Rage Against the Machine beats X Factor's Joe to Christmas No 1

[Farin]

After a Facebook campaign against Simon Cowell's chart domination, music fans celebrate their victory

[smaller]Helen Pidd | guardian.co.uk | Sunday 20 December 2009 | Link[/smaller]

In recent years, it had become as predictable as elections in North Korea – singer wins X Factor, singer's debut single goes to No 1. So when Joe McElderry won the TV talent contest, he was no doubt confident he would celebrate Christmas at the top of the charts.

Alas for the 18-year-old from South Shields, it wasn't to be: a song almost his own age denied him the top spot after a successful online campaign.

Killing In The Name, an expletive-heavy rock song first released in 1992 by the Californian rock band Rage Against the Machine, won the battle for Christmas top spot on the basis of downloads only. It sold about 500,000 copies last week, about 50,000 more than The Climb, McElderry's earnest ballad.

Depending on your view, the Rage victory was either a delicious dismantling of the X Factor Christmas No 1 juggernaut or a cynical assault on the festive charts. There was, though, some indignation when it emerged both records had links to Simon Cowell, the entertainment industry's favourite pantomime baddy. With the Rage track having been released by Sony, and McElderry's by Cowell's Syco, a Sony subsidiary, some claimed the high-waisted X Factor judge would emerge triumphant whichever act won the chart battle.

Rock fan's campaign

But arguably the real victor here was a rock fan from Essex who started a Facebook group a month ago with the (then) pie-in-the-sky idea of usurping the X Factor winner from the no 1 slot.

Jon Morter, 35, a part-time rock DJ and logistics expert from South Woodham Ferrers, near Chelmsford, decided it would be a bit of a giggle to start a campaign to encourage people to buy a record with pretty much the opposite vibe to the X Factor winner's ballad. While McElderry urges listeners to "keep the faith", the Rage track is best known for its now-ironic refrain: "******* you, I won't do what you tell me."

He had tried a similar wheeze last year, when he attempted to get Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up to the top of the Christmas charts. Alexandra Burke, the 2008 X Factor winner, won that battle, but having succeeded in propelling Astley to "the lower echelons of the chart", Morter was emboldened to try again. This time, he was helped by the comedian Peter Serafinowicz, who on 15 December urged his 268,000-plus Twitter followers to join in, and it snowballed from there. By the time Paul McCartney and former X Factor winner Steve Brookstein had pledged their support, poor McElderry seemed doomed.

When the Guardian broke the news to Morter that he had won, he was initially lost for words. "Oh bloody hell," he said, as the consequences of what he had done became clear. Composing himself, he said: "I think it just shows that in this day and age, if you want to say something, then you can – with the help of the internet and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. If enough people are with you, you can beat the status quo."

But doesn't he feel guilty about denying McElderry his first No 1? "Umm. no," he said. "Not really. At the end of the day he has had a Christmas no 2 with his debut single, which is still a phenomenal achievement."

Gracious in defeat

Morter, a big Iron Maiden fan, said the choice of a relatively obscure Miley Cyrus cover for McElderry's single helped the Rage campaign: "If he had released Don't Stop Believing [the Journey song McElderry sang in an X Factor heat] we would have been dead and buried."McElderry took his defeat graciously, saying: "Fair play to the guys who have organised the Facebook campaign – it's been exciting to be part of a much-hyped battle and they definitely deserve congratulations. This time last year I never thought for one minute I'd win The X Factor, never mind having a single out. I'm just delighted to be in the charts."

Despite Cowell giving some pseudo-grumpy interviews, he phoned Morter on Saturday night to congratulate him on the campaign. "He commended us on how we had marketed the campaign, and said if we won, he would be the first to congratulate us," Morter said.

Rage Against the Machine have pledged to give all profits of the single to the homelessness charity Shelter, and will perform a free victory gig in the UK to thank those who bought their single.

McElderry is off on an Alpine skiing holiday to ponder his next move.

X-facts

2005 Shayne Ward That's My Goal. Aged 25, Ward, from Clayton, Greater Manchester, saw his first two albums sell more than 1.7 million copies and he is working on his third. Also reached No 1 in South Africa, Sweden and parts of Asia. 2006 Leona Lewis A Moment Like This. The 24-year-old Londoner's first album, Spirit, earned several Grammy nominations and was No 1 in the US. She can command £1m a performance and is a worldwide star. 2007 Leon Jackson When you Believe Dannii Minogue's protégé was proclaimed the winner of the competition, in spite of Simon Cowell's reservations. His doubts were proved right when the record label Sony dropped Jackson in March this year after his only album Right Now only sold 130,000 copies. Meanwhile X Factor runner-up Rhydian Roberts sold more than 500,000. 2008 Alexandra Burke Hallelujah Alexandra Burke, 20, took part in the 2005 series but was eliminated before the final. She sold more than one million copies of Hallelujah last Christmas and recently topped the charts again with her second single Bad Boys. She has signed a five album deal with US label Epic. • The Spice Girls reached the No 1 spot three years in a row from 1996 to 1998 with 2 Become 1, Too Much, and Goodbye respectively. • Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen was top in both 1975 and in 1991. • Mr Blobby's song was voted the most annoying Christmas tune ever in a 2002 HMV poll. The follow-up at No 2 was There's No One Quite Like Grandma by the St Winifred's School Choir while Cliff Richard's Mistletoe and Wine was rated No 3. • Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade was voted the most popular Christmas No 1 of all time.

[blind-fitter]

It's the hottest story in the UK at the moment. Everybody's got an opinion on it.

Mine is: even though I liked "Killing In The Name Of" back in the day, and might still enjoy hearing it from time to time, it's still a poor alternative to the "mainstream". Nothing more than corporate-sponsored rebellion for the consumption of the relatively unthinking apolitical masses. The charts are - and have been for quite some time - the natural habitat for rubbish, lowest common-denominator music, so it's entirely appropriate that, at a time of the year characterised by moronic, unquestioning, excessive consumption, the Christmas #1 should be some unremittingly dire "emoting-by-numbers" ballad, sung by the uncharismatic, pretty-boy winner of a TV talent show.

However, RATM have promised to give the proceeds of their unexpectedly successful, re-issued single to the homelessness charity "Shelter". Which is more than Cowell would have done with the proceeds of his protege's monstrous pile of arse-dribble*. So that's got to be a good thing, I suppose.

*Can anyone, anyone in the world even begin to explain the logic of making the lad do a Miley Cyrus cover version for his first single? His credibility was already next-to-nil to start with.

Edited December 21, 2009 by Guest
Re-read my post: hadn't realised how sweary it was. It's not big and it's not clever, kids.

[Levis]

It would be completely lame if it weren't for the charity bit. Now it's just 90% lame.

[c_s_1987]

Meh, anything that pisses Simon Cowell off (whether he admits it or not) is a good thing in my book.

[Viaene]

awesome

[Farin]

official last.fm stats:

[BlueAngel]

Anything that beats out the awful X-Factor/Simon Cowell is good in my books and everyone likes an underdog story I guess. But really it's going to do little to change the fact that mostly rubbish occupies the mainstream charts and radio for the rest of the year.

Honestly though, "Killing..." is far from being my favourite RATM song and perhaps it would have been a greater achievement had it been a more 'alternative' band or a lesser known song.

[Viaene]

maybe I should include RATM on my fantasy festival