[Closed] RATM does it!

For those on here who can't see the point/are hard of thinking/have no historical reference, once upon a time, people used to enjoy a harmless race for the Christmas No1 spot. The winner may have been cheesy, but the point was the public has a variety of choices. Then X-Factor came along and for the last five years Simon Cowell has dictated the No1 Christmas single. The Facebook campaign didn't force anyone to buy RATM, it just gave a focus to people who were sick of endless Kareoke pop and wanted to kick against it. I would have prefered a homegrown Christmas song like Laura Marling's but this has perhaps acted as a catalyst and we'll see a proper choice next year. Actually, even better would be for X-Factor to start in January so the winner is chosen in the summer, so we can have more Christmas single choice. AND BRING BACK TOTP!

29p to buy a tune or place a vote...they lost the chart but think how many uckwits have payed money into that, correctly named, sterile pop monopoly

But seem more than happy to do what a facebook group tell them to do...

Flippin eck. It's a laugh. 29p? How much did you spend on silly present for someone this year?

Too original and unique to ever join in with anything? Well I'll admire the strength of your integrity while you never: join in with friends, go to a large concert, attend a sporting event, become part of a community... ..oh, wait. A community like this one?

😀

RATM won.. good for them , but I do have to wonder how many copies last years n.1 Xfactor song sold as opposed to this year.

I would offer a fair guess that this years n.2 sold way more than last years n.1 which means altho they didnt get the coveted top spot they are still laughing and counting ££

[i]I would offer a fair guess that this years n.2 sold way more than last years n.1 which means altho they didnt get the coveted top spot they are still laughing and counting £[/i]

doesn't matter though, does it. It's still the tip of a f^&*ing huge iceberg for Cowell, Sony etc.
It ain't about the sales volume, the money or any of that.
It's just saying a big **** OFF to the X Factor. (Although I do that by not watching it, which I think would be a far better F^&K OFF if the whole country followed suit)

Yes, it's almost been like a weekly vote to promote your favourite...oh no, hang on that sounds familiar

Xipe totec has it right. All you holier than thou indie boys need to remember that way back someday you made a decision to start listening to stuff that wasn't on the radio, that might have been prompted by rebelling against your parents, something some cool older kid gave you, or you stumbled upon john peel. Whatever - everyone needs a prompt to realise that there is more out there than the charts,

the problem at the moment is that the charts are completely full of bands that have massive label backing - even in my memory indie, rock or metal bands made it into the charts, maybe not number 1 but you heard them.

But seem more than happy to do what a facebook group tell them to do...

Missing the point.

Have I?

I'm genuinely happy that the obviously cooler herd had "their" single get to number one.

😀

Two fingers to Cowell!

Was driving along the motorway last night tooting my horn! Never been so excited about a chart placing 😀

I will be doing everything I can to get to the gig 😀

Alexandra sold 576,000 in the first week (Christmas) in 2008. Joe sold 450,838. Lean to google, troll

I'm genuinely happy that the obviously cooler herd had "their" single get to number one.

While other people congratulate themselves on how cynical and superior they are.

I'm guessing i'm the only person in the country not too have heard the RATM single.......
Fair play to people power though 😀

I'm genuinely happy that the obviously cooler herd had "their" single get to number one.
While other people congratulate themselves on how cynical and superior they are.

Perhaps we could be educated on what a cool bit of music is?

Oh, no wait. That would mean lots of people might like it, and then it would have to become uncool. 😀 😀 😀

The song that's being played most in our house seems to be the Hanna Montana original of "the Climb". There was much wailing and renting of cloth when my 9 year old (a huuuuge X factor fan, heard the final song....) A much betterer version than some mindless manufactured pop pap (warning: contains irony)

So, no cool points here I'm afraid.

I'm guessing i'm the only person in the country not too have heard the RATM single.......

There are two of you. I mean "us".

What a lot of fuss and nonsense.

