More like this
Twitter campaign rages against X Factor machine
X Factor winner Joe McElderry takes on social networking group’s bid to make Rage Against the Machine the Christmas number one
In recent years, winners of The X Factor have appeared to enjoy a divine right to the Christmas No 1 spot. But this year's victor, Joe McElderry, has got a fight on his hands if he wants to beat 1990s anti-establishment rock band Rage Against the Machine.
A Facebook and Twitter-led campaign aimed at depriving McElderry of the top spot was already gaining pace before he was voted the winner over Olly Murs in last night's final. So far more than 715,000 people have joined the Facebook group "Rage Against the Machine for Christmas Number 1" in protest at the stranglehold that The X-Factor has taken on the festive music scene.
Those fed up with the talent show's recent line in manufactured pop acts are being urged to buy RATM's distinctly unfestive 1992 call to arms, Killing In The Name. The song climaxes with the rousing chorus: F*ck you, I won't do what you tell me, a message no doubt aimed at Simon Cowell.
So far it seems to be working. On Monday morning Killing in the Name occupied the top slot in both the HMV and iTunes download charts. Bookies disagree, however: they have McElderry at evens to be No 1, while Killing in the Name is 10/3.
But the numbers stack up in favour of the campaign. Last year's winner Alexandra Burke sold 576,000 copies of her debut single in Christmas week, but the year before Leon Jackson managed just 275,000 and was still No 1. Take the mean figure of 425,000 and it would take two-thirds of those who have pledged their support to Rage Against the Machine to actually follow through and download the song for the LA-based alt-rockers to win.
Campaign organiser Jon Morter told NME.com: "It's been taken on by thousands in the group as a defiance to Cowell's 'music machine'. Some certainly see it as a direct response to him personally."
Cowell is not taking the challenge lying down however. He described the campaign as "stupid" and "cynical". He added that it would "spoil the party" for McElderry, whose single is a cover version of Miley Cyrus's overblown ballad The Climb.
One problem for the RATM supporters is that the band is signed to Sony, which also owns Simon Cowell's label Syco, on which The X-Factor singles are released. So whoever wins the battle at the top of the charts, Cowell is unlikely to suffer in the long run. ·
Comments are now closed on this article
Comments
Cowell is not taking the challenge lying down however. He described the campaign as "stupid" and "cynical". He added that it would "spoil the party" for McElderry, whose single is a cover version of Miley Cyrus's overblown ballad The Climb. Louis Vuitton|LV
Cowell could even be organising this competition, since it's stirring up more interest when it would have been waning after the winner was decided. He gets to speak about it, others get to comment, a 'competition' between two rivals for number one [surely an old concept since few buy singles any more] is just a continuation of the 'competition' of X-Factor, keeping it in the public eye. And many who wouldn't have bothered to buy something they've heard before and heard on TV again, will now go and buy it as it makes them feel part of something. So sales of both will soar. And as the article says, Cowell will benefit. But since he's already obscenely rich, what's he going to spend the extra on? Desperate seeking after wealth seems never to abate when people get wealthy, it's a sickness, a compulsion, since 'money don't buy you love' poor Simon will keep on gathering more and more wealth when all he really wants, and can never have, is love. As a result of being frustrated and lonely, he is a dangerous egotistical fixer who far from helping the music industry is just helping himself, and damaging the music industry with contrived 'stars' presented for us to accept, and 'stars'moreover who are basically bubble-gum trash. Real talent gets out there and works its butt off, learning the trade trekking up and down the motorways, getting better over the years, and if lucky, making a reputation and a living. Cowell's creatures are overnight sensations and long term nightclub crooners in Costa Del Watneys, singing for those working class holidaymakers who vaguely remember them.
"F*ck you, I won't do what you tell me". The perfect Xmas message to that puffed-up wanker Simon Cowell.