Jarvis Cocker regrets his Michael Jackson protest.

The former Pulp singer says he was uncomfortable with the attention he attracted when he invaded the stage during the 'Thriller' star's performance of 'Earth Song' at the 1996 Brit Awards because it stopped people focussing on his music.

He told Spin magazine: "That one action transported me to a kind of tabloid fame, which I couldn't have imagined. My whole set of values had nothing to do with that kind of tabloidy thing. It took me a long time to work through.

"I just pushed it too far with that thing, because it wasn't, 'Jarvis Cocker played an amazing song at the BRIT Awards last night'. It was, 'Jarvis Cocker t**ted about at the BRIT Awards last night'.

"I had been in a band 15 years, and in 15 seconds, I became more well known. All that bloody work! Thrown away!"