"Killing In the Name" for Xmas #1??

[Al_Ewing]

What? Annoying Simon Cowell?

Yeah, but you could just ring his doorbell and run away to do that. This is a bit more troublesome to me than just irritating a tit.

It's pretty easy to get a Christmas No 1 if ITV pay you to broadcast a massive commercial for your artist, which is basically what happens with X Factor.

I'm more in agreement with this line of argument - I'd like the Xmas number one to 'matter' again, but I'm aware that the only reason for that is nostalgia. There are still loads of Christmas songs out at Christmas, though - including this one!
http://www.mjhibbett.net/christmas.htm (And why aren't musos getting behind Mark en masse? He's a long-time 2KAD fan and I promise he isn't part of 'the machine'.)

Not sure where I'm going with that. I guess I'm mourning the death of Xmas No.1 as much as anybody, but this kind of stunt seems pretty meaningless to me - replacing one demagogue with another.

[Hoagy]

Good point Al E-wing bot. My hesitations have finally been explained to me. I can now weigh up the pro's and con's of the decision. I think that the maline conformity that is eating at the heart of todays youth should be answered as part of the human comedy. Rage isn't the best choice, but it is the alternate and he you're sick of the banal by rights you should a able to have an alternative available. So this idea however cynical it at first seems could open a doorway to less cynical means of battling depressingly obvious outcomes in the future. So...I'm in. Where do I buy the physical?

[Jim_Campbell]

Not sure where I'm going with that. I guess I'm mourning the death of Xmas No.1 as much as anybody, but this kind of stunt seems pretty meaningless to me - replacing one demagogue with another.

You're clearly thinking about this a lot more than I am, Al!

Someone says to me ... you want to thumb your nose at a peddler of vacuous manufactured pop music because he thinks he's got the God-given right to the Christmas No1 slot (and, frankly, it would annoy me equally if it were the Bonfire Night No1 slot, or May Bank Holiday No1 slot) regardless of who the artist is and what shite they're singing ... and it'll cost you 79p and you can do it from the comfort of your living room?

Well, yes, I'm basically up for that.

Cheers!

Jim

[Mike Gloady]

As far as musical snobbery goes, I plead guilty.  

I'm a snob when it comes to most art - there's the stuff I like, the stuff I don't like and the stuff that I find offensive.  X-Factor, while amusing in it's early rounds when you can laugh at the sadly deluded (I'm not PROUD of that, but I'm being honest) is fairly offensive to me as a musician (failed) and life-long lover and student of pop music in general.  

I can appreciate hard work and talent even if the actual work is something that's not to my personal taste.  An example might be Whitney Houston - that's a rare talent, but one I find rather annoying in several ways but that does nothing to detract from her obvious ability.  

I find the mining of aspirational kids (for they are, for the most part, young and impressionable and their heads are full of dreams) unpleasant.  I also find the notion that you can somehow circumvent the traditional method of becoming a success (ie working hard, gigging, touring, recording, making a name) to be offensive too.  In hip hop (and jazz and blues for that matter) there is a culture of paying your dues and there's only one way to do that - hard work.  Sure, there's an element of luck, but you still have to work hard to capitalise on it.  

These shows don't tend to give these kids much of a career (presumably because, for the most part, they're people who wouldn't have made it any other way).  The only ones who hang about for any real length of time are those who work hard (and therefore would probably have made it anyway to some lesser degree).

* This post brought to you by BITTER FAILED MUSO *

I do mostly see where you're coming from though, Al.  And I too would like for these things to matter again, but I think the world's changed and there's not really any going back.  That said, the British public DID eventually grow out of their Big Brother obsession, so when the next thing comes along we'll more than likely see x-Factor's stranglehold on x-mas record sales loosen.  

[Eric Plumrose]

but "Killing in the Name" is fairly inappropriate

Some bloke called Matthew may beg to differ

[Mike Gloady]

I think it's the perfect Christmas song.  Easily as appropriate as Leonard Cohen being murdered by some dodgy sub-karaoke singer.

[Al_Ewing]

Someone says to me ... you want to thumb your nose at a peddler of vacuous manufactured pop music because he thinks he's got the God-given right to the Christmas No1 slot (and, frankly, it would annoy me equally if it were the Bonfire Night No1 slot, or May Bank Holiday No1 slot) regardless of who the artist is and what shite they're singing ... and it'll cost you 79p and you can do it from the comfort of your living room?

Well, yes, I'm basically up for that.

Never a truer word spoken! And that's exactly why I'm not buying the Rage Against The Machine single and buying MJ Hibbett & The Validators this year instead.

(See also: "And that was just the teachers!" "And then I got off the bus...")

Anyway, yeah, it's mostly the RATM inclusion that bugs me. I resent being told what to buy, and at least Cowell's never pretended to be the voice of authenticity, unlike whatever student thought this up.

EDIT: And replacing 'malign conformity' with 'benign conformity' rubs me raw as well. Conformity's ACE as long as you agree with MEEEEEEEE!

[Peter Wolf]

Its all about record sales [how frightfully old fashioned !]..i mean download sales ultimately.Whichever download sells the most gets to the top of the charts.

Any other argument or debate about which song is more appropriate or is cynically marketed or whatever is ultimately irrelevent.

