Kasabian Finger Internet for the Death of Rock Stars

The internet is to blame for "killing" rock stars -- that's the verdict of Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan who is seething about the death of the allure that musicians once held over the public's imagination. As far as he's concerned, by giving too much of themselves away on social networking sites such as Twitter, many of today's music icons are simply reducing their previous mythical status into so much digital hot air.

"It's not like what it used to be like in rock 'n' roll," he grumbled to Bang Showbiz. "In the '60s and '70s you had the likes of David Bowie and Marc Bolan, and then in the '80s you even had s--- acts that were rock stars. Then in the '90s you had the Britpop revival.

"I think -- especially in the last three or four years -- the internet's taken a stranglehold and killed off the myth of the rock star now. You know when you used to buy the records and there was the myth behind them? There's too much on blogs now and I think it's killed it off. Nobody's surprised by an interview anymore or anything. It's quite tragic."

To Meighan's mind, blogging is contrary to what rock 'n' roll stands for, saying, "There are so many rock stars writing these self-pitying blogs and it's not in the spirit of rock 'n' roll, it's like 'Wow, what rubbish.'"

As reported on Spinner, Kasabian scooped the Best British Band gong at last week's Brit Awards and are up for six awards -- including Best Live Band -- at this week's NME Awards. If they win, you can guarantee they won't be Tweeting about it.