In other news Lenny Kravitz's trousers split earlier this week. They were leather trousers. He wasn't wearing any underwear. And you can watch the event on YouTube if you so require. Such are the possibilities of 21st-century media. We have come such a long way, haven't we?

As yet there has been a lot of joshing, an amused hashtag (#penisgate if you must know) and much discussion of Mr Kravitz's taste in, ummm, how do I put this delicately, underbelt jewellery (okay, I'm going to say it: piercings. My legs are crossed even typing the word).

But the sky has, as yet, not fallen in.

Now to be fair it did happen in Sweden, a country with a enviably laissez faire attitude to public nudity (presumably when you have to bundle up so much during winter the temptation to strip off during summer is intensified.)

But given the less-than-horrified response to Kravitz's wardrobe malfunction, the question arises are we now blasé about this kind of thing? Time was, a bit of exposure was a surefire way to ensure a bit of exposure. And so Iggy Pop had a penchant for see-through trews back in the day. PJ Proby is now much better known for the fact that his trousers split during a gig back in 1965 in Croydon than he is for any of his music. And of course the late Jim Morrison was arrested after allegedly exposing himself on stage in Miami in 1970. Clearly none of them took their mother's advice and packed clean underwear. (I have a vision of Lenny's smalls all drying over a Swedish shower rail just too damp to wear. He probably said to himself, 'they'll be good for tomorrow. I won't need them tonight.")

Some questions do arise though. Does Lenny need to have a word with his tailor? What kind of leather are we talking about anyway? Cow hide? Goat skin? Python? And isn't the real horror here the fact that Lenny Kravitz still thinks leather trousers remain in any way a mark of rock 'n' roll cool these days. And that's not even getting into the whole animal rights thing. (But it's not big and it's not clever, Lenny, the vegetarian in me is keen to remind him).

It probably won't hurt Mr Kravitz though. Unlike Janet Jackson whose infamous exposure during the Superbowl interval (or "nipplegate" as it became known ) saw her monstered by the American press, it's more than possible our Len will emerge with his rock animal reputation enhanced if nothing else. (Well, to be fair, everything else has been pixellated).

And just imagine if he had been wearing underwear. Just imagine if he'd been wearing underwear decorated with the face of Donald Trump. (Do such things exist? No, don't Google it.) Now that would have been shocking.