I just have to laugh at these people, why buy mutiple copies of a song that they already own, just to prove a point?

FFS there are plenty of needy causes locally and worldwide where people need help and any little would help.

Then again lining fat cats pockets helps.....

I applaud the sheep....

Only in Britain...

This is the bit I don't understand? Who is dictating it to you? The 450,000 members of the public who bought Joe's single? It seems to me that that campaign is against the other members of the British public who buy the X-Factor single. It is them which decide the number 1, nobody else.

Quote ="ComeOnYouWolves"I just have to laugh at these people, why buy mutiple copies of a song that they already own, just to prove a point? FFS there are plenty of needy causes locally and worldwide where people need help and any little would help. Then again lining fat cats pockets helps..... I applaud the sheep.... Only in Britain...'" If my understanding is correct the proceeds of the RATM sales go to the charity Shelter. This would probably fit under your "local cause" nomenclature and ergo defeat your argument, and silence your poorly researched tirade, quite readily. Baa Baa You can read about how grateful Shelter are here england.shelter.org.uk/news/dece ... e_campaign!

Quote ="ComeOnYouWolves"I just have to laugh at these people, why buy mutiple copies of a song that they already own, just to prove a point? FFS there are plenty of needy causes locally and worldwide where people need help and any little would help. Then again lining fat cats pockets helps..... I applaud the sheep.... Only in Britain...'" If my understanding is correct the proceeds of the RATM sales go to the charity Shelter. This would probably fit under your "local cause" nomenclature and ergo defeat your argument, and silence your poorly researched tirade, quite readily. Baa Baa You can read about how grateful Shelter are here england.shelter.org.uk/news/dece ... e_campaign!

I think it is all about the rediculous exposure that the XFactor artists get over a pro-longed period which, people like I believe, distorts the charts and stifles creativity.

Quote ="Wires71"If my understanding is correct the proceeds of the RATM sales go to the charity Shelter. This would probably fit under your "local cause" nomenclature and ergo defeat your argument, and silence your poorly researched tirade, quite readily. Baa Baa You can read about how grateful Shelter are here england.shelter.org.uk/news/dece ... e_campaign!'" If thats the case then fair play to them... i bow my head, still believe its a pointless idea. 20 million people watched the XFactor final (may i add not me). Secondly apparently 10 million of them switched over for the last 15 mins (source of Galaxy FM). Therefore if there are 20 million "fans" of XFactor then i would say if they want to buy the single then this would reflect the true opinions of the British people. They arent brain washed into buying or watching the program. They arent mine, but to the masses it would reflect it.

Quote ="Wires71"If my understanding is correct the proceeds of the RATM sales go to the charity Shelter. This would probably fit under your "local cause" nomenclature and ergo defeat your argument, and silence your poorly researched tirade, quite readily. Baa Baa You can read about how grateful Shelter are here england.shelter.org.uk/news/dece ... e_campaign!'" If thats the case then fair play to them... i bow my head, still believe its a pointless idea. 20 million people watched the XFactor final (may i add not me). Secondly apparently 10 million of them switched over for the last 15 mins (source of Galaxy FM). Therefore if there are 20 million "fans" of XFactor then i would say if they want to buy the single then this would reflect the true opinions of the British people. They arent brain washed into buying or watching the program. They arent mine, but to the masses it would reflect it.

Thank you! Finally a bit of sense. The song chosen was totally irrelevant. It could have been three minutes of silence, but the fact was there was a choice to be had. Something that has been missing for the past few years.

Rubbish. There are dozens of new "singles" released in this week.

Really? And where has been the airplay to give them reasonable exposure to give the public a fair chance of hearing, enabling them to purchase?

I know of two, one by the Petshop Boys and another, whom I can't remember both of which I have heard once. I would consider myself above the norm when it come to radio listening.

