JIM CARROLLon music

I'm with Damon Albarn on this one: The X Factoris junk. This week, the Blur and Gorillaz fellow offered his views on the TV show.

"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," Albarn said. "A cow is definitely a more beautiful thing before it hits the hamburger factory."

It's not the first time Albarn has voiced negative feelings towards this television travesty. Back in 2007, while guest-editing BBC Radio 4's Today show, Albarn said the show created a "mindset which suggests that you can get something for nothing, that it's easy to acquire status and fame, which is rubbish."

There are many who will dismiss Albarn's criticisms as snobbery from an established act. After all, goes the argument of many in the music industry, the show generates a buzz around new artists at a time when acts are struggling for attention.

But a TV show is not really concerned with spotting, nurturing and developing talent. The X Factor needs immediate bang for its buck – and that means fake drama and tears every week – to maintain its audience.

The X Factoris not about longetivity. What percentage of acts that have appeared on music-based reality shows such as The X Factorgo on to have a career in music? And what percentage end up doing panto?

Let's keep a sense of perspective. The X Factoris a banal, innocuous TV show. No matter what Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh think, these shows are the worst possible way for new acts to come to the fore. 

Read Orna Mulcahy on The X Factorin Weekend Review tomorrow

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