Daltrey hits out at pop's Cowell

Rock legend Roger Daltrey has launched a vicious attack on pop mogul Simon Cowell, 42, branding him a "dreadful piece of c**p who drags the music business down whenever he rears his ugly f***ing head".

The Who frontman hit out at the record company mogul and judge on TV's Pop Idol, adding: "He epitomises everything wrong with the business. Pop stars today have no longevity. Rock and roll is not about singing perfect notes or being a showbiz personality. It's about the anger and the angst. I hate what Pop Idol has done to the business."

Backstage before a warm-up gig at Watford Colosseum, Daltrey, 57, said Cowell's manufacturing of the business would eventually do some good. He said: "That dreadful f***ing Cowell has done some good - since something wonderful can only come out of the other end - like the Sex Pistols did."

Daltrey and the band were performing in Watford last night to 1,000 fans as a warm-up for their Evening Standard-sponsored charity concert next week at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.