Mike Stock says Lady Gaga and Rihanna are too raunchy

Modern pop stars such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna are "sluttish", music mogul Mike Stock has complained.

The producer, who was behind scores of hits in the 1980s and 1990s as part of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, said singers who rely on sex to sell records are harming youngsters.

The 60-year-old launched a scathing attack on acts who use risque performances and sexually-charged pop videos — in contrast to the stars he helped launch in the '80s, such as Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan.

He said: "It's easy: if you haven't got much of a sell — stick some sex in the video and the job's done. It's both easy and lazy. And probably shows a lack of ability to do something else.

"It's largely the Americans, to be honest — the new breed of rap and Lady Gaga types. They're all just... sluttish. And young girls think they are someone worth emulating."

The songwriter, who formed Stock, Aitken and Waterman along with Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, was behind more than 100 top 40 hits. Advocating a more modest approach, he praised Adele for refusing to "resort to the sexual thing".

'Nothing wrong with being sexy'

He added: "There's nothing wrong with being sexy. It's just [an issue] if it's the only thing on offer for kids.

"I may be trying to revert to a purer era of ten to 15 years ago, but what this stuff is doing is taking us back to primitive times."

His comments come after the UK Prime Minister began considering plans to give "raunchy" music videos cinema-style age certificates.

Stock wrote Minogue's 1988 hit I Should Be So Lucky — which had a music video that featured nothing more risque than a brief glimpse of a bubble bath.