Rage Against The Machine Xmas No. 1 2009

[Daft]

The Sun, along with the rest of the red tops are just like X-factor - conveyor belts of shit.

[or else you will DIE]

Him throwing darts at a picture of the band is bit OTT, but was obviously just arranged by the paper.

 

yeah i think so too, and i know he is a just some puppet controlled by Simon, but surely he has SOME say when it comes to sick/stupid stuff like this.

 

he should know what's good for him, and this clearly isnt.

Edited December 19, 2009 by or else you will DIE

[Daft]

Sick stuff?...

 

Chill dude.

[or else you will DIE]

sorry, but it's just how i feel man. it really sickens me for some kid to be given success for winning a karaoke contest only to agree to do and say stupid shit like that

Edited December 19, 2009 by or else you will DIE

[Dante]

You know the Sun asked him to stand in the front of that dartboard setup and started taking photos.

[Daft]

sorry, but it's just how i feel man.

 

Fair enough.

 

You know the Sun asked him to stand in the front of that dartboard setup and started taking photos.

 

Wow. Imagine if they'd asked him to walk off a cliff.

[EEVILMURRAY]

Rage

Not exactly mainstream is it?

No advertising budget, only a Facebook group

Downloads only

I feel what you're saying. But you don't really need much advertising for a song that has been around for 17 years.

[Goafer]

I feel what you're saying. But you don't really need much advertising for a song that has been around for 17 years.

 

True, but it's hardly a competitor for Christmas number one without it, especially if it hasn't seen an official re-release. I still can't believe it's winning. Even if it comes second, it's still a phenominal achievement to even come close/win for this long. Let's not forget the "less than stunning" Rick Astley campaign last year. Even the Jeff Buckley one didn't do this well and that had the advantage of people buying it after hearing the XFactor version and deciding to buy their preferred version.

[Wesley]

So I bought this off Amazon for 29p.

 

To anyone who won't get involved in buying either singles - because you don't care, think it's pointless them being on the same record label, or are too much of a rebel to even consider the war (like my second post) - then buy Rage because money will be going to charity.

 

 

Also - I really like Rage, have a few of their albums and a DVD too. So... yeah, FUCK YOU I WONT *wanders off head-banging*

[or else you will DIE]

NEWS FLASH: RAGE ANNOUNCE THEY WILL PLAY MASSIVE FREE VICTORY GIG IN UK IF "KILLING IN THE NAME" IS NUMBER ONE XMAS SINGLE!!! Let's go!!!!

 

[Ryan]

The main reason I like Rage and subsequently, Audioslave, is mainly because of Tom Morello. He is a god on guitar. Here's a video of some of his solo's with Audioslave.

 

- Some from RATM Edited December 19, 2009 by Ryan

[Beast]

You know the Sun asked him to stand in the front of that dartboard setup and started taking photos.

 

I was about to point this out.

 

And don't forget, it's The Sun we're talking about here.

 

Also, did you watch the video that was on the site? I think you should. He says completely different stuff. He said the track was original but he wouldn't want to hear it on Christmas Day

 

And about the whole darts thing, it's obvious he was told to do it. It is a little bit over-the-top but I thought all of this was supposed to be a bit of fun.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Animal

[Daft]

I lol'd at another typically Brooker comment on twitter.

 

charltonbrooker

 

For a song whose lyrics ostensibly document a spirited attempt to overcome adversity, 'The Climb' is about as inspiring as a Lion bar.

[Beast]

I lol'd at another typically Brooker comment on twitter.

 

I lol'd at that too. Got to love Brooker

[Daft]

For the record, I like Lion bars!

 

Here's a good article about the context of 'Killing In The Name';

 

Rage Against the Machine - the perfect Christmas No 1 for our times

 

 

The Joe McElderry v Rage Against the Machine battle for the final Christmas No 1 of the noughties is surely the most hotly discussed, media-fuelled pop duel since Blur v Oasis in 1995. You're either in Simon Cowell's shiny, sentimental pop camp, pledging your allegiance to a nice Geordie lad – (played by Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry) [LMFAO!!]. Or you're one of those mean-spirited weirdos using democratic means to make a mockery of Cowell and Cheryl Cole's current monopoly.

