Simon Cowell Slams Paul Weller Over ‘X Factor’ Criticism

(L-R) Simon Cowell, Paul Weller

Simon Cowell has slammed former Jam frontman Paul Weller for calling TV talent programs like Cowell’s X Factor as “very cheap programming and the lowest common denominator stuff,” NME reports.

At a press conference for X Factor, Cowell said: “Weller – I have not read anything he has said which is interesting. If Paul Weller put out a good record I would put him on the show.”

Of course, most critics would beg to differ with Cowell. Paul Weller’s 2010 album, the sonically adventurous Wake Up the Nation, was a tremendous breakthrough for the soulful Modfather and has “universal acclaim” status on music review aggregator Metacritic. We here at Anglophenia even selected the album’s title track as one of our 40 best songs of the past year. And seriously, we could have picked three or four songs off Wake Up the Nation for our list. Listen to Paul’s modern classic “No Tears To Cry” and tell me this isn’t not just a good record, but a brilliant one: