Camille Paglia penned a gushing tribute to Adele at the weekend: "With her womanly dignity and her primal imagery of ocean, rain and fire, Adele has set a new standard." When did pop last receive such an effusive, highbrow endorsement?

Hilary Mantel on Madonna, 1992: "On stage, her little muscly body twists itself in a parody of sensuality ... up and down she dips, over the supine body of a spreadeagled semi-man."

Giles Foden on Eminem, 2001: "Stan [has] all the depth and texture of the greatest examples of English verse. To use the singer's own language, it's as 'fat' as Robert Browning."

Germaine Greer on Led Zeppelin, 2007: "Rock'n'roll had been working towards something that would combine the extraordinary capacities of electronic instruments with the anarchic energy of youth, and there in the Albert Hall on 9 January 1970, I found it. The spring god Dionysus had arisen and was shaking his streaming red-gold mane on stage."