The Rage Factor

Categorized | Culture, Entertainment, Feature Stories, Music

Posted on 18 December 2009. Tags: Cheryl Cole, Joe McElderry, Rage Against The Machine, rebel music, revolution, x factor

Not all of my overseas readers may be aware of the current war in the UK between the people who want to grab back the Christmas No.1 spot in the charts from ‘talent’ show X factor who have been owning the charts. The impact of this campaign has made it pretty clear that people are well and truly fed up with the big mind controlling media corporations who are shaping the charts with soulless ‘music’.

What started off as a facebook campaign to get people to buy Rage Against The Machine’s ‘killing in the name’ single, has now kicked up quite a storm and getting lots of media coverage. Currently with 860,000 (and rising) members of the facebook group, the single is currently ahead of X-factor winner Joe McElderry’s single ‘The Climb’ (a Miley Cyrus cover) whos triumph on the show held over 20 million TV viewers. The chritsmas no.1 spot in the charts has been held firmly by the X factor winner of the year over the last 4 years.

Is this a little outburst of the revolutinary youth mentality that has been laying dormant since the early 90’s (Kurt Cobain, Atari Teenage Riot….) or just a silly facebook campaign against music industry mogul and TV’s first billionaire Simon Cowell?

Predictably, the campaign has been misrepresented in the media as a personal attack against Simon Cowell, who called the campaign “stupid” and “cynical”. They’ve failed to mention that the campaign has raised over £40,000 for homeless charity Shelter so far. Famously, guitarist of the band Tom Morello, has the slogan “ARM THE HOMELESS” written across his iconic guitar. Morello has said he will donate earnings to Youth Music, a scheme helping young musicians in the UK. Regardless of the the media or Simon Cowell, there is a valid point for making this happen in defence of free thought and self respect not to be hearded by the media and its perception of how we should think, act and feel.

One of the judges on the show, famous WAG Cheryl Cole (married to Chelsea football player Ashley Cole) used to be in a comercial girl band ‘Girls Aloud’ who arose to fame through a similar TV ‘talent’ show. Their success was determined by the backing/packaging of their record company and high media coverage. A few years back she violently assaulted a nightclub toilet assistant and called her a ‘black bitch’ for asking Cheryl to pay for a couple of lollipops she grabbed without paying.

Since then, thanks to the wonderful powers of the PR machine she has now become a public icon, on the front cover of every magazine, newspaper, celebrity gossip and tabloid newspaper. It disturbs me to say that she has become the ultimate role model for most girls aged 12+ and even most women.

Following an interview this morning on bbc5 radio live with guitarist Tom Morello & vocalist Zack De La Rocha, the band ripped through the track up to the infamous chorus “FUCK YOU I WONT DO WHAT YOU TOLD ME”. The band had been forewarned not to swear live on the 8.50am slot this morning as people were on their way to work (appropriate timing). The chorus got 4 lines in, before one of the presenters hit the kill switch. Here’s the incident:

The song and band had such a huge influence on me as a teenager (which was a decade ago) and has done ever since. After following the comments and response of members of the facebook group, it seems that a lot of its members are from the much younger generation, who probably wouldn’t have heard or taken much notice of the band before the campaign. It’s a good feeling that the younger generation is becoming aware of the band, feeling the true spirit of rebel music & what it stands for. This will hopefully open up their minds as a wake up call and make them look a bit deeper into those questions they hold deep down in the back of their heads about the world we live in today.