entertainer she is, and, frankly, I'm not really an expert in that kind of stuff, so I'm likely to put a lot of weight on other, more knowledgeable opinions.

lonefrontranger - Conor Oberst is in Bright Eyes. Are you thinking of Colin Meloy?

(pedantic)

Winehouse is a wonderful singer. The first time I heard her, it stopped me in my tracks. Britney is not even a remotely good singer, and although I don't have an opinion on her as a performer, I'm sure she's got something going on. Had, I should say.

Trainwreckes, the both of them.

pinky: yes, mea culpa. Colin Meloy = muppet, thanks.

Conor Oberst is merely shrill.

Much to my own surprise, I really like Amy Winehouse's music. I'm with Specklet, her voice stopped me dead the first time I heard it. Both the production and many of the lyrics on her records are clever and sassy. I think that the craziness is the only thing similar between her and Brit.

And personally, lonefrontranger, I can't see a comparison to Tori Amos at all.

What Specklet said. Girl can sing, even if we can't always understand the words.

I'm a converted Winehouse fan. I just have lingering wonders about if someone manufactured her, or if it's her own vision. If that's really her schtick, she's brilliant, albeit fucked up.

Oh yeah, Winehouse has talent. And soul. A deeply fucked up, angry, bitter, damaged, loving, hurt, brassy, bareknuckled tattooed soul, to be sure. But, yes.

And Brittney? She's got nothing.