Rage Against the Machine topple X Factor after Facebook campaign

For the past four years here in the UK, the top of the music singles chart has assumed a predictable shape, with the annual winner of Simon Cowell’s X Factor TV show grabbing the coveted Christmas #1 spot in the charts in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

The X Factor hegemony inspired husband and wife Jon and Tracy Morley to start up this Facebook group, urging UK consumers to purchase “Killing in the Name,” Rage Against the Machine’s swear-filled 1992 anti-authority anthem. As Jon writes on the group’s page:

“Fed up with 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’ from December 13th as a protest to the X-Factor monotony?”

The aim? To beat the latest X Factor poppet – in this case 18-year-old Joe McElderry, who sung a cover of Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” for his debut single – to top spot this Xmas.

Rage Against the Machine weren’t short of support, with Paul McCartney and even former X Factor winner Steve Brookstein publicly backing the campaign. RATM themselves also joined in the fun, announcing their support for a campaign that high-waisted X Factor creator Simon Cowell dismissively labelled as “cynical and stupid.”

Well, cynical or not, “Killing in the Name” was declared 2009’s Christmas chart-topper in Britain earlier this evening, a result that delighted RATM frontman Zack De La Rocha:

“We are very, very ecstatic about being number one. It says more about the spontaneous action taken by young people throughout the UK to topple this very sterile pop monopoly.”

Although cynics might point out that Joe and RATM (who will donate their slice of the profits to charity) share the same record label, I find this subversive grassroots campaign with its origins as a Facebook group rather heartening. Plus, it’s pretty funny. Here’s the winning song: