I love how when someone starts posting a negative opinion about the campaign, he's getting called an "arse"... Is it necessary? He may have a different opinion, he doesn't make him an arse whatsoever. I think YOU should get over yourself really.

I love how when someone starts posting a negative opinion about the campaign, he's getting called an "arse"... Is it necessary? He may have a different opinion, he doesn't make him an arse whatsoever. I think YOU should get over yourself really.

It is not about his opinion.

 

His point made no sense as he wants it to be exciting but would rather this campaign didn't exist. Without this campaign there would be no competition, how is that exciting?

 

I admit calling him an arse was a bit silly but was it worth getting all uppity about? People take things too seriously in this thread, on both sides.

Couldn't they have campaigned The Muppets or the original Song for #1 and not this random Band.

I very much doubt it pulling off anyway haha. I'm interested to see how well/poor it performs though.

 

Random band????? RANDOM BAND???? :wacko:

 

Rage Against the Machine voice revolutionary viewpoints highly critical of the domestic and foreign policies of current and previous US governments. Throughout its existence, RATM and its individual members participated in political protests and other activism to advocate these beliefs. The band primarily saw its music as a vehicle for social activism; de la Rocha explained that "I'm interested in spreading those ideas through art, because music has the power to cross borders, to break military sieges and to establish real dialogue."

 

Examples:

 

of wage slavery in America:

“ America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve. ”

— Tom Morello, Guitar World

 

At the Coachella 2007 performance, De la Rocha made an impassioned speech during "Wake Up", citing a statement by Noam Chomsky regarding the Nuremberg Trials and subsequent actions by US presidents, as follows:

“ A good friend of ours once said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. presidents as were applied to the Nazis after World War II [...] every single one of them, every last rich white one of them from Truman on, would have been hung to death and shot — and this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be. ”

 

The event led to a media furore. A clip of Zack's speech found its way to the Fox News program Hannity & Colmes. An on-screen headline read, "Rock group Rage Against the Machine says Bush admin should be shot." Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator, (a guest on the show) stated, "They're losers, their fans are losers, and there’s a lot of violence coming from the left wing." Alan Colmes then challenged Coulter for having said of Bill Clinton "The only issue is whether to impeach or assassinate"

 

On July 28 and 29, Rage co-headlined the hip hop festival Rock the Bells. On July 28, they made a speech during Wake Up just as they had done at Coachella. During this, De La Rocha made another statement, defending the band from Fox News, who he alleged misquoted his speech at Coachella:

“ A couple of months ago, those fascist motherf***ers at the Fox News Network attempted to pin this band into a corner by suggesting that we said that the president should be assassinated. Nah, what we said was that he should be brought to trial as a war criminal and hung and shot. THAT'S what we said. And we don't back away from the position because the real assassinator is Bush, and Cheney and the whole administration for the lives they have destroyed here and in Iraq. They're the ones. And what they refused to air which was far more provocative in my mind and in the minds of my bandmates is this: this system has become so brutal and vicious and cruel that it needs to start wars and profit from the destruction around the world in order to survive as a world power. THAT's what we said. And we refuse not to stand up, we refuse to back down from that position... ”

 

On August 24, RATM played Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. They made another speech during Wake Up.

“ We played this show at Coachella Pavilion. It was our first show back. I said a few things from the stage, and the next day Fox News ran this whole piece about us saying that the Presidents should be assassinated. But those fascists always get it wrong when they just want to pin a band in the corner for standing up. What we said was that the whole Bush Administration should be put on trial for war crimes and then hung and then shot, that's what we said.

 

But besides that it made me think about something. It made me think, "what are they so afraid of?" It made me think about what scares them. Is it really four musicians from Los Angeles who've got a point of view? Is it really just this music and these rhythms and these words? Is that what they're scared of? I though I'd think about it and you know what? My conclusion is this: nah, they ain't scared of us, they're scared of you! They're scared that you might come election time and throw Bush and Cheney and all them fascists out of power! That's what they're scared of!

 

And let me say this: the Democrats are scared of you too! Because they know that you see through their bull$h!t too. Because when Bush was wiretapping, spying on citizens, torturing innocent people - they were supposed to be the people to defend us from them, and they didn't do $h!t! So the Democrats are scared of you too. Why? Because they know they're coming to power and they're taking it all for granted, but they're scared because they know that if they don't start f***ing pulling troops from Iraq that you're going to go and burn down every office of every Senator that doesn't do the job.

 

Well I will say this, that the world is watching us now. The whole world is watching us. The brothers and sisters in South America who are dealing with this imperialist violence have got their eyes on us. Our brothers and sisters in Iraq got their eyes on us. Because we are the ones that are prepared to, and going to, put and end to this nonsense. So Wake Up. Come on, Wake Up! Wake Up!

”

 

Subsequently, de la Rocha added Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister who supported and facilitated George Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq, to the list of those who ought to be tried and hanged at the Reading Festival on August 22, 2008. The Reading and Leeds Festivals organizer announced after the 2008 festival that Zack had requested Friday and Saturday slots specifically so he could be back in the US for the Democratic and Republican conventions taking place in the week of the 25th.

 

On August 27, 2008, Rage Against the Machine played a free concert in Denver at the Denver Coliseum during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in protest against the war in Iraq. After the concert, the band joined members of The Coup and Flobots in an anti-war protest march from the Denver Coliseum to the Pepsi Center led by Iraq Veterans Against the War.

 

In October 2009, Rage Against the Machine, along with members of Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and The Roots joined a campaign to close Guantanamo Prison, calling also for the declassification of military records regarding the use of music in torture. Based on reports that songs by Rage and Nine Inch Nails were used in torture at the controversial facility, the group are filling for further declassification under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

"Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured - from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts - playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums. Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me - we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now."

- Tom Morello

 

But the most outrageous incident was:

 

On September 2, 2008, during the Republican National Convention, Rage Against the Machine was scheduled to play a free show in protest of what Zack called the power abusing party in St. Paul, Minnesota on the State Capital lawn for Ripple Effect. Tom Morello was asked by SuicideGirls to report what happened at the conventions. Quoted, he said, "They showed up at exactly the time we were scheduled to perform, and as soon as we got out of our vehicle we were immediately surrounded by riot police who told us if we approached the stage we'd be arrested for playing music. They said that we were not on a permit for the day's show. We produced the permit and showed them that none of the artists that had already been playing for the previous four hours, including Anti-Flag and Michael Franti, none of the artists were listed on the permits. They just tried to use that as an excuse to stop us from playing. We were there right on time to play and they physically barred us from getting onto the stage because they were afraid of the music we were going to play.

 

"Imagine if in Beijing during the Olympics a Chinese band whose songs were critical of the government was told they'd be arrested if they attempted to sing those songs in a public forum—there would have been an international human rights outcry. But that's exactly what happened in Minnesota. But this is a band that has made a living singing a song that goes 'f*** you, I won't do what you tell me,' so we weren't about to go back to the hotel with our tails between our legs. So we out-flanked the police line and went into the middle of the crowd, and played a couple of songs passing a bull horn back and forth, and it seemed to go over pretty well."

 

After unsuccessfully arguing with officials about playing, they walked into the crowd and sang "Bulls on Parade" and "Killing in the Name" a cappella with megaphones. Afterward, they led the march towards the Convention, but left just before the end. An impromptu demonstration spilled out into the streets afterwards. 102 people were arrested as riot police ended the gathering.

 

RATM are many things, but the last thing they could be described as is just a "Random band!"

 

That is exactly why I will be supporting the campaign to give Simon "Republican sychophant who invited George W Bush onto American Idol" Cowell a bloody nose to his monstrously over inflated ego.

 

As are the likes of the NME; Word Magazine; Uncut Magazine; The Observer; The Independent; BBC 6 Music, John Lydon; Bill Bailey; Radiohead; Kasabian; Damon Albarn; Depeche Mode; and BBC Radio 5 Live amongst numerous others.

It is not about his opinion.

 

His point made no sense as he wants it to be exciting but would rather this campaign didn't exist. Without this campaign there would be no competition, how is that exciting?

 

I admit calling him an arse was a bit silly but was it worth getting all uppity about? People take things too seriously in this thread, on both sides.

You know, its a foregone conclusion that anyone with anything negitave to say about this campaign (and many things on these forums) is gonna get some backlash, but sniping at me personally because of what I have said is a bit low.

 

Merry Christmas

 

 

What really angers me of the sheer arrogance of the man was his press conference yesterday when asked about the RATM campaign:

 

"If there's a campaign, and I think the campaign's aimed directly at me, it's stupid," he said in a press conference in London today (10), reports The Independent.

 

Cowell went on to suggest that the campaign was unfairly being detrimental to the contestants in the show rather than harming him. "Me having a Number One record at Christmas is not going to change my life particularly," he said. "It does however change these guys' lives and we put this opportunity there so that the winner of The X Factor gets the chance of having a big hit record.

 

"I think it's quite a cynical campaign geared at me which is actually going to spoil the party for these three [contestants]. I also think it's incredibly dismissive of the people who watch and enjoy the show… to treat our audiences as if they're stupid and I don't like that."

 

No Simon I tell you what is unfair, unfair is having a free 4 month advertising campaign on ITV which results in your company earning $157 million a year; yet you moan like hell when your acts don't win anything at the BRITs because of music snobbery, when it has more to do with the fact they release bland insepid musical excrement.

 

Hell, if the X-Factor never existed Westlife would be out of existence, because the only way they can promote their musical dead Val Doonican/Daniel O'Donnell carcus is on the show, because more than Cliff Richard without Christmas, Westlife can no longer flog records without them being over emotedly played on the show.

 

Take a look at the acts that appeared on Top Of The Pops 30 years ago this week ..... Chic, The Specials, Judas Priest, Sham 69, The Nolans, Gary Numan.

 

You sure as hell do not get that musical diversity on acts performing on the X-Factor do you, because Simon Cowell has helped killed it with his very narrow vision of music with zero artistic merit whatsoever..

I think this might have a better chance of succeeding if they picked a better song. Rage Against the Machine (though a clever pick considering the name of the band) is not all that popular, certainly not with the masses. You'd have a much better shout at getting a old Christmas song to number 1, or MJ or something.

You know, its a foregone conclusion that anyone with anything negitave to say about this campaign (and many things on these forums) is gonna get some backlash, but sniping at me personally because of what I have said is a bit low.

 

Merry Christmas

You're right, because I don't think you are the worst in the thread. So sorry for that.

 

A number of you are arses. :naughty:

C'MON PEOPLE WAKE UP!

 

That is the spirit mate...

 

You know, its a foregone conclusion that anyone with anything negitave to say about this campaign (and many things on these forums) is gonna get some backlash, but sniping at me personally because of what I have said is a bit low.

 

Merry Christmas

 

And people who are supporting the campaign arent getting backlash? it's called f***ing debating. The difference is if people post constructive opinons, rather than ignorant ones.

 

If you are pro-simon at least give me a point to take your opinon seriously, not just like 'rage against the machine are just sum random band nd x factor make amazin musak so rage should go die', I accept some people have different ones to mine, but difference is if people were constructive and back their posts up, then they have rightfully show their points, where as if people act like Bertie has (which is just plain pathetic), then why should we not put him down, we are backing our points up.

 

'Brilliant song'?? OK I'd be right behind a christmas themed NEW, ORGINAL song going to No.1 insted of X-Factor... but being told to download a song released in 1992, that somehow is going to be somekind of victory against 'something or other' in the event of it going to No.1 (which it won't)..doesn't really appeal to me! I will agree X-factor in general has become dire, and the 'Americanisation' of the show makes me what to throw my TV out of the window. But still people WILL watch it, AND it is entertaining!

 

I could turn this whole appeal back on it's self and ask how many people (drones) would download this single if they weren't asked to, being made to think they were 'part' of some kind of revolution ( :lol: :rolleyes: )????? just as bad as the millions of Xfactor viewers they hate so much!

 

Most of these downloading morons will probably get it off Limewire or someother illegal source, not to mention the ones who have started to download already!! (see Itunes chart)

 

Please explain to me how 'Killing In The Name' is not original? heard something similar? they were probaly the ones who were inspired by rage, it at least was an original song when it was brought out, the thing is by suggesting it isnt original just shows that you have no idea about the last 20 years of alternative music so really shouldnt be saying what is original and what is not.

 

I dont think these 'downloading morons' are stupid enough to get it off limewire (unless they dont care about getting to number 1 enough to spend 70p), it doesnt take an idiot that to get it to number 1 you need to buy it. i'll agree the ones who have downloaded it already are morons, but then again if you think the amount of people who have already downloaded it on the wrong week, imagine how many will on the right week.

 

 

tbh with the extra publicity simon cowell has given the campaign i reckon it will get to number 2.

And now my opinon on what Simon Cowell has said...

 

He says it will 'spoil it for the x factor finalists' if they dont get number 1, WTF? does he own the christmas number 1 then? so by being the x factor winner you are just some how entitled to the christmas number 1? bit unfair on real musicans who have written their own song and releasing it this Monday isnt it? arrogant tosspot, 'spoil the party' does it? 'oh no we didnt make number 1 despite making f*** loads on a song that we didnt right, our night is ruined' :cry:

 

Maybe if these x factor artists wrote their own songs, could sing, and got to number 1 on legitimate means rather than because they have been on the x factor, so therfore some how own the right to the christmas number 1 and no one else does?

DELETED.

Edited December 11, 200915 yr by Crazy Chris-Tmas

It looks like we may have the biggest sheep of all on our side :o

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sun_t...ime-at-all.html

 

Help me! I agree with The Sun on something :(

Help me! I agree with The Sun on something :(

 

You should worry about that actually :lol: Agreeing with The Sun may only mean you're wrong :lol:

It looks like we may have the biggest sheep of all on our side :o

 

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sun_t...ime-at-all.html

 

Help me! I agree with The Sun on something :(

 

And then in the most stupid comment since Saddam's PR man Comical Ali declared Baghdad was safe from the Yanks as the US tanks appered behind him, he says: "Everyone has this slightly distorted image of Christmas No 1s being incredible. There was that ghastly Cliff Richard thing a few years ago and Bob The Builder. We haven't exactly taken away anything special."

 

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sun_t...l#ixzz0ZPP11KNw

 

They have a point there... BUT, me personally, I dont give a $h!t about the charts, im seeing this more as re-claiming the music industry, simon cowell has ruined it, and i'd like to see two fingers stuck up at him.

And now my opinon on what Simon Cowell has said...

 

He says it will 'spoil it for the x factor finalists' if they dont get number 1, WTF? does he own the christmas number 1 then? so by being the x factor winner you are just some how entitled to the christmas number 1? bit unfair on real musicans who have written their own song and releasing it this Monday isnt it? arrogant tosspot, 'spoil the party' does it? 'oh no we didnt make number 1 despite making f*** loads on a song that we didnt right, our night is ruined' :cry:

 

Maybe if these x factor artists wrote their own songs, could sing, and got to number 1 on legitimate means rather than because they have been on the x factor, so therfore some how own the right to the christmas number 1 and no one else does?

Quite right. The X-Factor winner has the benefit of a four month advertising campaign on prime-time television plus acres of publicity in the tabloid press with even the BBC joining in by devoting more time to discussion of the programme than discussion of the chart on what is supposed the be the chart show. That gives the winner a huge advantage over anything else but it doesn't buy Cowell the right to have the Christmas number one.

Random band????? RANDOM BAND???? :wacko:

 

Rage Against the Machine voice revolutionary viewpoints highly critical of the domestic and foreign policies of current and previous US governments. Throughout its existence, RATM and its individual members participated in political protests and other activism to advocate these beliefs. The band primarily saw its music as a vehicle for social activism; de la Rocha explained that "I'm interested in spreading those ideas through art, because music has the power to cross borders, to break military sieges and to establish real dialogue."

 

Examples:

 

of wage slavery in America:

“ America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you've lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn't belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don't care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve. ”

— Tom Morello, Guitar World

 

At the Coachella 2007 performance, De la Rocha made an impassioned speech during "Wake Up", citing a statement by Noam Chomsky regarding the Nuremberg Trials and subsequent actions by US presidents, as follows:

“ A good friend of ours once said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. presidents as were applied to the Nazis after World War II [...] every single one of them, every last rich white one of them from Truman on, would have been hung to death and shot — and this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be. ”

 

The event led to a media furore. A clip of Zack's speech found its way to the Fox News program Hannity & Colmes. An on-screen headline read, "Rock group Rage Against the Machine says Bush admin should be shot." Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator, (a guest on the show) stated, "They're losers, their fans are losers, and there’s a lot of violence coming from the left wing." Alan Colmes then challenged Coulter for having said of Bill Clinton "The only issue is whether to impeach or assassinate"

 

On July 28 and 29, Rage co-headlined the hip hop festival Rock the Bells. On July 28, they made a speech during Wake Up just as they had done at Coachella. During this, De La Rocha made another statement, defending the band from Fox News, who he alleged misquoted his speech at Coachella:

