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

[Peter Wolf]

Its not cheating to buy the RATM track as well as a track from one of the unknown acts is it ?

Well if it is then thats too bad !

This is not forgetting that if this protest takes off then it is going to massively increase sales of downloads of X Factor tracks as a reaction to the campaign by the fans.

I am sure that this factor has not been overlooked by Simon Cowell

Article :

.http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec/10/simon-cowell-rage-against-machine

Theres nothing like the oxygen of publicity and press conferences is there Simon ?

Theres nothing cynical going on here....

[Emperor]

Its not cheating to buy the RATM track as well as a track from one of the unknown acts is it ?

Nope - in fact it should be encouraged. It might even give people the taste for it. Hell why not buy Slade too? Only 79p:

www.amazon.co.uk/Merry-Xmas-Everybody/dp/B001M09VD4/

[Mike Gloady]

Ah, Slade.  Not a great band really, but hugely entertaining and fun and as much a part of xmas as the dinner, the rubbish films you've already seen and the round robin Christmas cards from people you don't quite remember with their "what we've been up to" nonsense and pictures of themselves on the front.

[I, Cosh]

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

I made this exact response to the equivalent thread on another forum a few days ago and got told off by a mod. I felt silly having to explain it.

Anyway, speaking as a massive music snob, my biggest problem with all this is that Rage Against the Machine are utter shit. I like David Bowie's effort, but Low's version of Little Drummer Boy should be number one every Christmas.

http://www.last.fm/music/Low/_/Little+Drummer+Boy?autostart

I'll have a listen to some of that other stuff. I almost saw Hibbett at the Festival but failed to get out of bed in time.

[Jim_Campbell]

Anyway, speaking as a massive music snob, my biggest problem with all this is that Rage Against the Machine are utter shit.

Why are people hung up on the fact it's Rage Against the Machine? Doesn't matter what it is, as long as 500,000 or more people buy the same fucking track between Dec 13th - 19th then there's an excellent chance that X Factor won't get the No1 spot. Pissing off Cowell is what's important in this proposition -- the choice of track is largely irrelevant, except that it's a bit late to raise an objection now.

Cheers

Jim

[Goatilocks]

If this song is really anti Simon Cowell, why not push Cannibal Corpse's 'Hammer Smashed Face'?

Straight and to the point, right there.

[Al_Ewing]

Pissing off Cowell is what's important in this proposition -- the choice of track is largely irrelevant, except that it's a bit late to raise an objection now.

The choice of track is probably fairly relevant to some poor struggling band putting out new music rather than decade-old tracks... like the Filipino Dream Girls! Here they are on Radio Nowhere with 'Santa Suit'! http://radionowhereuk.blogspot.com/2009/12/filipino-dream-girls-santa-suit.html

Anyway, it's never too late to raise an objection to anything.

[I, Cosh]

Why are people hung up on the fact it's Rage Against the Machine? Doesn't matter what it is, as long as 500,000 or more people buy the same fucking track between Dec 13th - 19th then there's an excellent chance that X Factor won't get the No1 spot. Pissing off Cowell is what's important in this proposition -- the choice of track is largely irrelevant, except that it's a bit late to raise an objection now.

At the risk of taking it all far too seriously.

It is irrelevant to the goal of trying to annoy Cowell, but it's perfectly relevant to an individual who doesn't feel like paying money for something he doesn't want to hear. It's a bit like asking people to pay to eat a shit because it'll annoy Jamie Oliver: a dubious means to an admirable end.

It all depends how strongly the idea of antagonising the man we love to hate appeals to you I suppose and I'm just not that fussed about Cowell, X Factor et al. I'm not a fan, but the Christmas number 1 (or any number 1 really) isn't something I worry about. Just as long as it's not fucking Cliff. Whatever he says, he's not really going to be that annoyed about selling half a million records. If he's got any brains (and he clearly has) he'll have teams of viral marketing weasels setting up rival groups to convince people to buy two copies of his record and he'll end up even richer than he would've anyway.

And I've been objecting to Rage Against the Machine for substantially longer than the past week.

[Christov]

A chance to piss off the biggest wanker on the planet?

Yes please.

[Jim_Campbell]

Umm ... OK. This is officially the most pointless argument of the day.

Q: Do you want to annoy Simon Cowell by denying him the Christmas No1 slot he clearly believes is his by right?

If No: then conversation over.

If Yes: then what is required is for 500,000+ people to buy a specific track during the qualifying period. That track -- whatever your opinion of it -- has been nominated as Rage Against the Machine's "Killing In The Name Of". Do you have a problem with this?

If Yes: Fine. Don't buy it, then. Buy whatever makes you happy!

If No: Fine. Do buy it, then.

At this point, these are the options. 29p (from Amazon) to annoy Simon Cowell ... it's hardly the same as "eating shit" now, is it?

Cheers

Jim

[Al_Ewing]

Well, the point of the argument for me is that it's exploring what we think about music, and what music is for. I'm also interested in it because of what it says about consumption as narrative - how what we buy, when we buy it, feeds into an internal narrative of heroes and villains that we create for ourselves. Frank Kogan writes quite a lot about similar issues: http://koganbot.livejournal.com/20510.html

But yeah, you're right - it's a simple decision to either be part of this thing or not. I'm happy seeing it boiled down to the absolutes like that.

[Jim_Campbell]

Well, the point of the argument for me is that it's exploring what we think about music, and what music is for.

That's actually an excellent point. Given that I really, really don't give a shit about anything that makes it into the charts, perhaps I'm just more amused by the entirely juvenile idea of getting a record with lots of swearing into the No1 slot.

I've changed my mind ... "You're A Fucking Bastard" by The Exploited for Christmas No1!

Cheers

Jim

[I, Cosh]

I've changed my mind ... "You're A Fucking Bastard" by The Exploited for Christmas No1!

Now there's a campaign I can really get behind!

I think all the things Al just said are interesting and worth slavering about at length.

[Peter Wolf]

X-Factor is really about light entertainment and very little to do with music as a form of creative expression.

[Dandontdare]

I can see where Al's coming from, but this isn't really a debate about quality music - it's about a spontaneous movement, a singular surge of opinion that wouldn't work if we all voted for individual tracks; but only has a point as a one-off popular event - this track has been chosen, so I've just bought it to add weight to the voting mass.

I have no illusions about what we'll achieve, but if it throws a spanner in the works of the commercial machinery around the Christmas No 1 (or even if it just pisses Mr Cowell off a bit) then it's worth my 99p (interestingly, not 79p like all the other RATM tracks on i-tunes - coincidence or Steve Jobs new Jacuzzi?)