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Cocker lashes out ot bland pop stars
05.06.07Britpop star Jarvis Cocker has lashed out at today's pop music and TV talent shows.
The ex-Pulp star, who had a string of hit singles and two number one albums in the Nineties, said pop had become "industrialised".
Cocker, 43, said contestants on shows like The X Factor and Pop Idol only got through if their voices betrayed "zero personality".
The Britpop star also told the Radio Times magazine he regretted how much attention he got after his infamous Brits protest at Michael Jackson.
Cocker, who recently released his first solo album, said of TV talent shows: "They never pick people with great voices.
"They pick people who show off how many notes they can fit into a 10-second period.
"A great voice expresses something and gives you some idea of the personality behind the voice.
"There's zero personality in the voices of any of the people who sing on these shows."
The Sheffield-born Common People star admitted he would "be straight out" if he appeared on a TV talent show.
He said: "It saddens me because I love pop music and these shows prove that it's become an industrialised process.
"I hate that. The kind of pop I was brought up on is over.
"In those days there was space within pop for interesting things to happen, like Laurie Anderson making number one with O Superman.
"But now I don't think there is. The pop charts used to be where everything happened.
"Now the most interesting stuff is happening outside in the independent music sector."
Cocker said he regretted the publicity which followed his stage invasion of the Brits in 1996 in protest at the King of Pop's "Christ-like" performance.
He said: "I got too much publicity.
"There is an obsession with celebrity in our society, but I think people are starting to realise that it really isn't very nice.
"Some people might thrive on it, but I didn't. To suddenly become known by a lot of people simply because I waggled my a at somebody isn't brilliant, is it?
"I'd rather be known for something better than that. Although my a - waggling is second to none. I would rather people remember me for what I create."
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