“ A couple of months ago, those fascist motherf***ers at the Fox News Network attempted to pin this band into a corner by suggesting that we said that the president should be assassinated. Nah, what we said was that he should be brought to trial as a war criminal and hung and shot. THAT'S what we said. And we don't back away from the position because the real assassinator is Bush, and Cheney and the whole administration for the lives they have destroyed here and in Iraq. They're the ones. And what they refused to air which was far more provocative in my mind and in the minds of my bandmates is this: this system has become so brutal and vicious and cruel that it needs to start wars and profit from the destruction around the world in order to survive as a world power. THAT's what we said. And we refuse not to stand up, we refuse to back down from that position... ”

 

On August 24, RATM played Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. They made another speech during Wake Up.

“ We played this show at Coachella Pavilion. It was our first show back. I said a few things from the stage, and the next day Fox News ran this whole piece about us saying that the Presidents should be assassinated. But those fascists always get it wrong when they just want to pin a band in the corner for standing up. What we said was that the whole Bush Administration should be put on trial for war crimes and then hung and then shot, that's what we said.

 

But besides that it made me think about something. It made me think, "what are they so afraid of?" It made me think about what scares them. Is it really four musicians from Los Angeles who've got a point of view? Is it really just this music and these rhythms and these words? Is that what they're scared of? I though I'd think about it and you know what? My conclusion is this: nah, they ain't scared of us, they're scared of you! They're scared that you might come election time and throw Bush and Cheney and all them fascists out of power! That's what they're scared of!

 

And let me say this: the Democrats are scared of you too! Because they know that you see through their bull$h!t too. Because when Bush was wiretapping, spying on citizens, torturing innocent people - they were supposed to be the people to defend us from them, and they didn't do $h!t! So the Democrats are scared of you too. Why? Because they know they're coming to power and they're taking it all for granted, but they're scared because they know that if they don't start f***ing pulling troops from Iraq that you're going to go and burn down every office of every Senator that doesn't do the job.

 

Well I will say this, that the world is watching us now. The whole world is watching us. The brothers and sisters in South America who are dealing with this imperialist violence have got their eyes on us. Our brothers and sisters in Iraq got their eyes on us. Because we are the ones that are prepared to, and going to, put and end to this nonsense. So Wake Up. Come on, Wake Up! Wake Up!

”

 

Subsequently, de la Rocha added Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister who supported and facilitated George Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq, to the list of those who ought to be tried and hanged at the Reading Festival on August 22, 2008. The Reading and Leeds Festivals organizer announced after the 2008 festival that Zack had requested Friday and Saturday slots specifically so he could be back in the US for the Democratic and Republican conventions taking place in the week of the 25th.

 

On August 27, 2008, Rage Against the Machine played a free concert in Denver at the Denver Coliseum during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in protest against the war in Iraq. After the concert, the band joined members of The Coup and Flobots in an anti-war protest march from the Denver Coliseum to the Pepsi Center led by Iraq Veterans Against the War.

 

In October 2009, Rage Against the Machine, along with members of Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and The Roots joined a campaign to close Guantanamo Prison, calling also for the declassification of military records regarding the use of music in torture. Based on reports that songs by Rage and Nine Inch Nails were used in torture at the controversial facility, the group are filling for further declassification under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

"Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured - from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts - playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums. Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney's idea of America, but it's not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me - we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now."

- Tom Morello

 

But the most outrageous incident was:

 

On September 2, 2008, during the Republican National Convention, Rage Against the Machine was scheduled to play a free show in protest of what Zack called the power abusing party in St. Paul, Minnesota on the State Capital lawn for Ripple Effect. Tom Morello was asked by SuicideGirls to report what happened at the conventions. Quoted, he said, "They showed up at exactly the time we were scheduled to perform, and as soon as we got out of our vehicle we were immediately surrounded by riot police who told us if we approached the stage we'd be arrested for playing music. They said that we were not on a permit for the day's show. We produced the permit and showed them that none of the artists that had already been playing for the previous four hours, including Anti-Flag and Michael Franti, none of the artists were listed on the permits. They just tried to use that as an excuse to stop us from playing. We were there right on time to play and they physically barred us from getting onto the stage because they were afraid of the music we were going to play.

