Porn | Adele Can Help End 'faux Porn' Pop, Label Boss Claims

Richard Russell, boss of XL Recordings, has blamed the industry's sexualised marketing of women artists for a dearth of inspiring music -- leading to a pop scene that is "boring, crass and unoriginal."

Quoted in The Guardian , Russell said: "The whole message with [Adele] is that it's just music, it's just really good music. There is nothing else. There are no gimmicks, no selling of sexuality. I think in the American market, particularly, they have come to the conclusion that is what you have to do."

Adele's record-breaking second album '21' has just been knocked off the top of the charts after spending all but two of the past 17 weeks there. Russell compares her no-nonsense image with the "faux porn" seen on today's music channels.

"I felt a bit queasy," he said. "But now you see that Adele is No. 1. What a great thing; how amazing. Not only are young girls going to see that, but [also] the business people who are behind all those videos. It's going to make them rethink what they should be doing."

Russell refuted criticism that Adele was too mainstream, suggesting in the current climate she offers a necessary alternative. "At the level it is at now, it is radical," he said. "It is clearly about the music and the talent and the things it is meant to be about. I think there has been a certain amount of confusion, and it's resulting in garbage being sold and marketing with little real value to it -- Adele is a good thing to be happening."