[Edit 20th Dec] We did it! Rage Against The Machine is number 1 for Christmas, proper music fans in Britain give Simon Cowell and his manufactured karaoke bullsh*t the finger. Very, very happy!! Best Christmas number 1 that I can ever remember.
I detest reality TV with a passion. I think it’s low-brow, cheap nonsense that bare-facedly celebrates the very worst elements of human nature; promoting the idea that being famous (for anything) is somehow a laudable goal in itself, and indulging the public’s cathartic desire for a feeling of superiority and power over others via venomous gossip and voting people off. It’s a corporate goldmine of course, given how they don’t have to employ writers, directors or anything – just stick a bunch of people (preferably at least 75% maladjusted) in a house/jungle, give them a set of half-assed tasks that are preferably as humiliating or conflict generating as possible, and just sit back and watch the money roll in. Repeat ad infinitum. Reprehensible drivel – and it seems to me that it taps into the same psyche as that which was seen two thousand years ago in the arenas of ancient Rome; sure, it’s illegal to watch people fight to the death or be fed to lions anymore, but it’s basically the same thing, just on a psychological level instead – right down to a modern equivalent of the chanting mob influencing which way the emperor’s thumb goes. It’s a depressing indictment of how primitive the human race really remains, for all our swanky suits and digital watches.
Compared to the likes of Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity, X Factor is almost a saint, but it’s still got plenty to answer for. Every year what is basically a glorified karaoke competition determines what will be the Christmas Number 1 single in the UK. Now, of course anyone with even a remote taste in music doesn’t pay any attention to what the charts say anyway, particularly at Christmas (oh the horror of Bob The Builder and Mr Blobby in previous years) but it is pretty depressing that every year at Christmas we get the same thing – airwaves filled with some over-produced cover version of yet another soppy ballad from someone who will most likely be mopping the floors in McD’s in 12 months time, once the corporate mangle has wrung all the commercial opportunity from them.
That’s why the Rage Against The Machine for Christmas Number 1 campaign got started, encouraging music lovers in the UK to protest and to mass-buy the anarchic single Killing In The Name in the week which will determine the Christmas #1, to send a message of disapproval. I like RATM anyway, but even if I didn’t I would have joined the campaign just for the protest vote. So far, RATM has been winning, but as of today only marginally and all the predictions are that this will be overturned on the last day of chart sampling (Saturday) as the mob descends on town centres around the country and hurry bleating to the counters with the latest production-line tat from the X Factor machine.
I hope with all my heart that somehow RATM can win – not because the charts matter, but because it would be a symbolic gesture, and an affirmation that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, there are sizeable numbers of people in the country with a decent, independent thinking head screwed onto their neck (yes, I’m aware of the irony that to prove this requires the use of crowd behaviour, that’s not the point). If you’re passionate about music, even if you don’t like RATM, I encourage you to buy the single Killing In The Name today or tomorrow, just to make a stand (iTunes, Play – or others, allegedly it’s uncertain whether Amazon counts in the charts though so avoid that one).
Here’s the video of BBC Radio 5 Live’s interview with RATM and a live rendition of the song. The band was supposed to avoid the swearing, but at the end either they got carried away or just decided to adhere to their own lyrics (“F*** you I won’t do what you tell me”) and so got frantically pulled from the airwaves at that point (this version which came from the BBC website is censored, the live version was not). Well, it was in the spirit of the thing after all, what did they expect? 
December 18th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
well, this is cool!
If I buy from germany via like Amazon or something, does that get tabulated into the charts?
December 18th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I’ve already voted with my wallet yesterday – go RATM!
It’s looking doubtful that the battle will be won, but one can but hope!
December 18th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I would consider buying the single if I knew for sure, that the generated money will be donated to some sort of charity. It seems wrong to make RATM rich(er) by using them as a symbol for this cause.
December 18th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
@dmaas: it only counts if you buy from a UK region I believe, I’m not sure if there’s any way around this.
@Baz: yay! I agree it’s looking unlikely, but at the least it will be a good fight
@galaktor: RATM are donating some of their proceeds to Shelter: http://www.shelter.org.uk/ . The group organising this are also fundraising for Shelter at the same time, they’ve raised £50,000 so far: http://www.justgiving.com/ratm4xmas
December 18th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
It’s odd hearing this again so many years later. This song was particularly popular whilst I was at university in some of the clubs, the crowd would go wild. Plus, with Tom Morello’s position in Guitar Hero I think that’s given them a plus.
I agree about the gloried karaoke that is X-Factor. It’s fun to watch for the first few weeks, but when they start trawling through the finalists it just gets boring. My old flat mate has been a formally trained singer she was 5 years old – she was the best singer I had ever heard personally, and she got turned down at the first stage because it wasn’t “star” material, despite being absurdly good. If there’s no profit in it, they’re not interested.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Well, the song is actually from 1992, so the fact that it was still popular with ‘the kids’ at your Uni in the mid-noughties shows how iconic it is. I was 19 when I first heard it, so that’s a long time ago
December 18th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
You know, I’ve not made up my mind on this one! I like RATM and it’s a bl**dy good track but just can’t get passed the irony of using such an iconic track to promote group (herd) mentality to compete against xfactor herd mentality. “F*** you I won’t do what you tell me” but please buy our record (ooh and we’ll keep most of the profits)….again, if it was any other track I probably wouldn’t care and would just say GOOD LUCK to them……but…..I don’t know…..just seems to be making a great rebel song somewhat cheesey! If everyone downloading the track truly likes the track and what it stands (stood!) for then brilliant, if it’s just to knock a (really) cr*ppy ballad off the top of the charts then I just feel a little uneasy about it! **Dismount from soap-box**
December 18th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
@Mark: I think you’re overthinking it. Yeah, it’s ironic to counter herd mentality with group action (they are different though), but bear in mind that RATM didn’t start the campaign, it was music lovers. And what better song to represent protest than Killing In The Name? In the end it’s just about making a point – it’s the only way for sensible music fans to vote effectively against the very concept of X Factor, rather than against a contestant which is all the show allows you to do. They’re always focussing on how so many people love the show, here’s a way for us to say it’s a load of bollocks. Money wise no-one will lose out of course,the same number or maybe more people will buy the X Factor record and Sony is the label on both, but that’s not the point. The point is for real music lovers to be heard for once – yes it’s ultimately a futile protest vote, but if RATM are #1 at Christmas I’ll take a lot of satisfaction from that, Simon Cowell will be pissed off at no longer being guaranteed kingmaker which is worth it in itself; even though he’ll still end up making a fortune it takes the shine off.
December 20th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Yaaaaaaay! We did it!! Total high.
December 20th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Now that I’ve dismounted my soapbox I find it difficult to wipe away the tears of laughter! I actually can’t believe it, and a winning margin of some 50,000 which is damn good on sales of 500,000. Forget the reasons for downloading/buying, this is a truly awesome day. British public, I salute you! (The song meant a lot more to ME in 92/93 but I never thought the main emotion it would produce in 09 is laughter!)
December 20th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I used to be heavy into RATM when I was a teenager, so this is all good news.
A little story: When they reformed, they were playing at a concert in Vegas – my sister was there at the time (she was an air hostess) – herself and a colleague were offered a ticket by her regular hotels’ bar man.
She rang me up next day to tell me. I was so jealous – your in Vegas and you get a FREE ticket to see RATM. She hadn’t heard of them before – they were a bit shouty, she said. Sigh.
December 21st, 2009 at 10:27 am
@Paul: lol @ “they were a bit shouty”