Rage Against The Machine is #1 Christmas Hit in the UK

In a world where filled with Facebook groups with good intentions and no action there is hope. Facebook group: “Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No 1” has showed us how it’s done. The purpose of the group is to knock Simon Cowell’s X-Factor darlings off the chart and make the 17 year old hit “Killing in the Name” the number one hit on the UK charts.

This year music history was written. The last four years the winner of Simon Cowell’s X-Factor has been the prestigious number one christmas single. But this year a christmas miracle happened. Rage Against The Machine beat X-Factor winner 18 year-old Joe McElderry by 50,000 downloads.

This is the first time a song that is only available online has become the number one christmas single. When “Killing in the Name” was first released back in the 90’s it topped at number 25. Jon and Tracy Morter started the Facebook group and with that a charity collection benefitting homeless organization SHELTER.

The charity has collected $125,000 so far. “Rage” will also give away the surplus from the singles sale. “Rage” has also promised to perform a free concert in the UK in 2010.

“Rage” guitarist Tom Morrello hit it spot on with this comment:”it had tapped into the silent majority of the people in the UK who are tired of being spoon-fed one schmaltzy ballad after another”.

Joe McElderry had the following comments: “It’s been exciting to be part of a much-hyped battle and they definitely deserve congratulations. This time last year I never thought for one minute that I’d win The X Factor, never mind about having a debut single out, so I’m just delighted to be in the charts. It’s been such an incredible couple of months and I got the best Christmas gift I could ever have asked for in winning The X Factor.”

The entire “campaign/movement” is designed to last only one week, there is still plenty of time for McElderry’s pop to take the number one spot saving him the indignity of being the first X-Factor single not to hit number one.

Personally I think this is a fine example of what Jeff Howe calls “Power of the Crowd”, but it probably demands a cause that is bigger than cheap gasoline and global warming (!?)

Source: BBC