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The most shocking duel for number one on the British record charts occurred in 2009. On one side,
The X Factor
(known in Spain as
Factor X
),
a popular vocal talent contest that had gathered 19 million viewers at its end. and he always placed his
singles
at the top.
To the other, the least expected rival: Rage Against The Machine, one of the most atypical bands of the nineties, heir to punk, funk and
metal
heavier, but characterized by the rap that Zack de la Rocha sings over the unique guitar playing of Tom Morello.
The Californian group—with a clear leftist militancy, with the red star and the raised fist as its hallmarks—was the antithesis of the commercial pop of the charts.
To make matters worse, his best-known song,
Killing in the Name,
was then 17 years old: it was from 1992.
Could a worn song from a group so alternative to the
X Factor
bet for the Christmas campaign dethrone?
It could, and the feature film
Rage Against The Machine in concert
(on Movistar Plus+) proves it.
Around the time we were discovering viral, a couple of activists, Jon and Tracy Morter, launched their campaign on Facebook to put
Killing on the Name
at number one by Christmas.
It was presented as a slap in the face to a music industry that bet everything (in Spain too) on
triumphs
and derivatives.
Downloads already counted on the list, which were taking off and made a record in a week.
The band got involved and promised to donate the proceeds to the homeless.
On Christmas Day 2009, the gritty
Killing on the Name
ousted the mellow
The Climb from number one.
the version made by
The X Factor
for the occasion, a song by Hannah Montana (today Miley Cyrus) performed by Joe McElderry.
The film collects the free performance that RATM offered in London's Finsbury Park, in June 2010, to celebrate the feat before a crowd that did not stop bouncing.
And with the Morter invited to the stage, as applauded as the musicians.
The success is still remembered: last Christmas, 41,000 voters chose
Killing on the Name
as the best UK Christmas song ever, even if it's not exactly a Christmas carol.
What happened in 2009, in any case, was a short-lived victory:
reality shows
continued to colonize the record business to the detriment of those who, like Rage Against The Machine, always insisted on creating and being different.
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