Why do people hate Justin Bieber?

[graywarrior]

And how does he manage to remain 11 years old?

[Baitball Blogger]

1. Did you just answer your own question?

[TwilightGardener]

2. I don't know. I grew up with Shaun Cassidy and Donnie Osmond

being popular, I thought teen boy heartthrob acts were nothing new.

[graywarrior]

3. Hmmmm, my teenage hearththrob was Dylan...lol

[NYC_SKP]

4. What? Did Johnny Crawford not tickle your fancy?

And is that what we're calling it still?

[graywarrior]

9. I never had a fancy to tickle.

I would rather have beaten you up....lol

[NYC_SKP]

13. As would I, have rathered, that is!

That would be fun.

Then, a long lunch with iced teas and a desert!

[frogmarch]

6. I guess it's considered cool to hate him, but

what I think is creepy is that a lot of the Justin Bieber haters are adults.

[graywarrior]

10. Exactly! God, I hated it when my parents HATED Bob Dylan.

[frogmarch]

16. Justin Bieber was just a young kid when the

hate-fest began. He's 18 now. How old was Bob Dylan when your parents hated him? Was he 15 or 16 like Justin Bieber was when hating him became the "in" thing to do?

[graywarrior]

17. No, he was 21-ish.

[ohiosmith]

7. You really have to ask?

[graywarrior]

11. .

[NYC_SKP]

14. That post wins this thread!

[hrmjustin]

15. Here ends the lesson.

[texanwitch]

21. He looks like he is getting ready to be taped himself.

Why in the hell is he selling duck tape for.

Does he have a secret life we don't know about.

He isn't a little boy anymore.

[Wind Dancer]

38. OMG!

Now that is one of the funniest posts I've read since I joined DU.

Love it!

[hifiguy]

59. If there were a DU hall of fame,

that post would be in it on the first ballot.

[slutticus]

61. This is quite anger-inducing but...

...is it really HIS fault?

[sakabatou]

8. His music sucks

And he feeds off the life force of his female fans.

[graywarrior]

12. I don't think I've ever heard him sing!

[sakabatou]

18. Don't. Your ears will bleed.

[graywarrior]

20. Or maybe I did hear him but just didn't listen

[eShirl]

19. I did! On the car radio...

I thought it was a girl, singing to her boyfriend. Seriously. (Especially since another male sings back to him in the song.)

[Incitatus]

29. I made the same mistake.

I never would have known it was him if I didn't ask who was playing on the stereo. I thought she was joking when she said Justin Beiber but no.

I don't hate him. I just think his music sucks.

[Spike89]

40. I kinda think it is the reverse...

He's the entertainment industry's version of teen/preteen crack. They put out a talented, "pretty boy" way before he has developed his talents (not mention the ability to handle the fame/money) and the fans and media feast on him until there is nothing but a husk of a performer left by the time he reaches 25.

It isn't just teen heart throbs of course...Britney Spears is the poster child for "pop tarts"--there are always a few in the wings and a handful on stage in every era and it is rare for them to have a real career into their mid 20s. Most either go into acting/celebrity appearances or disappear until a nostalgia tour is viable.

They don't feed on the fans, they are the fodder. It the record companies/media that get fat off the hype.

[sakabatou]

41. Of course they're fodder

The singers feed off life force of the fans, the producers and others feed off their money.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

47. I don't know how much talent even factors into this.

These careers are drawn up and piloted in a board room by adults in expensive suits. Industry execs, managers, agents, producers, songwriters, choreographers, PR and marketing people etc.

Like you said, the actual performer is completely interchangeable as long as they look the part, can dance and sing (I believe in that order). With a bit of the studio magicks nowadays you can make most people sound good, and the live shows are stringently choreographed that nothing is left up to chance (both for the dancing and the singing). Every move has been drawn up before, all the way down to the nose-picking.

So the only talent really needed is to replicate all the moves laid out for you. Like painting by numbers; yes, you have to be really good at staying within the lines and getting all the colors right, but in the end you're still just coloring somebody else's picture.

I'm not saying that these teeny pop idols are always devoid of any talent. What I'm saying is that, even if one of them was the second coming of Freddie Mercury, nobody would ever know.

Long story short, we agree!

[applegrove]

22. His music must suck big time. I've kept an ear open to his songs

for the last few years cause I'm proud of any canadian who does well, but I had yet to hear anything till I watched the Grey Cup half time show last weekend. Meh.

[Denninmi]

23. They play his videos on the big screens at my gym.

The phrase "talentless hack" comes to mind. He is another one in the age of reality media who is famous for being famous, not because of any inherent ability.

Kinda sad.

Thank God I can always drown him out with something on my iPod.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

24. Two things:

Besides being the latest example of everything that has ever been wrong with commercialized pop music (nothing new there, he isn't the first and he won't be the last), isn't he also a fundie nutbag of the 6000 year old Earth variety?

