Alice Cooper has claimed that branding Mumford and Sons a rock band would be an “offence to rock ‘n’ roll”.

Speaking to Fuse, the shock-rock singer said that modern musicians were “afraid to be in a rock band” and claimed that the current generation need to “quit eating vegetarian food” and “eat a steak” instead.

Asked for his views on current rock music, he said: “I just feel that this whole generation needs to all eat a steak. Maybe they just need to quit eating vegetarian food and get out there and get some blood pumping in their system. Rock ‘n’ roll is not about ‘Happy happy happy, everything’s okay. We’re The Lumineers, let’s clog dance.’ Hey, there’s a place for that. If I wanted to see a great clog dancing band, I’d see The Lumineers.”

Using Mumford And Sons as an example, meanwhile, he went on to add: “Mumford And Sons are great at what they do. But it’s not rock ‘n’ roll. Don’t call it rock ‘n’ roll. It’s an offence to rock ‘n’ roll.”

“I get they want to be folk rock, and I guess they want to look like everybody else,” he continued. “I’m old school when it comes to if you’re in a band, you’re an outlaw. You don’t play by those rules, you’re a rock ‘n’ roll outlaw. It doesn’t mean you have to be on drugs,, but when you get onstage you don’t play the guitar up here, and it’s not an acoustic guitar. You play the guitar down here. It doesn’t come from your brain, it comes from your guts. It comes from your groin. It’s sexual. It’s tribal.”

He finished by saying: “Finally, I just went ‘Okay – you guys don’t want to be rock bands, great. That’s better for us’. There’s more for Foo Fighters, there’s more for Green Day, more for the bands that really are rock bands. I don’t understand why everybody is so afraid to be in a rock band.”

Cooper, who recently gave fans the chance to play a round of golf with him for the sum of $10,000, released his most recent studio album Welcome 2 My Nightmare in September 2011.