You know what's wrong with pop music? Katy Perry

Linda Perry reckons Katy 'no relation' Perry is right at the heart of all that's wrong with pop music:

I'm not a huge fan of Adele but that's a solid record and it's selling. That means people are still buying records. It's the crappy, like, who wants a Katy Perry record? I'm sorry, but you're going to get the two songs that are probably the hits that are good, but the rest of the album is going to be crap. It's going to sound like shit.

For younger readers, an "album" is a collection of songs which record companies used as a means of forcing people to buy the tracks they didn't really want.

So people download the single, and that's it. She's great for what she does, but she's not reinventing the wheel, she's not giving substance, she's just giving microwave popcorn to feast on right at this moment. She's not looking to change the world musically, so all the power to her. I'm not saying that's bad, I'm saying it's not what I participate in. That's part of the reason why the music business is in turmoil.

Oh... hang about, then, she's not saying Katy Perry is bad. She's just saying that she only releases songs that people what to buy and not, presumably, recording Tales From Topographic Oceans.

Isn't that sort of the point of pop music? Isn't this like complaining about Calvin And Hobbes because it isn't a Russian novel?

More to the point, Perry writes for Pink. Now, you'll know that I think Pink is, generally, a good thing - but in terms of producing brilliant pop, she's a singles act. There's a yawning quality chasm between Pink and Perry K, but is there really much difference in methodology?

Also: Four Non-Blondes.