Singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft has made an impassioned plea for young musicians to turn off The X Factor, telling them to work on their own talents instead.
The former frontman of The Verve also took aim at judges Simon Cowell, Louis Tomlinson and Robbie and Ayda Williams, saying they “have no right” to judge anybody taking part in the talent show.
Ashcroft told Sky Sports programme Soccer AM: “This is my advice – when The X Factor comes on tonight, right, if you’re a budding musician, turn it off immediately, and go and find an instrument.
The legend Richard Ashcroft gets passionate about people switching off X-Factor and picking up an instrument instead. 👍 pic.twitter.com/k0TOyXLFCZ
— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) September 22, 2018
“And no matter how rubbish you are, within that hour, you’ll have done more for your future than just sat there watching people who have no right to be judging anyone musically.”
He added: “Every Saturday night they say to the youth of the nation that you need to queue up in the rain in order for them four to tell you whether you’re good enough… turn the telly off, get hold of your guitar, keyboard, drum machine, however you make music, and spend that hour when that show’s on making your own stuff.
“So when it comes to it, you own your material.
“You’re not going ‘Simon, can I have a little bit more on that publishing on that tune? Simon, we’ve been on the road for three years, can we have a break?’”
Ashcroft, 47, rose to fame as the lead singer of alternative rock group The Verve in the 1990s, whose hits include Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work and Lucky Man.
He has also had a successful solo career with a number of top 10 albums, and later founded the band RPA And The United Nations Of Sound.