Rock veteran Todd Rundgren has taken aim at Taylor Swift, calling her 'the apotheosis of mediocrity' in a recent Vulture interview. Speaking to writer Devon Ivie in an interview published around September 25, Rundgren said, 'There's an argument to be made that she ruined music.'

He was answering a question about which artist he would target if he made a parody album like his spoof-tinged production of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. 'Taylor Swift doesn't do anything particularly great except grow hair,' Rundgren said. 'She's not a great singer. She's not a great songwriter. She's not a great dancer.'

Rundgren, 78, also praised Lady Gaga as 'a real musician' and 'classically trained piano player', drawing a sharp contrast with Swift. He floated a theory that female pop stars rose to dominance in the '90s after boys shifted their spending from music to video games, according to Consequence of Sound.

This is not the first time Rundgren has criticised Swift; he made similar remarks on Rick Rubin's Broken Record podcast in 2022. Swift has not responded to the latest comments. The exchange underlines how sharply opinion divides over one of the world's biggest pop stars.