Amy Winehouse was brilliant on the Grammys, via satellite — she’s an amazing performer. Tough and vulnerable, she manages to radiate genuine talent in a way that transcends her retro-jazzy sound, beehive hairdo and Egyptian eye makeup (though they add something, too). I hadn’t heard her music or seen her perform before the awards show, and barely noticed a few short articles about her personal and legal problems in the paper — usually not enough to get me interested in tracking down anyone’s music. Still, the news about her visa problems and knowing she was performing live from London got just enough publicity to interest me. Like the best performers, she’s more than a great singer — everything she did onstage was fun to watch. She’s like a cross between Missy Elliott and Fanny Brice, and while her sound draws from earlier music she’s not a nostalgia act. She’s clearly of our time, and her success and popularity aren’t just a fluke.

Amy Winehouse’s problems with substance abuse also make some people worry about the effect that she is having as a role model. A select group of self-destructive artists are cultural archetypes. From Vincent van Gogh to Kurt Cobain, there always seems to be a public appetite for portraits of the artist as passionate, misunderstood geniuses, the closest things to martyrs that our secular culture has. Their problems make for entertaining (and marketable) stories. At the same time, most of us wouldn’t want our kids following in their footsteps.

What makes the chaotic (and sometimes, tragically short) lives of these artists so fascinating? To some degree it may be because it’s evidence that their work is authentic, that their creativity is emerging from places most of us have to repress or are unable to explore. Rimbaud is famous for promoting “the derangement of the senses” to reach new heights of poetic inspiration, and let’s face it, there’s an element of craziness that makes art interesting. At the same time, most people dealing with addiction or psychiatric problems don’t end up being famous artists. There is some leftover romanticism about mental illness and creativity, and perverse pleasure in the spectacle of celebrity train wrecks like Brittney Spears’s recent career. Unfortunately there are times when both the cultural world and the mainstream entertainment industry seem like marketing arms for recreational drug traffickers (both legal and illegal). Natalie Cole was disappointed that Amy Winehouse was rewarded with Grammys this year, saying her colleagues in the music industry were sending the wrong message about substance abuse. Some might say it’s sour grapes, but it’s not a completely unreasonable reaction.

In the best of all possible worlds, Natalie Cole’s disapproval would be misplaced. In the real world, it’s hard to know what to think. Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther was blamed for a number of suicides after it was published in 1774, so there’s a history of the arts — even fictional characters — having an effect on what some young people do with their lives. Fortunately, most artists and performers don’t self-destruct, but a few doomed celebrities live out their lives like cautionary tales, lighting up the world through self-immolation. One of the lyrics that Amy Winehouse sang that lodged in my memory is, “I cheated myself like I knew I would,” and while I enjoyed hearing her sing “You Know I’m No Good” and “Rehab,” I hope she’ll keep out of trouble and stay inspired. She’ll be helping more people than herself.