"I think kids who are interested in music recognise that discrepancy. They watch X Factor for the human drama, like a soap; they go elsewhere for music."

Fair point Matt, I guess having been brought up on John Peel and that kind of moderately more 'undergroundish' approach to discovering music, the only thing I recall that was in the league of X Factor when I was in my teens was ToTP (or indeed C4's 'Chart Show' with the coveted Indie Chart), and well, that stuff was pretty homespun in comparison to the OTT production and public profile more modern media circus events like X Factor garner.

On reflection, it is however pretty ignorant and presumptuous of me to assume that the average young candidate for, or viewer of, the X factor is indeed any more representative of contemporary teens, than ToTP was for me in the late 80's/early 90's.