Forget about dancing sugar plums and holiday ho ho hos, the most anticipated part of the British holiday season is which single will be #1 on Christmas Day. In recent years, Simon Cowell of X Factor and American Idol fame has ushered in the anticipated winner by proclaiming it to be the most magical song in the land. But the masses have started to rise up against the maestro and have been submitting revolutionary numbers to take the piss out of the whole thing. Last year’s anti-Cowell winner was Rage Against The Machine‘s “Killing in the Name.” Very jolly of them. But this year, it’s even better.
I heard about this year’s entry during an important news flash on NPR. Here’s a brief synopsis of this year’s bid to oust Cowell:
http://www.spinner.com/2010/12/06/cage-against-the-machine-campaign-silent-christmas
The best part of the whole thing is that Billy Bragg missed the recording session and had to, in his words, “phone it in.”
I’d vote for 4’33 over some icky holiday ballad, wouldn’t you?
Much needed silence on the airwaves? I guess the other stations will be a happy to have everyone switching over to them or turning it off altogether.
It’s nice to know that something so ridiculous can still happen. God save the Queen!
I just loved this news piece. It just seemed to be the perfect third finger (or two raised fingers in England) to a music system that seems even more ridiculous than ours. And that the choice is silence and an “intellectual” musical choice to combat the populist Cowell makes it even more luscious. Any way I can stuff the ballet box?