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Up yours Cowell!


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Rock band Rage Against the Machine ended Simon Cowell’s four year domination of the Christmas charts tonight after a hugely popular Facebook campaign helped the Los Angeles nu-metallers snatch the Christmas number one slot from X-factor’s Joe McEdlerry.

 

More than half a million people downloaded the band’s famously anti-authoritarian and expletive laden track “Killing in the Name” in what was seen as a broad protest against the increasing influence of manufactured pop music.

 

It is the first time a non-X-Factor song has made it to Christmas number one for four years and represents a major snub to the show’s creator Cowell who angrily described the campaign to him another number one slot as “very Scrooge”.

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Rock band Rage Against the Machine ended Simon Cowell’s four year domination of the Christmas charts tonight after a hugely popular Facebook campaign helped the Los Angeles nu-metallers snatch the Christmas number one slot from X-factor’s Joe McEdlerry.

 

:censored: me! Anyone would think it was Linkin Park!

 

If the music business doesn't like it, it's their own faults for devaluing the charts with all the crap that's freely publicised (in the guise of a TV show). Why should the Xmas No.1 single be a done deal? Well done to RATM, and all those who bought the single. :grin:

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the heading of this topic doesnt make sense. simon cowell made money on every download of the RATM song through royalties. the idea of buying thi song wasnt to get back at simon cowell it was to make stand against being force fed music and stop the x factor winner getting xmas number 1 just because they were x factor winner.

 

luckily for RATM most people thought it was just a stand against simon cowell

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didn't know the charts still exsisted and never heard either song

Precisely. Nobody has managed to force-feed me the X-Factor. Why do people feel like they have been coerced in some way? The charts have always been full of crap and the popular end of the music industry has always been about making money.

 

Although Killing In the Name was a classic of it's time of course.

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the heading of this topic doesnt make sense. simon cowell made money on every download of the RATM song through royalties. the idea of buying thi song wasnt to get back at simon cowell it was to make stand against being force fed music and stop the x factor winner getting xmas number 1 just because they were x factor winner.

 

luckily for RATM most people thought it was just a stand against simon cowell

 

Cowell owns a record label (Syco i think it's called) which has a deal with Sony BMG.

 

RATM are on Epic, which is owned by Sony BMG.

 

Cowell doesn't own Sony BMG, so how does he make money on RATM sales?

 

BTW...Sony BMG must be loving this.

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Cowell owns a record label (Syco i think it's called) which has a deal with Sony BMG.

 

RATM are on Epic, which is owned by Sony BMG.

 

Cowell doesn't own Sony BMG, so how does he make money on RATM sales?

 

BTW...Sony BMG must be loving this.

 

al be honest i dont no. i was talking about it the other day and was corrected and told that cowell was getting royalties and then i decided to pass on the information. seemed very convincing when i was told although now it appears it may be incorrect.

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While I applaud the sentiment- God knows I hate X-Factor (hate suckly come prancing too) but this was started as a Facebook campaign. Who started it? Could it be that some marketing genius from Sony BMG knew that doing this could make them money hand over fist, as they make more from the sandancer and then money from Rage. If this truely was a protest against Simon Cowell, the music industry in general etc. then surely an anti-establishment song from a different record label would have done just as well, rather too convenient that they chose someone from the same record label IMHO.

 

I would like to point out that although to be number 1 this week is to have the xmas number 1, I reckon Joe might get to number 1 next week and sell quite a few records. As in all honestly who can say they've got all their xmas presents yet?

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al be honest i dont no. i was talking about it the other day and was corrected and told that cowell was getting royalties and then i decided to pass on the information. seemed very convincing when i was told although now it appears it may be incorrect.

 

The campaign was basically a stand against manufactured music and the limited coverage alternative music gets, due to programs such as X Factor.

 

"Killing in the Name" is an absolute anthem and RATM are one of the best bands of the '90s. They were fantastic when I saw them at Reading Festival in 2000, although the mosh pit resembled an absolute blood-bath!

 

Couldn't give one about the charts either, but it's funny that this whole thing has annoyed those that do!

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Saw them in mid 90s at the Ritz!! Bloody brilliant track and band - and everything that they stand for with re-releasing this - get to Feck X factor. :tongue1:

 

That's probably the gig I couldn't get tickets to. 1992 if I remember correctly. Was gutted, and still am a bit now.

 

How about Kevin Bloody Wilson (thanks Will!) for next year? (Warning! NSFW or oversensitive people!)

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The campaign was basically a stand against manufactured music and the limited coverage alternative music gets, due to programs such as X Factor.

 

"Killing in the Name" is an absolute anthem and RATM are one of the best bands of the '90s. They were fantastic when I saw them at Reading Festival in 2000, although the mosh pit resembled an absolute blood-bath!

 

Couldn't give one about the charts either, but it's funny that this whole thing has annoyed those that do!

 

perfectly put!