Louis Walsh in today's Sun

[i]With all the fuss about Rage Against The Machine, people might fail to realise that Joe has still sold 450,000 records, which is phenomenal.[/i]

He then goes on to say [i]He only lost by a tiny 50,000 sales.[/i]

If 450,000 is phenomenal, how can 50,000 be 'tiny'. What a tool

While other people congratulate themselves on how cynical and superior they are.

Not cynical and superior, but some people do seem to be confusing buying a single from Amazon with a genuinely subversive act. 🙂

Not cynical and superior, but some people do seem to be confusing buying a single from Amazon with a genuinely subversive act.

Really? Because everyone I've spoken to about it just thought it was a bit of fun.

this whole thing is about as subversive/rebellious as getting a tattoo nowadays, however, it is an amusing way to annoy Simon Cowell, no matter how nicely worded his press releases are 😉

it was a bit of fun.

A brilliant bit of fun, made me laugh loads last night 🙂

Good to see that some people understand that it is just a joke...the 'cool' people take themselves way too seriously 😉

I don't suppose he gives a tin-shit who gets number one at Christmas

Actually I think that he will be p!ssed off though no doubt his millions will comfort him somewhat 😉

grumm - Member

Really? Because everyone I've spoken to about it just thought it was a bit of fun.

I'm sure people [i]say[/i] that, 'cos as soon as you start to look beyond the "take back our charts" and "stick two fingers up to Cowell" rhetoric it's pretty thin. I don't doubt RATM's political convictions, but to a lot of people they are just another opportunity to express themselves through buying a product, and always have been.

It has made me revisit my CD collection. RATM on now. Janes Addiction next and so on until the missus kills the amp with a hammer.

Its nothing to do with being cool, liking cool music, being subversive or any of what some arseholes seem to think it is (and that they are "cooler" by not being involved in it)
It's to do with thinking the X Factor is sh1t. And the karaoke crap music it produces is crap.
If you don't think that, then you're just not interested in music.. so be it.

Just been told to turn it off.

I suspect that saying F##K YOU I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME would be a bad and silly thing to do.

It's got f--k all to do with being cooler-than-thou, although there is music that deserves to be taken seriously as more than just entertainment (and which tends to be the stuff that gets ridiculed the most stridently as a result).

I like the fact that we've got a sweary Christmas number 1, but it's just another illustration of how things that are initially interesting or threatening get co-opted and lose their meaning.

While part of me would like to see Simon Cowell and his ilk disappear into an ever-repeating hell of indifferent Chicago Rock Cafe guest appearances, I really don't care enough to get het up about it, or even pay 29p for a track I've heard countless times. They represent a side of the music business that is practically dead and buried.

Actually I think that he will be p!ssed off

there is music that deserves to be taken seriously

[i]Is there? Or are there just some artists using music as a vehicle to peddle their political or social views[/i]

Of course there is. Some of it doesn't even have words.
Mostly it is music made by people with a desire to make music (ie artists), not money (ie. businessmen)

Here's a little example. I had the first Burial album and gave it to a mate to listen to on MP3s. He absolutely loved it and I said he should buy it then, to help artists like Burial. He didn't, but I emailed Burial and told him about it. Burial's reply was that he didn't mind, as long as people were hearing the music. (included for those idiots who would otherwise say that all music is released to make money)

But why on earth does it need to be taken seriously? Music is music is music. If anyone thinks some combination of musical notes and instruments are somehow more important than others, they have a misguided sense of what is important in life.

If someone makes music with no desire to make financial gain it isn't more important than the music made by someone who does it for gain. No [i]less[/i] important, but no more important either.

Edit: So why does your example make their music more important? Steps make music that makes thousands of kids happy. So their music is important.

Music can be more than just entertainment. It can be a tool for self-empowerment, a rallying call for a community, a way to challenge the norms of society. I don't see Steps ticking any of those boxes, it's just shallow shiny pop that borrows from other pop records. If someone writes and releases their own music, spends years honing their craft, gets ridiculed for it, maybe even gets thrown in prison, it might not be your cup of tea to listen to, but you can't deny that it will probably have a bit more depth and longevity than a bunch of session musicians pillaging the catchy bits of Abba.