 

It's pop v rock, to put it in simple, old-fashioned terms, and the gloves are off. But let's break it down to the one thing apoplectic bloggers have overlooked: the music. On the one hand, we have a public-approved pop pin-up moulded in the Larry Parnes tradition, recycling a Disney-endorsed Miley Cyrus song. On the other, an anti-authoritarian song written by multi-ethnic group of firebrands who've been tear-gassed, arrested and tracked by the CIA in the name of free speech.

 

Killing in the Name was written during George Bush Sr's presidency. The fallout from the first Iraq conflict was being felt and unemployment was the highest it had been in a decade, with 14% of Americans living in poverty. Yet Bush was told by his economic advisors to stop dealing with the economy as, thanks to Iraq, his re-election was assured.

 

Alluding to a close correlation between the police force and the Ku Klux Klan – "Some of those that work forces / Are the same that burn crosses" – by the time the song was released, Los Angeles had witnessed the riots that followed the acquittal of the LAPD during the Rodney King trial.

 

Considered in context, it's as potent a protest song now as it was then. "The core of all rebellion is the denying of repressive authority," RATM guitarist Tom Morello told me in 2005. "And I think we summed up very succinctly in 'Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me …'"

 

The idea of it being No 1, of course, is both absurd and hilarious – and humour is something that has been lost in all this – while the drive behind this resurgence is a classic act of absurdist situationist troublemaking totally befitting the song. "I remember when our A&R guy suggested that this be our first single and I was, like, 'Are you kidding?," said Morello. "To the band's credit, we were always fearless in our business decisions and to choose the most profanity-laced song as the debut salvo – possibly the most profane single there has been – was something we were very proud of. To this day, I don't think there's a Rage song that really resonates in the way this does."

 

Even the band can't possibly have expected the song to resonate quite like this. But then since its 1992 release, the landscape has changed irrevocably and it is conceivable that the drive behind Killing in the Name could be a knock-on result of the Obama effect. Bear with me on this: if Obama were a rock star he wouldn't be Will.i.bloody.am, he'd be the Paul Robeson-quoting Tom Morello. The similarities are startling: both were born mixed race in the early 60s to a Kenyan parent. Both are Harvard-educated liberals with strong ties to Chicago, who have been awarded for their human rights work. Both have worked in the senate, one more successfully than the other. It almost seems fitting for a song such as this to see in the first Christmas of a black man running the planet.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/dec/18/rage-against-the-machine-christmas-no1-battle

 

Not really sure how much I agree with the last paragraph tbh, but there's your context.

 

Also I thought I'd just repost this ace comment from that article's thread,

 

I think this whole exercise is absolutely glorious. Its interesting on so many levels, encompassing digital technology, 21st century marketing, nemesis, class and cultural divides, unlikley alliances, shifting personsa (Cowell claiming to be the David of this is unbelievable), it goes on and on.

 

Yet its just as true that its also just a massive, stupid internet joke that just keeps going. To simplistically say that your choice places you either in one camp or the other is both absolutely right and horrendously wrong.

 

On the one hand the song you choose empowers you to make a defining statement about your position in the world, your political and cultural perspective, on the other you're just buying pop, the most disposable cultural product we've yet managed to come up with. Genius.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Daft

[or else you will DIE]

thanks shorty

[Rummy]

The whole point is to actively do something anti-xfactor, instead of passively just not watching it.

 

Exactly what I think, if we do nothing, then what will change? Hasn't music always been about progression?

 

 

For me, my problem is the domination of X-Factor, I know plenty of people who don't like it/don't care for it/don't watch it anymore. I say anymore because I did once, I liked it once, but I'm fed up of it now. I unfortunately know plenty of people who do STILL watch it, but if something like this campagin succeeds, it will hopefully prove a point that might lead to dying a beginning death.

