[Shaun]

The 'some people who have never heard of them' are the same people who have probably never heard of Kate Bush, Bob Dylan and Joe Strummer.

You don't seem to be getting that point. If you keep on watching just the X Factor for your musical input you're never going to be aware of the huge alternative artists of the moment.

The fans rushing out and buying this now object to a watered down cover of something they love. Don't forget - most of the fans will have bought the album rather than the single, hence its modest placing last year. But of course there's a "grrr! i hate the x factor!!" contingent amongst these new customers - and if anything you shouldn't take that personally: it's more of an attack on Simon Cowell, the X Factor monopoly, rather than Matt himself.