[graywarrior]

25. I don't think he's a fundie

I remember something about him supporting Universal Health Care. Maybe I'm wrong...or crazy. I regret starting this thread because now Justin Bieber is on my mind every day. It's a curse.

[Avalux]

26. Well, he has a jesus with a crown of thorns tatoo, and a praying hands tatoo.

I'm not sure if he's the earth-is-6k-yrs-old variety Christian, but he talks to god a lot and is anti-abortion:

http://global.christianpost.com/news/justin-bieber-on-abortion-its-like-killing-a-baby-78522/

[graywarrior]

27. Wow, I'm so clueless when it comes to Justin Bieber.

Shame.

[TrueBlueinCO]

28. I don't hate him. I just think that he is a no talent hack.

[graywarrior]

31. That's a pretty hateful statement....

[TrueBlueinCO]

34. No. Saying that I don't see a talent in a person is not equivalent to hate

I don't really give a shit about Beiber or any other no talent pop singer.

[graywarrior]

36. You DO know you're in the lounge, right?

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

43. Ahem.

That's an insult to all the hardworking no talent hacks out there!

[Avalux]

30. I know more than I want to.

My 20 y/o very liberal and usually sensible daughter is obsessed with him and I have no idea why. It defies logic. When she heard that he and Selena Gomez broke up she was very upset.

I can't be too hard on her though since I had a Leif Garrett poster on my bedroom wall as a youngster.

[graywarrior]

32. Leif Garrett! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

[Avalux]

33. yeah I know.

Which begs the question....why do teen heartthrobs look so girly? And why do young girls go crazy over that? I mean...look at him. Biebs looks like a GIRL.

[graywarrior]

35. Yeah, well I sorta kinda got into this for a while

[TwilightGardener]

37. That's a good question, because obviously

he looks very feminine in that photo, lipstick and all. Maybe actual grown-manliness and a true masculine appearance are too subconsciously threatening for many young tween-age girls? They need a training-wheels sort of cute first crush? I refer back to Shaun Cassidy, he wasn't terribly manly looking either, looked like a cute little doe-eyed chipmunk.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

45. I think it may actually be

that he comes off as less threatening to the parents of those tween girls. That Disney-type wholesomeness and all the talk about religion and virginity sounds more like it's for the benefit of the parents who after all are the ones actually spending the money for the tween girls, so you kinda have to sell to them too.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

42. Well, he's Canadian

so of course he supports Universal Health Care, after all he has experienced the benefits first hand.

I remember hearing a couple of time that he's a fundie and vaguely recall a headline about him saying something nutty, but I don't recall if it actually had to do with evolution or something else.

What is it with all these fundie teen popstars anyway?

[graywarrior]

44. Beats me. That stuff was squaresville when I was a kid.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

46. I know, right?

But then I was the guy walking around school in an Iron Maiden t-shirt, so what do I know?

As I said in Post #45, I think a lot of this wholesomeness might be for the parents, they're the ones who have to be separated from their money after all.

[graywarrior]

48. Yeah, our generation was drawn to the freaks

I painted Frank Zappa's portrait on the hood of my friend's red Rambler and spent weekends dropping acid at the Boston Tea Party in Kenmore Sq.

[datasuspect]

39. her music is pure shit

[Codeine]

49. For the same reason I hate all hyper-commercialized pre-chewed corporate pop music;

it sucks.

[whistler162]

50. He's Canadian! Also think Dorian Gray. Need I say more.

[Taverner]

51. Hell if I know - and yes, he does

Some people look young for a long time

Sometimes they age rapidly

He's just a pop singer

Nothing more nothing less

[Throd]

52. Doesn't every high school in America have about 30 guys who could do the exact same thing?

I don't hate him. I just don't see what makes him special.

[LP2K12]

70. I can't name...

30 guys from my high school who can play drums, guitar, piano and trumpet and sing.

I was in chorus from middle school through high school. I was the only male and I play guitar, piano and bass.

[Ahpook]

53. Cause hes a sellout :0

Really, I don't know. All kinds of music floating about, some more honest than others

[Jamaal510]

54. LOL @ "remain 11 years old"!

Surprisingly, he looks much older now than in his earliest music videos. He finally ditched the bowl cut, and he looks like he's been hitting the gym regularly.

Anyway I'm not a JB fan. But I think most of his haters are some of the lowest forms of life to have ever walked the Earth. For example, you should read some of the comments on his "Baby" video. They are tons of commenters calling him homophobic slurs, constantly calling him a girl, and there are even comments like "I'm here for my daily dislike" (clicking the dislike button under a video). I haven't viewed the video in months, but the last time I checked it had over a MILLION dislikes! That is insane! I hate people like that who show hostility towards those who aren't trying to antagonize anybody and are just trying to make a living.

To answer OP's question though, I think the hate towards him stems mostly from jealousy of his wealth and how many girls who swoon over him. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, so there's really no other reason for the hatred IMO.