That sounds self-important clap-trap to me. Music that makes someone happy is important for its own reasons and you can't compare two different pieces of music made by/for different people/audiences and say one is more important that the other. When I hear a sensible argument to the contrary then I will eat my words, but I haven't heard one yet.

I can't believe that all those people didn't buy a song that simon cowell told them to - they bought another song that someone else told them to instead. That's really rebellious.

mastiles_fanylion, you don't get it, simple as that. As I said in my previous message: So be it. Music is very f^&*ing important to me though.

What's self-important about pointing out the dedication some artists display to their music? If you're having trouble grasping the concept, how about imagining a picture that an artist has spent years working on, slaving away in a garret somewhere, versus a paint-by-numbers job that someone has knocked out in an afternoon? All other things being equal, which is going to be more interesting? Unless you're totally mired in inverse snobbery that is. 😉

It's simply the difference between art and product - not everyone 'gets it' and nothing posted here will really make them change their minds, best just to smile knowingly and walk away.........

Music is very f^&*ing important to me though.

how about imagining a picture that an artist has spent years working on, slaving away in a garret somewhere, versus a paint-by-numbers job that someone has knocked out in an afternoon?

I am simply saying that ALL music is important - none deserves more adulation than other, irrespective of what anyone thinks about a particular genre or reason for creating that music, if it is enjoyed by a single person then it is as important as the next piece of music.

No one told anyone to buy anything? Simon Cowell sure didnt tell me to buy Joe Mcelderrys record, and no one told me to buy RATM. Stop being so cynical.

none deserves more adulation than other

Well, music is a human achievement and like any other, you can rate it according to how difficult or inspiring it is. You don't have to, but it adds another dimension to something that's often already entertaining. So, for example, I'd compare the effort, vision and dedication that went into something like "Sleeping Beauty" by Sun Ra to an unsupported ascent of K2, whereas "5-6-7-8" by Steps is more like someone driving to the top of Richmond Hill. In an SUV. 🙂

But why on earth does it need to be taken seriously? Music is music is music. If anyone thinks some combination of musical notes and instruments are somehow more important than others, they have a misguided sense of what is important in life.

That's a scary leap of logic to assume that, because some music is intended to be taken seriously [i]as art[/i], then it automatically promotes itself as having higher intrinsic value than music that intends itself to [i]entertain[/i] or [i]make money[/i]. Be careful there.

I have a more simplistic notion of how I relate to music - I am more than happy to find different things in music or other media at different times. Sometimes, i leap around the dancefloor at weddings, and will do it to anything that has a good bear, I can singalong to, and other people seem to be enjoying. Other times, I sit in my living room, don't make a sound and derive a completely different pleasure from the way that notes and sound conjoin and interact.

Neither are invalid on their own, or even in their own context. What we may wish to concern ourselves with is the extent to which the context moves and is moved beyond art or entertainment or money to having a wider socio-political effect. You can, of course, assume that you are an island, M-f, but by stating that you consider experience to be devoid of context in any wider form is necessarily demonstrating that you don't.

I can't say that I have found the case for RATM any more compelling than the case against McEldry and/or Simon Cowell. Charlie Brooker has tried to claim it's one in the eye for choice and people and enlivening our Christmas experience. I don't doubt the validity of any of those things. It's just that, exactly as claiming music is no more than a series of notes with no lasting significance, for me it's too ephemeral to be concerned about; it's too simplistic and doesn't really take me anywhere I haven't already been.

[i]Burial's reply was that he didn't mind, as long as people were hearing the music.[/i]

He can relax, because the people love him. If Brian Eno had been a junglist, and not a member of Roxy Music, [i]Apollo[/i] would have been written about the late-night sadness of [url=

as opposed to NASA missions. Genius music.

Ourmaninthnorth = STW's psychiatrist. It's like listening to the moral maze...

Glad to see this thread hasn't ascended up it's own ar$e in record time.

[i]Sometimes, i leap around the dancefloor at weddings, and will do it to anything that has a good [b]bear[/b],[/i]

Dancing Bears, don't see many around these days...