This whole incident reminds me of a set of artwork somebody did about Frank and her sister, and how the public overmytholgizes her in the same way that Trekfans over-mythologize Gene Roddenberry (the second picture in particular) : http://www.imagebam.com/image/04cfc2248981227 [creepy and tasteless image changed to link by mod. NSFW] J. Allen is right; how do the people howling after Bieber`s blood know that Frank wouldn`t have been a fan of Bieber if she`d been able to live a normal life free of the whims and policies of an anti-Semite dictator? They don`t; they just don`t like Bieber or the fact that Bieber`s more popular than musicians that they like. As for Chris Brown, it seems that society is playing the `black people get it harder than white people` game yet again-Elvis `The King`Presley used to beat up his girlfriends (and dated a girl younger than him), John Lennon acted like a dick towards his first wife, Cynthia (and towards his first son, Julian), yet Chris Brown (as well as other prominent Afro-American males like Michael Vick and even earlier, Ike Turner) is made to suffer more than they did even though he made restitution for what he did to Rhianna. As for Bieber himself; although I don`t hate the young man and don`t wish him death (he didn`t do anything except become popular) I can understand why people hate him (and by extension, his record company) so much: he`s being pushed all over the media landscape and he and his fellow pop stars are getting more popularity than artists and groups that should be getting said popularity and attention as much as Bieber and his fellow pop stars should (there`s been rumblings about having a massive `Pop Demolition Night` similar to the old Disco Demolition Night that just might happen again-I hope not, but stranger things have happened) and people are just plain tired of all of this (also, this emphasis on pop and nothing else but pop is what`s probably behind slumping record sales as well and the death of EMI). The Big Three (Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group) need to get their collective act together and start emphasizing artists and groups like Regina Spektor, Priscilla Ahn, Arcade Fire, and a lot of other new bands & artists that aren`t pop (and yes, they do exist!) Already, some parents are prohibiting their kids from listening to many pop artists, counterprogramming their music players with Regina Spektor, Janelle Monae, P.J. Harvey, and other artists that they think are great. As well, people like Mirrorball Man need to just like what they like and not be so threatened by Justin Bieber`s popularity to be reacting to public statements like these. Here`s some pointers to great new music that isn`t pop: Exclaim! Spinner New Musical Express Paste Magazine NOW Magazine Grooveshark (click on the sections marked Indie Rock, Rock, and Electronica Doing all of this on your part (Mirrorball Man) will be a lot better for you than engaging in a daily Two Minutes Hate session against a pop artist simply because they`re more popular than you`d like them to be.
Thank you for your help, Shaka Zulu. I'm sure it's well-meant. I think I have a very healthy relationship with music, however, and I have to admit that I'm a bit puzzled to find out that for some reason, you think that I hate Justin Bieber. I don't. Really, I don't think I've said anything along those lines, nor have I said anything that could lead you to think that I find him more popular than he deserves. The only claims I've made is that he is immensely popular (which he is), which means that whatever he says has quite a lot of impact (which it does). I also claimed that he was "spectacularly dim-witted", and though I'll admit that it's open for debate, I'm reasonably sure that I could make a convincing case for it. That's all I've said: Justin Bieber is famous, and he is stupid, and that's an explosive combination. I haven't said or implied anything about his music or my personal tastes. So, thanks again for chiming in, but I guess it would have been more interesting had you tried to talk to me, rather than to the preconceived image you have of some people who kinda sound like me.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc[/yt] Damn.. this is getting really entertaining. Dumb kid does a dumb thing and the internet goes nuts
Actually, Bieber is about to make a dubstep album with Skrillex, and is something of a decent musician to boot, so he won`t be going away any time soon (most likely, he`ll be using his musician skills in one form or the other in his life.) He can always join a band, become a session man, open up a club, or become a club DJ like Boy George has become. Assuming what you`ve assumed is just as shortsighted as assuming that there would be no career for Frank Sinatra eventually, when in fact, there was a career for Sinatra after his 1940`s pop crooner heyday (and Sinatra didn`t even play an instrument or write a song.)
Ain`t gonna happen, period. Radio isn`t the same as it used to be (most stations are owned by one company-Clear Channel or Infinity Broadcasting-in most cities) and many (commercial) stations are nothing but a computer that plays the same list of songs over and over from a computer hard drive. Even if said commercial stations have a live DJ, said DJ is bound to the station`s playlist under pain of dismissal by the station`s boss and owner. Also, many of the station owner believe in the music being played, so a would-be Steve Dahl (the DJ behind the original Disco Demolition Night) wouldn`t be able to get hired and do what he did-for that matter, the cops would kick the ass of the people present who staged anything like said event now (as they should have back in 1979) due to events like the G20 summit and the Occupy protests. If you want to change the way things are with radio (the main culprit in all of this) and you`re a US citizen, what you have to do is write to your congressperson and order them to rescind the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and to bring back the original legislation restricting how many stations a company can own in one city, county, town, or state; only then will you get back independent stations that can play music other than pop and that aren`t just a computer with a massive HDD programmed to play the same songs week in and week out. A Pop Demolition Night would be as racist and as hateful of teenagers as the original Disco Demolition Night was hateful towards black people and GLBT people. Even better, you can do this for young people: Teenage Wasteland (or 'How To Encourage Alternatives To Justin Bieber')
From what I remember of Anne Frank I think she might have been a Belieber. And I think maybe Justin saw the wall of pop icons she did like and meant that it would have been an honour if she was a fan of his particular pop wave. The whole thing has been blown totally out of proportion but hopefully it will inspire a few Bieber fans to pick up her diary and Anne will continueto live on through them.
I think Richard herring pretty much summed up my thoughts on it: http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup/?id=3822
Fun fact: Michael Clarke Duncan (who was a huge White Sox fan, IIRC) was at Disco Demolition Night. He slid into home plate, I think. Uh.....no.
No, because most of the people who loved and listened to disco were black people and were also gay people. That's why.