X Factor Joe on Rage defeat
Monday 21st December 2009, 9:11AM GMT.
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Rock band Rage Against The Machine has beaten X Factor winner Joe McElderry to the Christmas number one.
The band’s single, Killing In The Name, sold 500,000 downloads to pip 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.
Speaking on the Radio 1 chart show, Zack de la Rocha from Rage said: “We are very, very ecstatic about being number one.”
McElderry, 18, praised the campaign, adding: “It’s been exciting to be part of a much-hyped battle and they definitely deserve congratulations.”
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Thats one in the ear for Cowells Karaoke Cash Cow..
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I bet the folks at Sony are rubbing their hands with glee. But I’m glad Rage won, shows how dissatisfied a lot of people are with the Christmas charts. Shame it wasn’t a Christmas song that was number 1 though. Maybe next year it should be a battle of songs with a seasonal theme instead.
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Quality will always out. Proof that most people aren’t sheep and can actually discern rubbish when offered it. Non-talent Cowell {whose previous highest achievement in the industry was Robson & Jerome} and his pretty boy puppet whose name i’ve forgotten already have had a slap down but the song is actually an angry anti-war statement and IMHO utterly worthy of its place at the top.
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LOL how funny, everyone thinks they have won some sort of moral victory by getting the rage song to number 1, and some how defeated Simon Cowell, however Simon owns loads of shares in Sony so will pocket even more money as he will still get loads for Joe coming second andSony have profitted from Rage. Its just very funny laughing at all these poeple taking the moral high ground saying we have stopped simon cowell etc. At the end of the day Simon Cowell, Sony, Joe and Rage are all winners. Plus we get something to talk about and options on who to spend our money on.
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@ Kelad. Your way off the mark mate, this is just people saying enough is enough no more karaoke singers at mumber 1 please. nobody thinks for one minute that Simon Cowell will be spending Christmas in a soup kitchen because of this.
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A victory for the people who tell us what to do and the UK public followed like Sheep.
“Killing In The Name” is the worst Christmas No1 we have ever had. Why didn’t those people on Facebook campaign to get a Christmas song for the No1 spot instead of this dreadful dirge? We haven’t had a Christmas song at No1 for Christmas in years!
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Yes. That’s right. They really showed everyone how a one hit wonder made up of talentless nonetities can really make a difference.
Rage Against the… sorry? Who did you say they were?
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I have nothing against Joe, he has a lovely voice but I don’t agree that the Christmas No 1 should be a foregone conclusion every year. Top artists used to bring out a CHristmas single to try and go to the top and that hasn’t happened over the past few years. All our most played Christmas songs are old ones – perhaps next year things will change!
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Matt, they are a band who released an excellent album over 15 years ago, people still know the song and still remember the album cover….hmmmm wheres gareth gates gone…
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Don’t forget Rage are donating all their royalties to the charity shelter, and putting on a free open air concert next year as a thank you. More Christmas spirit than the x factor numpties could manage, a quick google states that the x factor live tickets for 2009 are 65 quid a pop! and I bet none of that goes to the homeless.
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Rage said they would donate some of their royalties…
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Matt, dont get to upset there will be the annual karoke competition next year run by x factor and so on ,, made for people that dont like music that isnt off the shelf bland all you can eat fluffy mush!.
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I’ve never heard any of Rage Against the Machine’s work, but it’s made my day to hear that they’ve got the Christmas No.1 and seen off Simon Cowell’s manufactured drivel. Well done to all the young people who made a stand and demonstrated that they are not going to be brainwashed by the dumber than dumb TV shows which pass for entertainment today.
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I’m 100% with merc on this one (apart from Killing In The Name was written on the back of the 1992 LA riots after the Rodney King incident).
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rage against the who?????????
has beens and rubbish its all fake and fixed anyhow……..bored of it now!
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Just goes to show that you don’t have to be a pop fan or watch X Factor to be a sheep and jump on a bandwagon when instructed.
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Great!
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Just because you have never heard of Rage Matt doesn’t mean to say they are a bunch of nobodies. We saw them head line the reading festival and they were totally amazing. It’s a great song and means a lot to a lot of people. This band brought Wall street to a stand still and now they’ve given the British public a decent number one for Christmas.
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I know of Rage Against the Machine. Just another California “we is just like the Brit punks” wanabes.
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Come on Matt, surely a band that can play instruments trumps the next George Michael, Rick Astley, Gareth Gates, Will Younzzzzzzzzzzzzz……
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In the late 60s and early 70s we had Cream, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath etc true rock bands why pick those American nobodies to make a point?
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Matt should know, then, that RATM pretty much invented “Nu-Metal” which included a wide range of influences in addition to punk.
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Just because some of you havent heard of them does not make them nobodies. They make not be as big as bands like Led Zep etc, but they have still had a very big influence on the alternative rock/nu-metal/punk rock scenes and continue to inspire musicians.
I think it was a great choice of track for the campaign.
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Capt Chaos – We still have cream today, you can have it delivered to your door step on pick up a carton in any supermarket or small shop.
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