Rage Against the Cowell

The band just notched the UK Christmas number one single with a song they released 16 years ago - "killing in the name of".

What makes this particularly interesting is that the reason the song became number one was due to a facebook group calling on the song to be downloaded by public in order to prevent the winner of X Factor clinching number 1 spot. The X Factor is the show we have here with Simon Cowell which is done in a similar format to the American Idol show. The winners of the show had won the Christmas number 1 spot every year since the show started (back in 2005). I guess people were just fed up of the usual non-christmas type songs and ballads that would come from the X Factor winner that there had to be a protest song.

Very glad that RATM won.

Here is quite a funny video starring the contestants (and Susan Boyle) with the music being the RATM song. Video contains language which may offend some people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsg8AHdlKUY

Apparently, there was a facebook campaign to push drivel aside on the British pop charts and get Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" (1992) to number one this year.

They did it! Which meant selling 500,000 copies of a 15 year old song.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8423340.stm

I didn't contribute, but if I'd known and thought it had a chance (I guess you could watch the stats) I'd have just bought my first online mp3. I remember being at a 3-day concert in the summer that year; car camping was allowed, and one night me and my friend are walking around the chaos and someone had that album blasting -- we were into PE and anthrax and all, but it really and truly was like nothing anyone had ever heard before. Totally "paradigm shattering" and all that.

Hard to believe now, but true. Yay!

SB kinda beat you to it by a few hours.

Gosh, I guess I was really excited.

Anyway, on topic, here's my Christmas song this year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNB95OVE ... re=related

The xmas-y part isn't until the end, but worth the wait...

Merged the two topics.

Kinda miss the days of working for the machine just to get enough money together to afford a pimped out stereo to blast Rage Against the Machine on the way to and from work.

I really don't understand the dynamic of all this, even after reading several articles. I'm not sure why anyone cares about the no. 1 thing when past winners include Bob The Builder and Mr. Blobby.
Good RATM song, though.

I'm completely indifferent about Simon, either way. So why do we care? Was it just to break the Simon-by-proxy streak?

It just adds to the novelty of the Christmas number one we have here. It's always been like that. As you say Boib the Builder and Mr Blobby were number 1 and Chef from South Park back in 97 was nearly number 1.

The Christmas number 1 song has always been a funny one, i see yesterdays result just like that. A bit of fun, and a mini protest at the same time.

I just looked up the lyrics for Killing in the Name of, and realistically they're about on par with Bob the builder and Mr Blobby. All three are full of 4 letter words.

Rage against the machine is cool. There is a youtube video of them doing a few songs on the spur of the moment accapella (how ever that is spelled, firefox doesn't know) at the republican national convention a few years ago.

Actually the refrain "Some of those (th)?at work forces, are the same that burn crosses" is a fairly complex phrase IMO.

Not that complex==good, and maybe I==simpleton

1 Year on and there is another Facebook campaign to have another random song grab the UK Christmas number 1 to prevent this years as yet to be announced X Factor winner clinching the Christmas number 1.

The song is none other than...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZThquH5t0ow

What a song!

I find that song revolting. I'm not from Scotland/Britain wherever this campaign effects, but I absolutely hate that song. Had to watch it on Family Guy because of Peter's choreography though

Had to stop that song after just a couple of seconds. Likewise, heard this on Family Guy (very funny).