Its not so much the fact that i want to keep formulised X Factor trash from the top of the charts but rather my individual protest about the attitude of Simon Cowell who as it has been correctly pointed out seems to think he has a god given right to be number 1 and his hypocrisy of complaining that the RATM track campaqign is somehow cynical.

Of course its cynical you dumb fucking idiot as its a protest .

Moron.

So its not cynical for there to be yet another X Factor released @ Xmas for the Nth time ??

If he doesnt like the chart business he can always leave it and take his godawful 3rd rate Shite with him.

I will buy the damned RATM track simply because i hate hypocrites and crybabys.

GGrrrr.....

[Mike Gloady]

Cowel's a television producer, not a musical svengali (although he'd dispute this) - witness his greatest work, namely bringing Robson & Jerome to the record buying public.

And Zig & Zag.  Honest.  Not exactly earth-shattering in either quality OR sales (apart from those few terrible months where you couldn't turn around for their awful recycling of classics being shoved down your unwilling ears.  Robson & Jerome I mean, not Zig & Zag - they were great).

I'm faintly suspicious that whenever he claims to be "annoyed" about something it's all a CYNICAL stunt to get the loyal Factorites out there and buying his Christmas record as soon as the identikit "star" has been inserted into it.  The protest may have backfired somewhat as there are almost certainly more Factorites than RATM fans.

Also - RATM?  Really?  If this WAS dreamt up by a dopey student (as, in all probability it was) then its' a student in a time-warp.  Not exactly up-to-the-minute there, eh? 

[Al_Ewing]

All students are in time-warps. When I was a student I acted like I was the only person ever to have discovered Harold Wilson & The Bluenotes.

Anyway, as my last word on the subject (the washing-up is calling and I've been putting it off for ages so I can argue here!) I'll provide a link to a whole EP of possible Xmas No. 1s, ethically farmed, NEW as opposed to OLD, and by struggling musos who don't have the benefit of either Cowell's svengali-like 'talents' or of a bunch of students wanting to use them as a situationist prank.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/got-you-what-you-want/id339073120?i=339073400

So if you do care about hem-hem 'real music', have a wee listen to these and consider picking one of them up as your 'protest'. After all, RATM have had their big break already and these guys could use some new customers!

And if anyone has any similar breakout acts who need a bit of Xmas generosity, why not plug them here? Let's take a third way. A THARG way.

[Mike Gloady]

WHAT a cracking idea, Al.  I salute you sir.

[Mike Gloady]

Ah, by way of epilogue to my (yet again) having a go at X-Factor, a former customer and now friend is a fine singer/songwriter and has decided to apply for next year - so I'll be keeping schtum on the whole thing from now on (sigh of relief from the whole board).  She's been gigging for years and learning the trade and I'll not have any complaints if she ends up doing well out of the whole thing as I go and see her fairly often when she's playing.

So there you go.  Hypocritical I may be, but at least I announce it.

[Professor Bear]

You can stuff your ideological qualms up your hole - it is a petulant and stupid thing to do and that's probably why they've chosen that particular song: a schoolboy standard that matches the tone of the campaign.  Which is not to say I don't have fond memories attached to the album.

If it was Iron Maiden's Run to the Hills or the Monkees' Last Train to Clarksville, I'd also buy it, mind.  Cowell's sense of entitlement makes it sort of easy, though I can't shake the suspicion he's playing his hand a bit too heavily for someone so media-savvy.  Maybe he's playing along to drum up some buzz around the sales date, or maybe he's just being philanthropic and drumming up interest in something that - let's be honest - doesn't have a hope because he thinks it's a worthy charity - he may just be acting an arsehole here, as that's pretty much his trade.

Although if we're talking about putting a song at #1 that's just plain awesome with a video to match that deserves to be played often at Christmas, I'll see your MJ Hibbett & The Validators and raise you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV6noHEd6XE

[Mike Gloady]

Last Train to Clarksville?

*Searches his library, finds it, presses play.*

Thanks Prof.  I love that song.  I shall no doubt be mainlining the Monkees all evening now.

[Emperor]

I just contributed to Shelter directly instead. I don't agree with the basic ideology behind the whole thing - why RATM? If we want Christmas No. 1's back, why not Slade? Is it because Slade are 'pop' and RATM are 'important'?

I think Rich hit the nail on the head:

Fuck you- I won't do what you tell me.

Its really just the lyrics. They interviewed one of the people behind it and she said that her and her husband are 60ish and the song really isn't their cup of tea but it seemed to sum up their feelings about Siman Cowell pretty much automatically bulldozing his way to the #1 spot every year. This side of Half Man, Half Biscuit releasing "Go and take a shit up a flagpole, Simon Cowell" in the next few days, it is as good as anything.

Of course, it could be a secret plan by Cowellites, as it will prompt their side to buy more copies but I might be over-thinking this too much

Anyway not being big on Facebook or iTunes (or anything the young 'uns seem to be calling "techno-bobbins") I am happy to see you can buy it from Amazon for 29p:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001I4NZP4/

Having done my festive good deed by preparing this year's naked family Christmas card (a subsitute for shop-bought ones saving not only on the gigantic waste but also donating all funds to Oxfam and/or MSF - not sure it has been decided) I think 29p isn't too much to pay to make some fool sweat a bit.

That said if you want to start now in the campaign to do the same next Xmas for a proper Xmas song then I'm with you all the way!!