The British public are trying to get a 17-year-old song from rock band, Rage Against the Machine, to hit the top spot of the charts on Christmas and Simon Cowell is unhappy about it. The campaign on Facebook was launched for the song “Killing in the Name”, from the 1992 self-titled album of the Los Angeles based band, to prevent the music of Britain’s “X Factor” winner from topping the charts, which is a big deal for the Brits. Cowell commented on the move as “dismissive” according to the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
“If there’s a campaign, and I think the campaign’s aimed directly at me, it’s stupid. Me having a No 1 record at Christmas is not going to change my life particularly,” said Cowell during the “X Factor” press conference on Thursday. “I think it’s quite a cynical campaign geared at me that is actually going to spoil the party for [the 'X Factor' finalists].”
The campaign, which currently has 500,000 followers, in the online social networking site, was initiated by Tracy and Jon Morter. Jon spoke to NME.com, a British Music website, on why such song was chosen. “It’s a rallying cry,” he explained. “It’s been taken on by thousands in the group as a defiance to Simon Cowell’s ‘music machine.’”
Jon emphasised that the campaign was not started to insult the judge despite the challenge posed by the followers against Cowell.
“Some certainly do see it as a direct response to him personally. If that’s what they take out of that song, then that’s fine for them,” he added. “We’ve nothing personal against him at all, we just do not want yet another Christmas chart-topper from that show again.”
