Tennant blasts Cowell's X Factor

01:30 GMT, Tuesday, 10 February 2009

BBC Entertainment News

Neil Tennant watched The X Factor after working with judge Cheryl Cole

 

Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant has branded Simon Cowell's view of music too narrow, and thinks The X Factor ignores whole swathes of pop music.

 

The musician, speaking to the Radio Times, said Cowell's talent show was "basically people singing Whitney, Mariah and maybe Elton".

"Why don't they have, say, a new-wave week? Or 80s electro week?" he asked.

 

The Pet Shop Boys will collect an outstanding achievement accolade at the Brit Awards on 18 February.

"The feeling is that pop has made a big comeback this year, and it's the right time to give us the award," he said.

 

He explained that he watched The X Factor after writing a track for Girls Aloud, and decided to see what Cheryl Cole was like as a judge on the talent search.

 

Tennant added of the show: "If it's not power ballads then it was a narrower version of disco.

"I remember on Pop Idol, [judge] Pete Waterman told someone, very sympathetically, 'The thing is, you're more of a Depeche Mode kind of artist.' In other words, 'What are you doing here, pet?'

 

Tennant scotched rumours that he will perform with The Killers at the Brit Awards, saying it was "made up by the papers".

"There will be two guests for our performance, but I'd like it to be a surprise," he added.

 

The 54-year-old also said he fully supports the return of Top of the Pops, but says it should not be updated.

"It should never have tried to be cool. If it's brought back, it should be the original format - show the records going up the chart, and the number one," he said.

 

Tennant, along with bandmate Chris Lowe, is due to release the first Pet Shop Boys album in three years on 23 March.

 

Seeing how Neil Tennant is the latest in a long long line (Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Pete Townsend, Johnny Marr, Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn, Jarvis Cocker .....) to criticise the show do you think The X-Factor has a place in the current music scene or not?

WELL SAID! he is of course 100% right.

 

but popularity does not respect taste and as long as the thronging masses tune in to it, it will continue to be aired. i couldnt care less if there was never another talent show on tv ever again, but as long as it pulls in viewers and revenue they will be aired.

Nah he is spot on

 

It can't be a coincidence that the most highly acclaimed songs of the series were when the singers could choose their own song - Ruth Lorenzo (Purple Rain / Knockin' On Heaven's Door for instance)

he is spot on,i do enjoy the x factor but they are to narrow minded they go for ballads ballads the whole time thats why this year i wanted someone like ruth to win as she wa svery different

He's completely right, a lot of the mush X-Factor produces really tarnishes the perception of pop music with tacky covers/ballads etc.

 

All of the token X-Factor winners singles are pretty dire and forgotten quickly.

The winners' singles need to improve fast, but all these musicians harping on about how awful X Factor is are grating on me. It's smacks of 'bandwagon! jump!'.

 

I also think that there's exceptional irony in criticising a show which has produced a world-class singer in Leona and may do again in Alexandra/future contestants when you've just produced a song featuring vocals by a judge from said show who happens to be unable to hold a note to save her life...

Agreed, X Factor seems to only cater to certain types of acts. :/ Most of whom are AWFUL. Alexandra Burke seems alright though, I'm waiting on her.

 

Though this can be said for all talent shows tbh. They all produce horrible, horrible acts who, yes, have a good voice but their creativity and talent end there.

To be honest, I really couldn't care what the X-Factor producers. Yes, it's highly manipulated, yes it's incredibly shady, and yes it's led by one of the worlds worst A&R/Producer person, but all it's doing is entertaining the British public and giving us something fun to watch, whilst in those rare moments kick-starting a career of a very good singer (Leona). Who really cares if she got her career started by a reality show, and that she sings like Whitney + Mariah, she's done something that not many great British musicians have done, have a massive hit worldwide and reach #1 in the states. Bleeding Love was #1 in something like 20 countries worldwide, what other solo British musician has had that achievement of recent times?

