Merry Ragemas Everyone!

It Has Begun!

So, if all goes to plan this week, we’ll see the X Factor defeated to it’s regular position of number 1 in the UK this Sunday, having ruined the yearly intentions of the money spinning, square headed fame pusher Simon Cowell. It’s time to get Rage Against the Machine’s classic track Killing in the Name to the Christmas number 1!

Reality Inbound

It appears that over 700,000 people aren’t happy with the way that music is monopolized and smeared over TV screens in an attempt to make money through advertising while building so much hype up to who is going to win while destroying people’s dreams on a weekly basis, and then they are forgotten, kicked to the curb like last year’s toy. Can you remember any ex finalists from previous years? It would appear that this pathetic game of reality music TV is getting more and more annoying every year.

And in the end, that’s what the X Factor is; a circus. A coliseum whereby the masses sit and judge a few people who are naive and simple minded enough to believe that there really is glory in the process of entering the competition, what with Hello! Magazine selling your personal secrets to the braindead masses who breathe in the lives of ‘celebrities’ like it’s crack cocaine, giving them a rush because they can find out that Peter Andre’s left nipple is that little bit rounder than the other, or an article describing the ways in which Britney is a bad mother or how the world really needs photographs of the next orange celeb’s wedding. On top of that, you get 10 million odd people making their opinions on people who, they in themselves, have absolutely no idea about how to sing themselves. I know when I wrote my blog earlier this year entitled Responsibilities of a Gramophone I angered a lot of people in my opinions not only of the way pop stars conduct themselves but also the way the words they sing and the integrity of their music beyond the shiny layer of bleach blonde hair and £5000 outfits used for just one music video. After this rant I decided to be less of a tight arsed, snobby little shit and listen to more pop music simply to enjoy how it sounds (and yes, some of it is actually awesome – particularly my affinity with La Roux this autumn) but my opinions of how ‘real music’ should be remains, because I still believe that music without instruments, the kind of music that involves 4 guys sat on stools with a CD player in the background while the mime the lyrics to ‘their’ song (most likely written by someone else and therefore has no real emotional or personal connection to them) just looks to me like a travesty of how the industry now works – flooded with the same pretty boys and slutty girls who just want that five minutes of fame, the ones who will latch onto that publicity by selling their lives off like it’s a yard sale – and it really is a shame to me that this is what society has come to. Britain used to be a shining light in terms of music production – some of the stuff that came from this country has changed the world, but now we have nothing to be truely proud of on a global level, just manufactured artists who are molded into the same shape year after year by Cowell and his cronies, simply for the sake of making millions of pounds for themselves – that is all it comes down to; after all, why have 2 X Factor winners been dropped from their labels? Do you REALLY think he loves music? Even Cheryl Cole complained that there was a rock week on X Factor this year, is that really a fucking crime? Jesus.

The time of reckoning!

Anyway, back to the point, I urge you all to buy Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine this week (any time up to midnight on Saturday  19th) for the sake of showing that people really do have a voice in this country, a way to bring REAL music back to the people. The fact that it is Christmas number one isn’t the essentiality of the situation, the reason this has been done is to disrupt Cowell at the time he attempts to flourish the most. The fact it’s around Christmas (which is a coveted chart position anyway) is just beneficial because it will have even more impact on the public when they see what can be done! I remember the days when, in the early naughties, nu-metal was the coolest thing in music. Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Papa Roach may seem done and dusted now, but it was a sign that there can be an alternative over produced tripe, and this campaign is more than proof that people want it! Just look at the kind of coverage we’ve got; BBC Radio 1, Five Live and 6 Music, as well as mentions on BBC One and News 24, Sky News, Kerrang! Radio, The Independent, The Metro, The Sun and countless online publications! On top of that we have celebrities such as Bill Bailey and Stephen Fry backing us as well as Rage’s guitarist Tom Morello too. We have the power, the publicity and the promise, now let’s make it happen!

 

Giving in the Name…

Some people have said that if everyone in the UK’s most traffic heavy Facebook group (and base of opperations for the whole campaign) has given the money to charity instead of buying the Rage song then it would be a more worthy cause, which may be so, but at the same time it isn’t as if the campaign is without charitable intentions, in fact it is far from it – £20,000 has been raised for the charity Shelter through the Facebook group. You can donate here!

 

Rally the Troops!

Think about it, the biggest chart surprise in history, the last ever number 1 of this decade put there by us! Don’t say “it’ll never happen” – defeatist talk never got anyone anywhere, oh and drop the Sony argument, it’s not even relevant! The biggest aim of this campaign is to have fun, so going a little overboard with ‘where the money is going’ is just silly! Right, with that out of the way, it’s time for me to say goodbye and time for you to go buy your copies of the single! Get on it! For more info, check out the Amped blog with more links on where you can buy! http://ampedwales.wordpress.com/

Merry Ragemas everyone!
Reno