Off Topic: Rage Against the X-Factor - Football Forums at footytube.com

Update - They Did It!
Rock band Rage Against The Machine has won the most competitive battle in years for the Christmas number one.

The band's single, Killing In The Name, sold 500,000 downloads beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry's The Climb by 50,000 copies to clinch the top spot.

Their success followed a Facebook campaign designed to prevent another X Factor number one. One retailer said it was a "truly remarkable outcome - possibly the greatest chart upset ever". Speaking on the Radio 1 chart show, Zack de la Rocha from Rage said: "We are very, very ecstatic about being number one." He added it was an "incredible organic grassroots campaign".

The Los Angeles rock band's hit also set two records: it is the first single to reach the top of the charts on download sales alone and has achieved the biggest download sales total in a first week ever in the UK charts.

On Friday the band's lead was just 9,000 copies, but sales then soared by 200,000 to secure victory, beating X-Factor sales by a huge 50,000 copies.
------
Some of you may have already heard about the massive UK facebook group inspired movement 'Rage Against the X-Factor'.

The group is set to see one of my all-time favourite 90's bands - Rage Against the Machine - topple X-Factor winner, Joe McElderry's, cheesefest pop single 'Climb', in this years battle for Christmas Number 1 in the UK.

Naturally, the RATM song chosen was their 1992 classic 'Killing in the Name'. The one that goes "F**k You, I won't do what you tell me?" I hear you ask.... Yes, that one.

Astonishingly, the movement has gained so much momentum, the race for the no.1 spot is now neck and neck.

Speaking on Radio 5, Lead Guitarist Tom Morello sums it up: "This has been a completely grass-roots campaign started by real music fans. The people in the UK are tired of being spoon-fed one schmalzy ballad after another and they want to take back their own charts. It's going to be a really close race, and we are honoured to be a part of it"

Here's the full interview (Warning: Explicit Lyrics towards the end (obviously

)).

The facebook group has also raised over £50,000 for homeless charity, Shelter.

Naturally, Simon Cowell describes the movement as 'cynical', but I think the campaign demonstrates just what is possible when a small group of ordinary folk get together with an idea, and unite behind a common cause.

So, if you have a spare 50p, do your bit, and buy the Single.

And remember: We Don't Need a Key, We'll Break In

ITUNES - 99p - track #2 (click 'view in itunes' on the right) - Link: bit.ly/ratm-itunes
Play.COM - 65p - Link: bit.ly/ratm-play
7digital - 50p - track #2 - Link: bit.ly/rage-7digital
HMV.COM - 79p (careful - this is track #1) - Link: bit.ly/ratm-hmv
Tunetribe - 49P - track #2 - LIVE version (it counts) - Link: bit.ly/ratm-tunetribe
Tesco digital - 67p - track #2 - Link: bit.ly/ratm-tesco
WE7 - £1.07p - track #2 - Link: bit.ly/ratm-we7

You have until midnight Saturday 19th Dec to buy the track. Please DO NOT download it multiple times, as this will just get anulled from the chart

And, If you have any spare cash leftover, do head on over to justgiving, and Make a Donation to Shelter

That's Interesting! (Background behind 'Killing in the Name')
Killing in the Name was written during George Bush Sr's presidency. The fallout from the first Iraq conflict was being felt and unemployment was the highest it had been in a decade, with 14% of Americans living in poverty. Yet Bush was told by his economic advisors to stop dealing with the economy as, thanks to Iraq, his re-election was assured.

Alluding to a close correlation between the police force and the Ku Klux Klan – "Some of those that work forces / Are the same that burn crosses" – by the time the song was released, Los Angeles had witnessed the riots that followed the acquittal of the LAPD during the Rodney King trial

Considered in context, it's as potent a protest song now as it was then. "The core of all rebellion is the denying of repressive authority," RATM guitarist Tom Morello said back in 2005. "And I think we summed that up very succinctly in 'F**k you, I won't do what you tell me …'" (Source: The Guardian)