Blur front man and Gorillaz star Damon Albarn has slated TV talent shows such as the X Factor for the way they treat their contestants. In his rant to London’s Sun, Albarn compared such shows treatment of performers as akin to cows being led to slaughter in an abattoir. “It’s not good because, though from time to time they may stumble across a beautiful voice, they put them through a food processor and make them fast food. A cow is definitely a more beautiful thing before it hits the hamburger factory.”
Albarn continued his vocal opposition to the shows, saying “I think music would be totally fine and in a healthy state if people weren’t so preoccupied with celebrity. There is potential for insane cross-fertilisation but there’s this sort of malignant tumour that keeps growing, very much based on a few TV and record executives practising this dark art of the television show.”
Damon, who is about to hit Australia next month for a tour with Gorillaz, said of the way shows such as the X-Factor treat wannabe stars: “They do things to these kids. They play with their bodies and their faces. They just bleach and sanitise everything about them and that’s a very potent aspirational aspect of our society.”
