Rage, actually

Posted by alyssa

Yesterday I was invited by a London friend to join the Facebook group, Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No.1. The group’s purpose? To thwart Simon Cowell’s “latest karaoke act” from claiming the top spot by promoting the mass purchase of Rage’s “Killing in the Name.”

This year’s viral revolt is in reaction to last year’s top spot being claimed by Alexandra Burke, winner of the 5^th season of top Brit talent show X-Factor, with her cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” The four previous #1 were also claimed by Cowell’s X-Factor winners.

The group has called for its close 200,000 members to Tweet the cause. It will be interesting to see if #ratm4xmas will becoming a top trending topic on December 13^th, the date supporters are instructed to begin purchasing the song on iTunes, 7Digital, and play.com until 19^th of December.

This is not the first time the race has been hijacked—though fictionally in 2003’s Love Actually with Bill Nighy’s character, Billy Mack’s Christmas-themed version of The Trogg’s “Love is All Around.” Ironically, the parody song was placed on Billboard’s Top 40 in 2004.

In true viral grassroots fashion, the troops are marshaling to take the No.1 spot this year – it will be far more interesting to track their progress than Tiger Wood’s love life—or imploding one, rather.