Why do radio stations still play “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse?

Does anyone else feel weird hearing “Rehab” on the radio?

The song is ironic, to be sure (Amy died of alcohol poisoning), and when she wrote it I’m sure she had no idea her stubbornness of saying “no, no, no” when someone said she should “go to rehab” would end up costing her her life.

I call the song a “celebration of defiance”… and completely in the wrong way. Some things should be resisted, and that resistance should be celebrated. I’m thinking of oppression, government overreach, bullies, etc. There are plenty of songs about overcoming these kinds of difficulties. But I just can’t understand why anyone willingly plays a song by a singer who died from what she is singing about.

I guess, maybe possibly, it can be seen as a tribute to her, as this song is her most well-known hit? I still don’t get it, though. If I were a radio DJ I would refuse to play that song and if I got fired because of it, fine. I would not want to be part of promoting a piece of art that shows arrogance in the face of self-inflicted danger. Perhaps the DJs could play any of her other songs?

I’m not claiming to be perfect or “holier than thou.” I mean, I still listen to Notorious B.I.G. on occasion and most of his songs are about smoking, or women, or guns, and he was shot to death. This is surely ironic, too, but his songs somehow don’t have the same element of naive pride in that one single Amy Winehouse song.

Am I wrong to think this way? Can you shed some light on what I’m missing?

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

-Out of the Wilderness