[graywarrior]

56. Who knew that Justin Bieber would create such a lukewarm frenzy at DU?

[JoeyT]

55. I hate him because he's a vapid moron.

Same reason I hate most celebrities. The only reason I even know who he is was when he took the Republican stance on abortion. Other than that he's completely off my radar.

The teen heartthrob is quoted in the magazine's March issue as saying "you should just wait" until you're in love to have sex and "I really don't believe in abortion . It's like killing a baby."

When asked about situations in which women become pregnant after being raped, Bieber said he believed "everything happens for a reason," but noted, "I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that."

[graywarrior]

57. New show: When Pop Stars Pontificate

[Wait Wut]

58. I can't hate him.

First of all, he's just a kid. Not a bad kid, just a kid.

Second, years ago I read/saw an interview with him. He really just wanted to be a drummer, but the parents got him into this superstar thing. He still wants to be a drummer.

Let the teenagers have him. I think we had a few of those types. Remember Donnie Osmond, Leif Garrett, etc., etc., etc.?

[hifiguy]

60. Age isn't an excuse.

Mike Oldfield wrote, played, produced, arranged, and recorded the whole of "Tubular Bells" before he was 20.

[graywarrior]

63. And then there was Mozart

[hifiguy]

64. True, that.

Beethoven, too. He was a traveling virtuoso in his teens. But Wolfgang tops the list. He was performing for crowned heads at age five.

And I really like your Pallas' Cat gif. That is a bad cat!

[graywarrior]

65. The cat appreciates your like

And yeah, he's a face ripper offer.

[Wait Wut]

71. You have incredibly high expectations.

I don't live up to them. I don't think 99% of performers could, either.

And this is for mentioning Tubular Bells. Now I'm gonna have nightmares.

[hifiguy]

82. Listen to it w/o reading

"The Exorcist." It's a friendly piece of music.

[slutticus]

62. I don't hate justin bieber, but he represents

everything that is wrong with the music industry.

[graywarrior]

66. Why in god's name is this thread still hot?

[MrSlayer]

67. Jealousy mostly.

It's the whole Bay City Rollers, New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys thing. It pisses people off when your music is absolute garbage but pre-teen girls make you a millionaire and mainstream media gives you legitimacy.

Young boys that have to hear girls they like swoon over this dude hate him the most. I get that.

I don't get adults hating him. You don't have to listen to him or even see him so it makes little sense to me.

He'll be gone soon enough.

[graywarrior]

72. Well, aren't you Mr. Rational

We don't need that around here.

[MrSlayer]

76. Don't get used to it.

It doesn't happen often.

[graywarrior]

80. Good

[LP2K12]

74. May I kindly point out...

The Backstreet Boys are working on their eighth studio album. Brian plays piano and guitar. AJ plays bass, Nick plays drums and Kevin plays piano and Howie plays guitar.

They do a sold out cruise/concert yearly.

They recently did a sold our U.S. and international tour. I took my mom for mother's day. There we're tons of people there os varying genders and ages and the guys put on a fabulous show.

To each their own...

[graywarrior]

77. Obviously, I live in a dark and sheltered world

[MrSlayer]

79. That's fine.

And, yes, to each their own. I'm just happy to not have them thrown in my face anymore. After all, Adam Ant still tours.

[graywarrior]

81. Now there's a flash from the past

[thefool_wa]

68. Personally...

I don't hate him as much as I am disappointed.

The kid is TALENTED...more so than many of the pop artists and rock stars that are out there today. The problem I have with that is that he and his parents let the recording industry exploit his talents at such a young age that any individuality he has that separates him from the crowd has been lost on the cookie-cutter pop music crap he has been spewing.

If you had given him 10 more years of life experience and let him develop his OWN musical style and his OWN career direction he could have turned into one of the most creative, inventive, independent artists out there, then made the record industry his bitch.

Instead, he sold out at 16, has made trash music with absolutely no musical diversity and has sold his soul to the music industry for fame and fortune. I don't necessarily think there is anything wrong with selling your art for money, there really is no other reason to BE an artist other than to make money off it, but he sold out his TALENT to get fame early and it has been whitewashed over to the extent that all his music is bland and no different than every other teen pop star to hit the scene in the past 20 years.

I think, had he waited, he would have become a respected and universally like musician and artist, instead of one more pop music icon that will be washed up and gone soon having let absolutely nothing creative or new in his wake.

Ultimately, I think I feel more sorry for the kid than I hate him.

[graywarrior]

73. Another rational response

[LP2K12]

69. I have no problem with him...

I think he's a talented dude. Plays drums, guitar, piano and trumpet. So what if what he sings isn't some sort of instant classic?

Here he is playing drums with a band when he was younger...

And here he is playing the djembe...

On piano...

Respect by Aretha...

I'll Be by Edwin Mccain with Bieber playing acoustic guitar

[Ter]

75. Because he looks like a wus

Yet girls still love him.

[graywarrior]

78. .

[fizzgig]

83. because he stares back at me from the bathroom mirror

fuck you, kid, i know i need a hair cut

[graywarrior]

84. LOL, brilliant!