Phat Fat beats

Remember Fast Food Rockers, the pop combo behind the excruciatingly awful novelty single 'Fast Food Song' (chorus: "McDonald's, McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut")? The song rightly saw them attacked for having no musical merit whatsoever, demonised as little more than puppets advertising junk food.

Perhaps all that was remarkable about Fast Food Rockers, though, was the fact that they were so brazen and upfront about the unhealthy brands they endorsed (and that they did so within a song). After all, a study published in the scientific journal Pediatrics this week revealed that a staggering 80 per cent of the food and drink products promoted by artists who had singles in Billboard's "Hot 100" in 2013 and 2014 could be officially classified as "nutrient-poor".

Not so long ago I would have scoffed at the idea of attempting to tackle this issue, or indeed the validity of doing so in the first place; after all, musicians are hardly renowned for being paragons of healthy living, and few (if any) set out with the explicit intention of being role models. But now, as a parent, I find myself starting to ponder the extent of pop stars' influence over the habits and behaviour of impressionable young kids. It's a slippery slope from this to foaming-at-the-mouth ravings about the corruption of our youth, though - not a slope down which I want to slide...