Courtney Love: Mrs Cobain has been known to pull a few sexy stunts in her time. She took to Twitter to tweet Miley: "Fuck! you definitely made the VMAs exciting this year. cant wait to see what you have planned for the grammys! #amazeballsOUT"

Hayley Williams: The Paramore frontwoman found no problem with the sexuality of the problem, but took issue with race: "It seems like more people are focusing on the trashiness or the dancing, the clothes. But I, actually, am uncomfortable with the racial aspect of it. I feel like she's sort of taking a culture that isn%u2019t really hers and sort of using it as an accessory, and that actually bothers me more. I feel like maybe someone needs to go to her and sort of explain the race issue."

Jon McClure: The Reverend & The Makers' frontman is always good for an awesome Twitter reaction: "Kin hell Miley. Put it away love," adding "A twerking class hero is something to be I'm told..."

Jared Leto: The 30 Seconds To Mars frontman was more sympathetic, telling Billboard Magazine: "I do think it's interesting how shocked people get. If they could only see the rave their kids are going to and what their kids are wearing at the rave. Or just watch the video games they're playing. "Those are probably the more shocking things in life right now. When we were younger it was Madonna rolling around in a dress. Now that seems tame compared to what's going on, right?"

Justin Timberlake: JT was also on her side, telling radio station Fresh 102.7: "It's the VMAs, what did you guys expect? I like Miley, I like her a lot. She's young, she's letting everyone know she's grown up. It's the VMAs. It's not like she did it at the Grammys. Madonna: Wedding suit, humping the stage. Britney: Strip tease. This is not an uncommon thing."

Charlotte Church likened Miley Cyrus' transformation to her own time in the pop spotlight, the Welsh singer said: "When I was 19 or 20 I found myself in this position, being pressurised into wearing more and more revealing outfits... The lines that I had spun at me again and again - generally by middle-aged men - were: 'You look great, you've got a great body, why not show it off?'"

Sufjan Stevens penned an open letter to Miley - pointing out poor grammar on her Bangerz album, writing: "Dear Miley... One particular line causes concern: "I been laying in this bed all night long"," he continues. "Miley, technically speaking, you've been LYING, not LAYING, an irregular verb form that should only be used when there's an object, i.e. 'I been laying my tired booty on this bed all night long.'"

Paul McCartney has seen worse. He doesn't see what the fuss is all about, saying: "I watched it as an experiment to check, but you look at it and you say 'what's everyone shouting about?'. I think it was only mildly shocking ... it wasn't explicit at all."

Gary Barlow wasn't a fan - and more importantly, has banned his young daughters from watching her videos: "These singers are young, sexy girls, of course they are going to express themselves like that," he says. "But I don't let my kids watch it. I probably wouldn't let them watch anything like that. It's too sexual for them."

Sinead O'Connor opened the floodgates when she wrote directly to Ms Cyrus, penning an open letter which read: "It is in any way ‘cool’ to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos... The music business doesn’t give a shit about you, or any of us. They will prostitute you for all you are worth.

Amanda Palmer addressed the issue - in a letter to Sinead O'Connor (yes, it got very complicated. She wrote: "Miley is, from what I can gather, in charge of her own show. She’s writing the plot and signing the checks, and although I think it’s tempting to imagine her in the board room of label assholes and management, I don’t think any of them masterminded her current plan to be a raging, naked, twerking sexpot."

Elton John had a warning for the young star, saying: "I look at Miley Cyrus and I see a meltdown waiting to happen,and she's so young! But she's got two records in the Top 20, so who is going to stop her?"

And as for Kiss star Gene Simmons? Well, he took the opportunity to share his less-than-liberal opinions about women in the music industry, saying: "It was okay. But that’s the girl’s version. It’s like girls basketball. It’s as good as girls can get at basketball. But you can’t pay with the guys."