A Dent in the Tori Amos Net Universe, commonly
called "The Dent", is an unofficial but highly acclaimed
website which from
1996 to
2006 was the primary source of information about
the career of singer, songwriter and actress
Tori Amos. The website is not an
official product of Amos or her handlers, but has been heavily
endorsed by her including the URL in her album liner notes.
The
website was launched on
March 25,
1996, by Michael Whitehead, a computer programmer and
analyst from
Louisville, Kentucky. At the time the
internet was in its
infancy and the use of it to market music artists was sparse.
Whitehead, commonly known as "Mikewhy," began using his website to
exhaustively document every bit of minutiae related to Amos and her
career. 1996 was arguably the most active time for Amos, and
Whitehead was heavily praised for his ability to document even the
most minor detail.
As Amos' popularity grew so did the website,
until it became what is considered by most to be the definitive
chronicle of historically accurate information about Amos. During
the past ten years the website has played an integral role in
uniting the global community of Tori Amos fans. It has also been
utilized by Amos and her record labels as an integral point of
marketing, with
frequent exclusives being provided to Whitehead. Amos' charity
organization
RAINN has also
utilized the website to spread their message and organize
fundraising
efforts.
On March 25, 2006, on the 10th anniversary of his
website, Whitehead announced he would no longer be able to continue
the website. An alternate website called "Undented" was launched by
other persons on May 5th, the day Whitehead made his final update
to "The Dent"
1.
Whitehead is however one of Undented's managing
editors.
External links
A Dent
in the Tori Amos Net Universe Undented