I seem to be missing the part of DNA or conditioning that causes most humans to react negatively when anything familiar changes. I'm one of a rare breed who sees changes as intriguing or exciting (to a fault, I almost always like redesigns at first).
Maybe I'm inferring too much, but your use of "crappy" and capitalising "NOT" suggests to me that this feature makes you angry. I think it's worth considering whether your reaction is a purely logical one, or partly an emotional one.
If I open up a law firm and then the decorator puts a gigantic mural of H.R. Giger's work on the walls, I'd probably be less than happy, and not because of emotional reasons (although it would be pretty creepy). It'd be bad for business.
Similarly, if Google's new change increases load time or distracts me...
I've noticed a bias against change too, but sometimes the redesign is just worse. For example, the wait for mouse and then fade-in change to Google is just as obnoxious today as when it went live.
But there is an argument to be made that this makes google look less clean. Even if the background is removed, there is an option in the lower-left corner, begging me to click it and look what is there. I don't really like it but it doesn't mark very high on my care-o-meter