A [irealistic [/ichoice though? RATM had to compete against huge media coverage of the X Factor manufacturerd pap, including but not limited to 3 months of ITV primetime coverage.

Other singles don't stand a chance sadly.

Absolutely.

If this campaign had championed a song by a new or new-ish artist, then I would have been much more able to understand the point of it. That a 17-year old song by a mediocre American band was chosen completely destroys this variously posited claptrap that 'this is all to save British music'.

Moreover, that they picked this one with its 'F-you I won't do what you tell me' refrain makes the whole thing even more pathetic - look at us, we're rock and roll rebels, and we've made Simon Cowell a little bit annoyed. As someone wrote somewhere in the press today, it's rather reminiscent of the 'Yes, we are all individuals' bit in Life of Brian.

I wonder whether all these people who have participated in this could be bothered to mobilise themselves in such a way for something slightly more important than the Xmas Number One single.

The X Factor thing will be Number One next Sunday anyway.

Even if Joe was played every hour, there's still time for 7 or 8 more songs per hour.

What were the Christmas 1s in the ten years before X Factor? I think I remember one good contest - Gary Jules vs The Darkness. The rest of time it was Westlife, Spice Girls or Take that's latest.

Ironically (

), the people who kept Fairytale of New York off number one in 1987.

Yes, Rage Against The Machine are "mediocre". You're absolutely right.

They are. Two good songs ever. I'd have had more respect for them if they hadn't allowed themselves to be involved in all this nonsense.

They're not mediocre they are absolute crap. I'd rather that loveable Geordie lad Joe had been number one, at least he's English, young and trying to do something positive with his life. Now we're going to have to put up with RATM (WTF) thinking they're popular and touring the UK and subjecting this country to even more US crap. Where is this free concert going to be held, there aren't many public phone booths left suitable for their fan base.

I bet Cowell is really broken-hearted as he sips his pina-colada on the beach at Sandy Lane. The money he's made exploiting some nutty woman from Scotland makes the race for Xmas number one in the single chart pale into in-significance. Why didn't renta-mob off Facebook (whoo that's a really anti-the-establishment tool to protest from) lead a campaign against Subo or can't the bunch of crusties stretch their budget to paying for a whole album.

About as radical as the Tuffty Club.

ermmm.. hang on, wasn't the other song dictated to the people who bought it as well? Hardly free choice.

They headlined Reading and Leeds festivals less than eighteen months ago (and T In The Park earlier that summer I think too). Probably around 60,000+ would have watched them on those nights so it might require quite a large phone booth.

I love how divisive this is.

Don't listen to Paul Youane, he was too busy prancing around joining the mindless masses bumming the hugely overrrated Stone Roses when rage were selling millions of the album that features this song.

It's not about the song. The people that seem to disagree with this are the ones that just don't like Rage. If it would have been some mind numbing middle of the road early nineties british indie band everyone would have loved it!

It's them Bob The Builder Allstars I feel sorry for, coming in at number 4. I bet they've dreamt of having an xmas number 1 since they were kids.

Aye but still not as criminal as Joe Dolce's "Shaddap a you face" keeping ultravox's "Vienna" off the top spot in 82(ish)

And all those 60000 folk turned up to those multi-artist festivals just to watch them, of course

i think it just shows how this campiagn has gripped everyone.7 pages in and we are still talking about it.

Am i right in saying RATM were not aware of the FB group when this all started.

Or Robson & Jerome keeping Pulp at number 2 in '95, ...(not sure which track, either 'Common People' or 'E's & Whizz', but which ever it was criminal, and ironically it was all the evil doing of Mr Cowell...

)

Obviously not, but you don't headline the main stage at festivals like that if no one likes you do you?

I've been to the last nine Readings and of the 27 main stage headliners in that time I have watched less than half of them (none at all this year in fact) because they have been of no interest to me. Nonetheless I can hardly say their fanbase would fit in a phone box because they wouldn't be up there in that slot if that were the case.