I know I'm risking huge ridicule, being called a cunt possibly hundreds of times, and ultimately exile for this, but here goes nothing.

It seems to me that it has recently become a lot more acceptable for people typically into the more independent and experimental side of music to get their kicks from the big, established pop acts of the moment. Now, I'm not denying that the pop charts do cough up the occasional gem that transcends all notions of taste and genre, and I don't begrudge the popularity or profitability of those, but in a time where indie labels are struggling to promote genuinely groundbreaking acts and the mainstream pop machine safely manufactures tomorrow's stars openly on TV, with the music itself seemingly secondary to celebrity and glamour, why is it suddenly hip to be pop now?

It seems you can't say a bad word about even the most contrived and derivative of acts on here, because there'll be someone skulking about with a FOTL tattoo on his left ball-sack and a Miley Cyrus one on the right, bitterly distracted from his discussion of the minutae of Katy Perry album tracks that I doubt even Katy Perry cares about.

So, has everyone forgotten their indie principles? Did they ever exist? Are my opinions totally irrelevant in today's music scene? The machinations of pop music hasn't changed. So why should the attitude change?