Monday, December 21, 2009
National Skyline Golden Nugget: Christmas in the Name Of
Posted by Adam Gold on Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 1:59 PM
If you follow music stories out there in the blogosphere, then you're sure to have heard about Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" taking the No. 1 spot on the British charts in this, the week leading up to Christmas. The song, which was a hit for the band in 1992, accomplished such a feat by selling 500,000 copies (via download) as a result of a grassroots Facebook campaign to end Simon Cowell's annual yuletide reign over the British charts. For the last few years Cowell's Idol-esque competitive singing program The X Factor has yielded a Christmas No. 1 in the U.K. Rage's victory comes at the expense of 2009 X Factor winner Joe McElderry, who was an expected shoo-in with his "uplifting" cover of Miley Cyrus' "The Climb." The reunited Los Angeles quartet had this to say of their win:
This is a huge victory by and for fans of real music and we extend our heartfelt thanks to every fan and freedom fighter who helped make our anthem of defiance and rebellion the Anarchy Christmas Miracle of 2009.
The band plan to donate the proceeds of the single's sales to charity. Simon Cowell uncharacteristically showed some humility by saying, "I accept there are people that don't like 'The X Factor.' " Same goes for American Idol, dude.
RATM may have "taken the power back" as far as unseating utter mediocrity from the British charts, but still, this whole thing, funny as it may be, just reeks of Scroogishness. I'd much prefer the Brits harken back to the days of Christmas No. 1 past and race Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" back up to the top of the charts. Instead of leading this post with the video for "Killing in the Name" I've decided, instead, to post a video of Roy Wood and Wizzard's 1973 classic "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" in the interest of fostering a Christmas-glam resurgence. Enjoy!
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
Did anyone see the footage from the BBC broadcast the other day? Kind of funny in it's own right as they have a habit of trying to make everything seem as though it's worth dying for.
Fair play to the kid that put this all together.
like
dislike
Vote here for best Band of the Week
Slideshows
Top Commenters
