View From the Phlipside - Bieber fans go Kanye

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

About a year and a half ago we saw something happen in the music world and you figured it was just so out there that you'd never see anything like it again.  When Kanye West jumped up on stage to make an idiot out of himself and ruin a great night for Taylor Swift you had to believe that he had set a whole new standard for low brow foolishness.

Never underestimate the power the stupid.  Justin Bieber's fans seem to have found a whole new bottom on that page.

It began with the Grammys just over a week ago when the Canadian teen heart throb lost the "Best New Artist" award to little known, but highly regarded Jazz artist Esperanza Spaulding.  The win was a complete and utter surprise.  It would be like my beloved Pittsburgh Pirates winning this year's World Series.  But it's not as if she were a total nobody (like my Pirates at the moment).  She's performed at the White House, was a child prodigy and at age 26 is a member of the faculty at the prestigious Berklee College of Music.  Bieber was clearly surprised and disappointed by the loss.  His fans promptly lost their minds.

Spaulding's web page was hacked and all kinds of statements were inserted. 

The nicest was that she had somehow "stolen" the award from Justin.  The worst were of the sort that say things like "Go Die in a hole".  This is par for the Bieber fanatic course.  This month when photos circulated showing Justin with Kim Kardashian she promptly began receiving death threats.  Death threats!  Just because she had talked and had her picture taken with him.

So a quick reality check for those with a case of BieberFever.  Get a grip.  There are upset winners every decade or so in this category.  You are aware of course that the only person more surprised than Justin that night was Esperanza Spaulding, right?  She stole the award?  Why not talk to the people who vote for it?  And last but certainly NOT least please remember that this is the least important Grammy of an artist's career.  Yes, the Beatles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Bette Midler and Mariah Carey all won this award.  So did the Starland Vocal Band, Milli Vanilli and Amy Winehouse (who beat out Taylor Swift by the way).

There's nothing wrong with just being insanely popular.  There is something wrong with being insanely stupid.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011