Rage Factor - Say NO to Simon Cowell

For years now Simon Cowell has had the monopoly over the Christmas Number 1, with X-Factor, Pop Idol and other various reality shows. I remember the days when it was a proper competition for Christmas Number 1, when it was a thing to be proud of, a big deal, like winning an award. I realise people didn’t stumble across No.1s by accident. They had to put in a lot of work, releasing it at the right time, making it suitably Christmassy etc, but there just seems to be something generically fake about Christmas No.1s resulting from a reality show.

In protest, a campaign has been launched in an attempt to get a different song to Number 1 this Christmas. ‘Killing In The Name Of’ by Rage Against The Machine has been chosen, which truth be told would not necessarily be my choice, but nevertheless it’s not about the song it’s about the protest. The idea is to buy the song from iTunes or another legal download site between the 13^th and 20^th of December. The driving force to this campaign, as far as I’m aware, is the Rage Factor website, facebook and twitter groups, and a few articles in NME and suchlike.

Many people have objected to the alternative Christmas No.1 campaign on the basis that the record companies buy loads of singles to ensure that it will go to No.1 and that it’s a waste of time because there would never be enough people willing to buy a random single from years ago to outsell X factor, all its clever marketing and the gullible *gulp* audience who are suckered into buying it. I know that it is unlikely that we could ever get a song like ‘Killing In The Name Of’ actually to Number 1 at Christmas but if enough people agree to buy it and the campaign gets enough backing then maybe it would make the X Factor bosses realise that they are being killjoys and taking away a great Christmas tradition. They’ve also argued that Rage Against The Machine are part of a record deal that has something to do with Simon Cowell, and I do like the song, I just think that we’d be better off getting behind a song that’s being released anyway, or a song that appeals to a larger group of people. But like I said, I’ll get behind it, not because of the song itself, but because it means a message might get sent to Simon Cowell and the X Factor bosses.

If they want to have the show and get someone to Number 1 then fine, reality shows are popular and as such make good financial sense. But does it have to be over Christmas? Do more people buy singles at Christmas time thus making it more viable? I don’t think I’d mind so much if the songs they released were not almost identical every year, or if the artists wrote the songs (or even picked the songs) themselves. Some of the singers found on these shows are good singers and many of them have gone on to have big careers. I don’t have a problem with artists being discovered on reality shows (as long as I’m not forced to watch them) I just don’t understand why the Christmas No.1 tradition needs to be taken away for a man who quite frankly doesn’t need the money anyway.