Has pop gone posh?

The man responsible for Rick Astley, Pete Waterman, has made a stinging attack on the music industry’s ‘snobbish’ values.

Speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, the music producer turned Pop Idol judge, claimed that today’s record labels are more ‘snobbish’ about who they employ than they were back in the golden age of pop.

’It's never been worse,’ he rued. ‘You know, the major companies dominate and what they do is, they see a CV and if you haven't got 96 O Levels, you ain’t getting a job. It's as simple as that.

‘What this is, is job protection. In the old days you got a job in the music industry because you knew something about music, or were passionate about it and people gave you a chance. Now when your CV goes through, they don't take you unless you've been to university full stop.’

When asked if this had created a different type of popstar, he replied: ‘I think that when all the A&R people wear Jack Wills clothes, it tells you where they are going. It's become snobbish. It's become a snobbish culture.

’If you go back even 20 years, if you weren't greatly educated you became a boxer, a footballer or a popstar,’ he added. ‘Now if you're not educated you won't become a popstar - because you're never going to get the interview.’

All of which sounds like a back-handed way of praising the ‘democratizing’ effect of a show like Pop Idol. Pull the other one Pete.

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