Neil Tennant has said that the 'X-Factor', and similar shows, are limited in what they do, only focusing on one or two genres of pop. The musician told the Radio Times that Simon Cowell's talent show was "basically people singing Whitney, Mariah and maybe Elton", and added: "Why don't they have, say, a new-wave week? Or 80s electro week?"
Explaining that he watched the programme because he had written a track for Girls Aloud and was interested in seeing what band member Cheryl Cole was like on the programme, he continued: "If it's not power ballads then it was a narrower version of disco. I remember on 'Pop Idol', Pete Waterman told someone, very sympathetically, 'The thing is, you're more of a Depeche Mode kind of artist'. In other words, 'What are you doing here, pet?'"
In Cowell and Waterman's defence, I suspect the sorts of people interested in diverse kinds of pop music - and Depeche Mode kind of artists - probably aren't interested in watching the 'X-Factor'. Perhaps someone could set up Pet Shop Idol or Depeche Factor for more balanced talent show viewing.