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.
Surprise guests
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.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7879322.stm

Amen! X Factor is the McDonalds of the music industry. Thing is, like the Happy Meal, the bloody stuff sells!

I don't like McDonalds and I don't like X Factor.
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why cant they make it more like Burger King, then we could have it our way!

The other side of it has been the way artists have been signed up by labels purely for not being x-factor potential.

That's just as bad, so at least Cowell has his head screwed on i guess