Listen to any TV or radio program long enough and people will make incredibly insulting remarks about musicians.
Kenny G, Barry Manilow, The Eagles, Andre Rieu, numerous country musicians, pop stars, people on talent shows ...
Why is that ok? Most of these musicians are extremely talented. Guys like Kenny G or Barry Manilow are pretty much geniuses in terms of their technical skill or ability to write and perform music. Why is it alright to hang **** on them?
It's fair enough to not like a musician's work and not buy their product. Why is it alright to denigrate their skills and themselves as people.
I am an amateur musician and I know how much effort it takes to get good at this stuff. Anybody who can take it to the level of a profession and earning a living at gets my respect. My personal heroes are the session musicians and working players who labour at it every night.
It's a touch ironinc that people like Rolf Harris can be judged as embarassing one day then be superstars the next. Similarly, various pop sub-genre's pride themselves on their lack of musical skill but they still have heaps of credibility in the media and with their fans.
Good question.
Not that anyone on this site would do it of course.
Oh,... except for Mark-australia perhaps, who said on the AGT thread which he started,. "Somebody over east put me out of my misery and tell me that dope Bobby Antonov does not get thru pleeease."
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=67042
"Dope" ??? Geez Mark, he's 15 and got to the finals and he's a "dope"?
I guess at 15 Mark-australia was performing brain surgery operations or something.
Anyway, my guess is within 10 years that "dope' will be laughing all the way to the bank. I hope he saves comical posts like that for some light readinig when he wants a good laugh. 
This is hardly limited to music, people love to try to bash tall poppies in anything. Unfortunately there are a lot of negative people around who either through jealousy, frustration or whatever else feel it's ok to verbally bash someone when there is no chance of the person in question being able to reply. I think a lot of people are just unhappy in their own lives these days and feel the need to be negative towards others to make themselves feel better in the immediate short term.
Man - you have sold out.. need an image consultant or a cheap zimmerframe for the very last ever skevver bevver reunion tour?
I love indi pop, but seriously, limiting yourself to only one genre is like only kissing ya grandma. There's bound to be more delicious prospects just around the corner.
Personally I don't bag the contestants (much) on the pop tarts style shows. Well actually, aside from the 1st series of Ozzy Idle, I don't watch them, ever.
However, I do bag the system that created the show(s) and milks the poor gullible suckers dry, then leaves them washed up in their early 20's still bound to an inescapable contract. Three cheers for Sony inc. and the lawyers!!
For those who watch the music/singing/dancing "talent competitions" you should read Ben Elton's book "Chart Throb".....a work of fiction.
You may view TV talent shows with a completely different belief pattern. 
Fossil
Ditto on chart throb. Not his best work but an eye opener if you didn't know the machinations of the Phony corp.