 

"Imagine if in Beijing during the Olympics a Chinese band whose songs were critical of the government was told they'd be arrested if they attempted to sing those songs in a public forum—there would have been an international human rights outcry. But that's exactly what happened in Minnesota. But this is a band that has made a living singing a song that goes 'f*** you, I won't do what you tell me,' so we weren't about to go back to the hotel with our tails between our legs. So we out-flanked the police line and went into the middle of the crowd, and played a couple of songs passing a bull horn back and forth, and it seemed to go over pretty well."

 

After unsuccessfully arguing with officials about playing, they walked into the crowd and sang "Bulls on Parade" and "Killing in the Name" a cappella with megaphones. Afterward, they led the march towards the Convention, but left just before the end. An impromptu demonstration spilled out into the streets afterwards. 102 people were arrested as riot police ended the gathering.

 

RATM are many things, but the last thing they could be described as is just a "Random band!"

 

That is exactly why I will be supporting the campaign to give Simon "Republican sychophant who invited George W Bush onto American Idol" Cowell a bloody nose to his monstrously over inflated ego.

 

As are the likes of the NME; Word Magazine; Uncut Magazine; The Observer; The Independent; BBC 6 Music, John Lydon; Bill Bailey; Radiohead; Kasabian; Damon Albarn; Depeche Mode; and BBC Radio 5 Live amongst numerous others.

 

Couldn't have put it better myself... RATM are certainly not some "random band".... The ignorance people have of the significance RATM have to the genuinely ALTERNATIVE scene is absolutely unreal..... Yes, they signed to Epic, but it was a means to an end, and they did maintain artistic control over everything they did.... Why do you suppose it is that Sony haven't actually been able to "Cash In" on the RATM name with endless re-releases when RATM did their reunion, or indeed compilations, until Morello gave the go-ahead for this particular re-release...? It surely has to be because of the nature of the deal Morello and the others made with Epic in the early 90s....

 

I'm still a bit uncomfortable that Sony are gonna make money out of this, which is why I'm tending to go for The Muppets here (that would just be hilarious, and, as I said earlier, poetic justice for all the pishy, novelty crap that Cowell has foisted onto us), but I'd certainly still have a bit of a smile if Cowell lost out RATM regardless.....

 

The X-Factor winner has the benefit of a four month advertising campaign on prime-time television plus acres of publicity in the tabloid press with even the BBC joining in by devoting more time to discussion of the programme than discussion of the chart on what is supposed the be the chart show. That gives the winner a huge advantage over anything else but it doesn't buy Cowell the right to have the Christmas number one.

 

Spot on... And here really lies the whole heart of the argument.... Cowell seems to feel that he has this "entitlement" to dominate every Christmas... In fact, he feels he has the right to dominate the preceeding three months as well with his X-Factor toss.... This was really where my Goebbels/Hitler/Stalin comparisons were coming in... The regimentalisation of it all, the propaganda, the domination of the media....

 

We should really be glad for the random variables such as The Muppets and, yeah, even RATM (which I've had my doubts about, but knowing it now has the seal of approval from Mr Morello himself kind of helps...) because it least it means that Cowell aint gonna have it all his own way for much longer....

 

When X-Factor started, people were largely in favour of it, but recently, all the cheating, the lies, the distortions, the propaganda, Cowell's own utter megalomania has really meant that the winners have become largely irrelevant to the relentless Jack Boot march of Cowell and Walsh as they goose-step all over the once-great musical culture of this country..... There's actually good reason why so many people so intensely detest Cowell.....

Couldn't have put it better myself... RATM are certainly not some "random band".... The ignorance people have of the significance RATM have to the genuinely ALTERNATIVE scene is absolutely unreal..... Yes, they signed to Epic, but it was a means to an end, and they did maintain artistic control over everything they did.... Why do you suppose it is that Sony haven't actually been able to "Cash In" on the RATM name with endless re-releases when RATM did their reunion, or indeed compilations, until Morello gave the go-ahead for this particular re-release...? It surely has to be because of the nature of the deal Morello and the others made with Epic in the early 90s....

err, artistic control maybe, but Sony are still making the lion's share of the cash out of this stunt. :arrr:

err, artistic control maybe, but Sony are still making the lion's share of the cash out of this stunt. :arrr:

 

Hence my general feeling of discomfort about it, I would much prefer it if RATM had written an original song and just put it out as an Online Only release without any label backing.... But, let's face it, really anything that wipes the smug grin off of Cowell's face has to be positive...