It’s all the rage
So Christmas is, technically, over. The turkey has been stuffed, the potatoes fluffed and roasted, the gravy and bread sauce stirred, and, of course, the whole lot’s been devoured in twenty minutes flat. Now while we all sit around and pat our bellies, watching TV or petting the dog or playing board games or whatever, let’s consider the events leading up to Christmas – specifically the events leading up to the announcement of the Christmas number one.
Now, Rage Against The Machine may not be for everyone, love them as I may. But the song was not important this year. What was important was what this number one meant. For the first time in five years, the X factor finalist, complete with manufactured/cover version song, has not achieved its predestined, Cowell-ordained status as the Christmas number one. Instead, a (fantastic/legendary/amazing) seventeen-year old anthem has been revived and pushed to the top, helped along by an organized campaign to get it there.
Admittedly, I have a vested interest in RATM having gotten to the top. Not, like, a financial interest or anything, more one that has to do with my sanity – because if a cover of a Miley Cyrus song had beaten ‘Killing In The Name’, I may have lost my mind (also, I’ve never forgiven them for what they did to ‘Hallelujah’). And I’ve heard a lot of criticism of the RATM campaign, a lot of which has been utterly ridiculous. I mean, calling it a ‘snobbish campaign’? Saying that Joe’s being bullied? Really? Because, clearly, everyone who likes a song that encourages people not to do what they’re told is an upper-class snot-bag, and it’s every X Factor winner’s God-given right to have the Christmas number one.
Despite all this, I see much more to this campaign than the de-throning of the almighty X Factor. It warms my heart to see that so many people got involved in this amazing campaign to do something about being fed crap music. I myself bought two copies (one for me, one for the girlfriend – it’s all legit). But it wasn’t just my two copies, or the copy you bought. It’s the fact that in the spirit of Christmas, 500,000+ people got together and stood up and said ‘enough’. Enough of this shit. And they did something about it. And they were successful. We were successful. Ladies (and gentlemen?), we did something great this year. Something that will never be forgotten. Something that can be admirably summed up in KITN’s infamous refrain: fuck you. I won’t do what you tell me.
That, my sweets, is what Christmas means to me. And the cool £91,301.04 (at time of writing) that has been raised for Shelter as a result, with an additional cut of proceeds from sales of the single, really doesn’t hurt. An encore from the Christmas #1 (with some help from the X Factor):
A sure-fire hit there! Merry Christmas all.
What did you think of the RATM v. X Factor Christmas battle? Did you buy either single?
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