Mick Hucknall has spoken out against the commercially-minded music industry.

He complains that some of the music world's biggest names had a shaky start commercially but the support they were given by the industry allowed them to develop.

Speaking to Manchesteronline he explained: "The nurturing spirit that was inherent in the music industry when I first joined has gone

"Look at the biggest band in the world, U2. They had time to develop their sound, but these days Bono and the boys wouldn't get past their second album.

"The idea of letting a band develop is no longer economically viable in the eyes of the industry. They sell it like soap powder on the TV - and you're going to pay the price for that culturally in the long run.

"I find what's called culture now is derivative of the 1960s and 1980s and, as a music lover, I want more than that. It's not all doom and gloom but I think everything is a bit of a cliché."

Hucknall also lamented the uselessness of reality music shows such as Pop Idol and The X Factor for furthering musical culture. He said: "They don't encourage the writing enough - certain people get percentages from certain people who write those songs. I think more investigation could unearth these things that are unfair and doing young artists no good."