Rock star Chrissie Hynde has hit out at alcohol, describing it as the "scandal of our times" and the same as drug addiction.
The 62-year-old former Pretenders front woman said that she learned about the dangers of booze after she was jailed for being "so out of it".
She also hit out at TV talent shows, stating that she would rather watch re-runs of 1980s crime show Minder than The Voice, and claimed that young pop stars such as Miley Cyrus "haven't lived a life".
In an acerbic interview with the Mail on Sunday's Event magazine, the former hell-raiser said: "Do you know what the scandal of our times is?
"Alcohol. It kills many, many more people than heroin ever does.
"Drinking is still drug addiction, it just isn't considered as such because it's legal and taxed.
"If you want to see what alcohol does go to the emergency ward on a Saturday night. I've been in jail because I've been so out of it on alcohol, so I know what I'm talking about.
"Same with smoking. More people have died from smoking than in both world wars.
"Everyone who smokes will die of an illness related to smoking. I came to the conclusion that I can either sing or I can smoke. So I quit."
Asked about musical talent shows on TV, the Ohio-born rocker described The Voice as "people with not much talent being judged by people with no taste".
She explained that she has been approached to be a judge on talent shows, but claimed: "I don't want to judge anyone on anything, especially music."
The mother of two daughters, who lives in London, also laughed at claims that the current batch of young pop divas qualify as singer/songwriters.
'It always turns out that their songs were written by some bunch of other guys. And these girls are all 'producers' too - because they walked through a studio one day," she said.
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"All they've ever done in their lives is sit in front of a computer. They haven't lived a life. I've never so much as looked at a Facebook page. Even my own.
"And what is twerking? I actually don't know what twerking is. If it's something that all the young girls do then I don't know why you're talking to me about it."
