Alex Turner isn’t sure young people know what rock ‘n’ roll is.
The Arctic Monkeys frontman insists his much-talked about BRIT Awards acceptance speech – in which he declared rock music will "never die" and issued a rallying call for guitar bands – was not meant to be "aggressive" but he genuinely felt some people needed educating.
He said: "It’s not aggressive. It was just about presenting an option that people may or may not know exists. It occurred to me that in that room, or certainly watching it on TV, were people who’d never heard the term rock ‘n’ roll other than to describe a zip on a Topman leather jacket."
Alex is hopeful his "entertaining" speech will encourage more teenagers to form bands of their own.
He told NME magazine: "I don’t see it as a personal victory but it seems in some way a victory for bands and the idea you can start a band with your mates and eventually go on to move people or whatever you wanna call it.
"Using rock ‘n’ roll as the most direct way of illustrating that was kinda what I was trying to do – and also to try and be entertaining at the same time.
"I feel it’s better to present it that way, with a bit of colour, rather than like, ‘You know, we started in my garage…’ F**k that. And I can’t go up there and behave like a yob, those days are gone. I can’t just go up there and blow a raspberry any more."
Alex Turner wants to educate people on rock’n’roll
