Every year in the United Kingdom they rank the top record singles during the week before Christmas and anoint one song as the "Christmas number one." The practice figured prominently in the movie Love, Actually.This year, something bizarre is happening. Thanks to a big Facebook campaign (I'd link you, but the page keeps going down), Rage Against the Machine's 1992 anthem "Killing in the Name" is taking the lead, outselling a song by the winner of Simon Cowell's The X Factor show. "Killing in the Name" is a rousing number, and it's an example of Rage at their best, but it's hardly the archetypal Christmas song.So what's the point? Part of the aim is to upset Simon Cowell, who's made a career of upsetting other people on TV. But the "Killing in the Name" campaigners have also helped to raise more than 59,000 dollars for a homeless charity site called Shelter. Good work.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuOAY-S6OYAs a side note, listening to "Killing in the Name" again, it occurs to me that Rage Against the Machine were about eight years too early. Their career, which spanned from 1992 to 2000, synched up with Clinton's presidency. They broke up as Bush came into office. Their political revolution stuff would have been much more appropriate for Bush's antics, and the 1992 outrage seems a little premature.Via Eyeteeth.
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