Rage Against the Machine Beats Joe McElderry to Christmas Number One
Posted by vBoogieMan in Music News, tags: Abyss, Christmas Number, Expletive, Facebook, Guitarist Tom Morello, Half A Million, Homeless Charity, Industry Experts, Killing In The Name, Mediocrity, Miley Cyrus, Monotony, Morter, Pop Charts, Rage Against The Machine, Record Label, Royalties, Simon Cowell, Sony Bmg, Uk Pop, X FactorThe battle for the coveted Christmas Number One was claimed by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. In what has been described by industry experts as ‘possibly the greatest chart upset ever’ McElderry was pipped to the post by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE’s anti-X Factor protest single.
The group’s expletive-ridden 1993 song “Killing in the Name” sold more than half a million copies, beating McElderry’s cover of Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” by 50,000 sales.
Essex couple Jon and Tracy Morter launched the ‘Rage against the Machine for Christmas No 1‘ Facebook site campaign earlier this month as a protest against X Factor chief Simon Cowell’s dominance of the festive charts for the past four years.
They launched the protest with the words: ‘Fed up of Simon Cowell’s latest karaoke act being Christmas No 1? Me too … So who’s up for a mass-purchase of the track ‘Killing In The Name’ as a protest to the X Factor monotony?’ The couple were stunned when the campaign’s popularity snowballed.
The campaign gathered so much momentum that McElderry’s record label Sony/BMG desperately slashed the price of “The Climb” by 63 per cent to try to redress the balance – but to no avail.
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE’s guitarist Tom Morello said of the movement: ‘It’s trying to save the UK pop charts for this abyss of bland mediocrity. don’t believe it has anything to do with Simon Cowell personally. I like that guy. He’s a great entertainer. He’s going to do fine with his No. 2 this Christmas. What you’re seeing is real democracy.’
He added that the band would be donating the unexpected royalties to the homeless charity Shelter.
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