 

 

I understand how people say RATM aren't christmassy etc, but is X-Factor, is it REALLY? If we can kill X-Factor, it'll give some hope in the future to bringing back the classic style of genuine christmas no.1 battles. I don't like the way X-Factor makes such an easy pop star/singer/musician these days, who can then get to no.1 off the back of the show with little effort, I don't think it's a positive thing for all the other artists who are trying to get off the ground and what not.

 

 

From what I recall, Simon Cowelll blasted Peter Kay and his Geraldine song last year for making a mockery of the charts and the christmas no.1, but I think X-Factor does that itself(though last year's was at least a christmassy kinda song, it irked me a little that Simon made money from all versions sold). Peter Kay's one also at least all went to charity. He probably didn't like the fact his show totally took the piss out of X-Factor style shows either(which Cowell basically ripped off of Fuller?).

 

 

 

My biggest problem is the inevitability of X-Factor being no.1, it's basically a given now. The competition for the christmas number 1 is only ever between a handful of people, and it ends with the X-Factor final. What annoys me as well is how people around the program, like the judges and what not, seem to think the winner deserves to be no1 as well! RATM worked their way to where they are and were I'm sure, they got no free and easy ride through a glorified talent show, if anything that will always deserve to be above anything like X-Factor imo.

 

Anyhow, now I must leave, otherwise this post'd be longer. I think it's made me late for work. Damn forums!

[CoolFunkMan]

Right, I've now changed my opinon on this....

 

I understand now, buying this track isn't being mindless and selling out to the mainstream agenda of the charts, it's a statement to the mindless idiots that do buy the mainstream bullshit. So yeah, RAGE for Christmas number 1!!!

 

EDIT: Rummy just summed up my thoughts perfectly, nice one sir!

Edited December 19, 2009 by CoolFunkMan

[Jimbob]

Just purchased this track, got to do my bit for Christmas.

[CoolFunkMan]

I bought it from Amazon. However, the official Facebook group says to only buy it from iTunes, Play.com or 7Digital, so I decided to get it from Play as well. Hope that doesn't screw anything up.

[EEVILMURRAY]

I lol'd at another typically Brooker comment on twitter.

 

charltonbrooker

 

RT @franticplanet: @charltonbrooker Lion bars are inspiring if you pretend you're sucking off a klingon while you eat it.

[Nintendohnut]

Yeah I think only play.com itunes and 7 digital actually count towards the single sales, I don't think amazon is included.

[or else you will DIE]

I bought it from Amazon. However, the official Facebook group says to only buy it from iTunes, Play.com or 7Digital, so I decided to get it from Play as well. Hope that doesn't screw anything up.

 

awesome, nice man. some are saying Amazon doesn't count, but there are also a lot saying that it does... so I guess we'll see

 

GET IT FOR FREE AT 7DIGITAL.... http://www.facebook.com/Envirofone?v=app_156433352759&ref=ts

Edited December 19, 2009 by or else you will DIE

[Platty]

I think they got it confirmed by the official charts people that Amazon 29p DOES COUNT. But not sure.

 

I bought it from play, amazon and hmv

 

multiple buys from different shops are ok just no bulk buying. If you bulk buy your purchases will be void in the counting and could disqualify RATM. We don't want that do we?

 

I fully expect the x factor to sell loads today in hard copy format. But still rage has done well so far. Very interestings to see what happens tomorrow, I think there will be only thousands in it.

 

EDIT: just checked the group and it says:

 

"AMAZON ALLEGEDLY IS CHART ELIGIBLE, BUT IM HEARING MANY CONFLICTING STORIES ON THIS. MAYBE PUT THE OTHER VENDORS FIRST"

Edited December 19, 2009 by Platty

[or else you will DIE]

Please, if you have the time, do the Nokia and 7Digital Free download too. that's another 5 downloads each (4 from Nokia (get the live version aswell), and 1 from Nokia PLUS gift to friends!)