The themes on American Idol seem a lot more broad. You usually get a rock week, Motown week and a country week and a week from each of the decades (60s-90s).

 

 

Seeing how Neil Tennant is the latest in a long long line (Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Pete Townsend, Johnny Marr, Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn, Jarvis Cocker .....) to criticise the show do you think The X-Factor has a place in the current music scene or not?

 

All these guys are 100% on the money... And I care not how many "units" Leona shifts, the material itself is pretty bland and safe, hardly going out on a limb is she....? Leona and Coldplay, boring peas in a pod.....

 

And the whole point is, Josh, that British music has a hell of a lot more to offer than Whitney, Elton, Gary Barlow or Mariah wannabes, bands like the one in your signature (Bloc Party) wouldn't even get through the first stage of that piece of sh!t show mate and you know it..... It's always the bloody same on that show, never any real variety of acts, just incredibly narrow definitions of what popular culture is, Cowell and Co have such breathtaking tunnel vision and total lack of imagination.... How the fukk can something so bloody predictable, manufactured, safe and boring possibly be considered "entertaining"....? I consider shows like "X-Factor" to be anti-entertainment, heck, even anti-music....

All these guys are 100% on the money... And I care not how many "units" Leona shifts, the material itself is pretty bland and safe, hardly going out on a limb is she....? Leona and Coldplay, boring peas in a pod.....

 

And the whole point is, Josh, that British music has a hell of a lot more to offer than Whitney, Elton, Gary Barlow or Mariah wannabes, bands like the one in your signature (Bloc Party) wouldn't even get through the first stage of that piece of sh!t show mate and you know it..... It's always the bloody same on that show, never any real variety of acts, just incredibly narrow definitions of what popular culture is, Cowell and Co have such breathtaking tunnel vision and total lack of imagination.... How the fukk can something so bloody predictable, manufactured, safe and boring possibly be considered "entertaining"....? I consider shows like "X-Factor" to be anti-entertainment, heck, even anti-music....

I just find it entertaining watching the auditions and watching people sing songs, i.e. Ruth Lorenzo singing 'Purple Rain'. I know it lacks variety, but I'm not surprised by it, seeing as the judging panel consists of an Irish-Boyband lover, a ditz from a Girlgroup, an artist who's only ever had decent sized hits within the dance genre and musics worst A&R. So you pretty much know what you're getting before you even watch the show. Yes shows like the X-Factor would be MILES better if it was more diverse, but that's never going to happen as long as you've got Simon Cowell's management running it.

 

Yes Britain has a hell of a lot more to offer than Whitney, Celine, Elton, Mariah, etc. but currently, we have Leona Lewis representing the UK, and countries worldwide are loving it. Because that's the type of music that sells and people will buy into, and I don't think it's going to really ever change. :(

 

The winners' singles need to improve fast, but all these musicians harping on about how awful X Factor is are grating on me. It's smacks of 'bandwagon! jump!'.

 

But Tennant doesn't harp on about how awful X Factor is actually, he only makes a clever and quite spot on critic about the show.

He doesn't say "booh it's rubbish, Simon to be killed!!!" like most snobs would do, he only points out something most pop lovers can only agree with : the show needs more diversity.

So I think he's quite right, and it's a clever way to say what he thinks about the show - because obviously he's been asked about the X Factor by the interviewer, I don't think he would wake up and say "oh hang on a min, I'm gonna call The Sun and say what I think about XF and TOTP"! :lol:

Neil Tennant is right. The world really doesn't need any more Whitney / Mariah wannabes. Leonard Cohen could have been thinking of Simon Cowell when he wrote the line "But you don't really care for music do you?"

because obviously he's been asked about the X Factor by the interviewer, I don't think he would wake up and say "oh hang on a min, I'm gonna call The Sun and say what I think about XF and TOTP"! :lol:

 

Pretty much in a nutshel.. he was in all liklihood asked a question, and he answered it..... The actual interview probably goes on for pages and pages and covers many other topics, but of course, predictably, this is the one element that gets picked up on......