Rockers Rage Against The Machine in chart battle with Simon Cowell
December 17, 2009 11:30pm
A 1992 Rage Against the Machine rock anthem is in good shape to top the UK Christmas charts after 860,000 people joined a Facebook group to derail music mogul Simon Cowell and The X-Factor's winning single.
This week, anthemic 1992 rock song Killing In The Name had sold 253,476 units compared to Joe McElderry - who won British reality music show The X-Factor - with his single The Climb making 216,795 sales.
The group, which has called itself "Rage Against The X-Factor" has become the most frequented Facebook site in the UK.
Cowell, whose company owns X Factor and who is also a judge on the series. has labelled the campaign "stupid", "cynical" and "very Scrooge".
In a Twitter post, Rage Against the Machine Guitarist Tom Morello mentioned that fearing the will of the people, X-Factor may pressure stores to lower the price of the song to boost sales. In turn he asked Rage fans to make multiple purchases of Killing in the Name in response.
Which single would you buy? Tell us below.
Listen to a clean version of Killing In The Name here
Listen to Joe McElderry's The Climb here
All money raised from sales of the song in the UK will go to Youth Music, a scheme to help young musicians in the UK. The campaign also raises money for the homeless charity Shelter.
Yesterday, the band played the song - including the swear-filled chorus ("F.... you, I won't do what you tell me" four times) live on UK radio and slammed The X Factor and Cowell. Producers subsequently faded the band out as they continued to play, despite promising the BBC show they would not swear.
During the interview Morello criticised X-Factor and Cowell for spoon feeding people "one schmaltzy ballad after another".
As the week rolls on, more and more celebrities are voicing their support for the group that is putting the power back into the hands of the people.
Foo Fighter's frontman Dave Grohl told UK radio that he would be buying the song in protest to the reality television series single.
"There's some music that I question its intention," he said.
"When people rise up and decide, `Hey man, I'm sick of this, let's derail this other thing for something real' I'm all for it."