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I think it was due to that song that I inadvertently helped start a very large nightclub fight in the mid 90s. There was a rock/metal/indie student night at Ziggys in York where it was perfectly acceptable and goo humoured to throw people all over the shop when Rage, Nirvana etc were on. My mate flung me into a wall, so I got my own back be swinging him round and launching him across the dance floor. He was a big lad, taller than me and all arms and legs, as he went by his elbow clouted some guy full on the jaw. By the time this lad got his senses my mate had carried on falling past him so this bloke thought he's been punched by some random guy in front of him and chinned him, at which all hell broke loose, while me and my mate stood at either end of the dancefloor watching :lol:

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So what if Sony BMG have made money out of it? The aim wasn't to bankrupt them.Pretty much any purchase you make is going to make money for some multinational corporation. I'd rather focus on the fact that so far Shelter have made £70,000 from it. It's like Band Aid with Tourette's. I can't wait for the Top Of The Pops Christmas special. :grin:

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RATM Speaks for itself

Joe McElderry X-Factor

Lady Gaga Appeared on X-Factor

Peter Kay Charidee

3oh!3 No idea

Robbie Williams Appeared on X-Factor

Cheryl Cole Appeared on X-Factor

Journey Appeared on X-Factor

Black Eyed Peas Appeared on X-Factor

Ke$ha No idea

The X Factor Finalists Appeared on X-Factor

Alicia Keys Appeared on X-Factor

George Michael Appeared on X-Factor

Chuckie & Lmfao No idea

Timbaland Popular apparently

Cheryl Cole Appeared on X-Factor

The Pogues Speaks for itself

Jason Derulo No idea

Chipmunk No idea

Mariah Carey Appeared on X-Factor

Alexandra Burke Appeared on X-Factor

Michael Buble Appeared on X-Factor

Jay-Z (feat Alicia Keys) Keys appeared on X-Factor

JLS Appeared on X-Factor

Pixie Lott Good, powerful fetlocks

Black Eyed Peas Appeared on X-Factor

N-Dubz Popular apparently

Leona Lewis Appeared on X-Factor

The Saturdays The new Girls Aloud

Miley Cyrus Originally did "The climb"

 

The top 31 (I've gone to 31 as Cyrus is 31), out of these, 18 "artists" have either come from X-Factor, have appeared on it this series or got a connection to it and had a sales bump. It could be argued that The X-Factor is the only music show on mainstream television so this is inevitable.

 

I like music, it is my favourite art form and yes the charts are meaningless but when over 50% of the top 30 are connected to a popular karaoke contest how can this be a good thing? The music industry blame illegal downloads for "killing music", stifling creativity and throttling new artists just like they blamed "home taping" I think the answer is more likely found in the list above.

 

So for one, I am pleased that RATM are the 2009 xmas number one, I remember when that meant something, I am 35 now and don't listen to "chart" music but I listened to the charts yesterday, I actually knew the result as it had been leaked but it was fun in a Victor Meldrew way listening to that tripe and shaking my head grumbling. Who cares that Compuglobalhypermeganet own "the rights" to Killing in the Name, the record books don't show where the money goes, they only show the record that was xmas number one and after a few years of vacuous nothing the next entry is RATM. In years to come when they show what was xmas number one hopefully some junior work experience kid will put the unedited version on the clips package and for a few seconds ":censored: you I won't do what you tell me" will be piped into the nation's living rooms rather than a weak cover version of the turgid swill of Billy Ray Cyrus's daughter's "The Climb" in a south shields lilt with less emotion and feeling than a used nappy.

 

 

 

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Yeah, but what do you really think? Can't be doing with fence-sitters.

 

Well I'm going for the "I'm so rebellious that I am going to rebel against the rebellion" pose and come out with guff like Cowell still gets the money or :censored: you I won't tidy my bedroom or somesuch.

 

I'm a married man and my wife loves the X-Factor despite also liking music, as such I have watched more than my fair share of episodes of it and appreciate that some the contestants can sing but it usually comes down to a popularity/ beauty contest and the best singers do not always win. They say they are looking for a "recording artist" they've changed it from looking for a "pop star" so they are making a tacit admission that the last thing they want is someone to come out with "I've got a few lyrics I'd like to try" once they get them in to the recording studio. Granted some of the biggest stars of all time didn't write a note or used song writers. I personally love Burt Bacharach, one of the greatest songwriters of all time - Dionne Warwick singing "Walk on By" is one of my favourite songs, "What the world needs now" sung by Jackie DeShannon was played when my wife and I signed the register at the wedding. There is a place for this kind of setup but when probably only or 6 of the top 30 are songs written and performed by the artist it is no wonder music is deemed to be in decline.

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I could listen to you all day, Mr. Large_Breasts. I actually rather liked Olly in the sense that he seems like a normal bloke who can belt out a couple of tunes with a smile on his face; Joe, on the other hand, is a little pleb with wonky teeth (not that I'm one to cast aspersions on that front) and who looked a little too comfortable in the company of George Michael and Louis Walsh. He also says he doesn't fancy Cheryl Cole, and not once did I see him having a quick peek at her norks or trying to cop a feel of her tushy. He'll be lodging at Elton John's next...

 

Anyway. It's a satisfying moral victory this whole Chrimble no. 1 malarky. If I didn't dream it, I'm sure the figures were something ridiculous like half a million sales for the angry men. That's an astonishing amount of rebellion considering the societal conditioning that's slowly but surely crept up on us over the past 10-15 years.

 

I'm orf down my local independent record shop to pick up some old Symposium 7"s.

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