16 December 2009
22:1134991Normally I have zero time for chart music. Don't get me started on the empty, soul-less, commercial trash that is constantly spewed out by the likes of Simon Cowell and his industry pop whores, it grinds my gears in ways that few other things do.
But for once... FOR ONCE... I am compelled and captivated by the current race for the Xmas Number One (TM). Year after year this top spot has been a highly sought-after prize in the music biz but Simon Cowell has held it tight for the last 5 years with his X-Factor winners. He has utterly ruined the whole concept of the Xmas Number One and monopolized it shamelessly, turning the once-competitive position into his own money making playground.
But this year, a rebellion is rippling from the pages of Facebook and into the realm of the music world. There is a campaign to get Rage Against the Machine at Number One this Xmas. Simon Cowell has already publicly declared that the campaign is "stupid" (what he really means is that the music-buying public are stupid for not buying HIS brand of plastic throw-away pop crap). The clear winner is still a way off yet but if Rage gets to No.1 then it will be a victory for the democratic purchase of music downloads instead of the normal stranglehold that the industry has on the music young people buy.
I would so love to see Rage get the Xmas No.1 spot. Aside from being a fantastic way to upset Cowell the pop music fascist, it will make a complete mockery of the whole pop industry and show it for the shallow meaningless trash it really is. There's heaps of excellent music out there but people tend to have to explore genres and artists to discover it, but I've always maintained that the pop industry, led by the likes of Cowell and X-Factor, discourages this type of exploration and force-feeds the youth of today into a single pop music mindset.
I have bought my copy, so come on everyone, join the fun and KEEP X-FACTOR OFF THE NUMBER ONE SPOT! Dont' let X-Factor pop ruin your Xmas, get down to some heavy rocking this year
You can buy your copy of Rage Against the Machine's song called KILLING IN THE NAME on Amazon for 79p. Just 79p can keep Cowell away from the top spot this year!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-In-The-Name/dp/B001I5GQYU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1260997684&sr=1-2Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
16 December 2009
22:1734992Or better still. buy the Help for Heroes record.
Sorry Rick, Excellent posting though.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
16 December 2009
22:2434993Buy both !!
Been nice knowing you :)
17 December 2009
08:1435003Exactly!
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
17 December 2009
08:3335005why not go the whole hog and buy the top ten.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
17 December 2009
09:1335011I am staggered by the amount of people who watched that X Factor final..one third of the entire population 31.1 million, with 10 million of these people voting. In the seventies television viewing figures sometimes reached peaks like that but its unheard of in recent times. As some ould rocker said recently, the whole show is nothing more than "kareoke for the masses". Alas im not qualified to talk about it as Ive never seen it but am impressed by those staggering viewing figures.
Getting on that show and winning it is a license to print money because of the sheer mass appeal. You may not like it, its a kind of Tesco for the TV age, but its success is staggering. These people voting pay to vote too..perhaps thats how the politicians should do it.
I heard an item on one of the peak time news programmes which said that Simon Cowell might singlehandedly save the fortunes of ITV. This guy to me looks like a reworking of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein but I guess thats another matter.
But by not watching it from day one...I now feel the whole nation is having one heck of a party and I havent been invited...boooo hooo! sob!
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
17 December 2009
09:4635012PaulB I've never watched it either so you are not alone!
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
17 December 2009
12:4035023I've boycotted reality and 'celebrity' tv shows for the past few years for reasons very much allied to Rick's. The music industry is crap these days compared to how it used, I believe it's gone backwards over the past two decades thanks to the likes of Stock, Aitken & Waterman, Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell; I'm sure there are many more in this genre but I'm too apathetic to care, and if I bothered to find out who they were, they'd have won.
Fact is, there is genuine talent out there - go into any pub with a regular music set and discover it for yourselves, without having to pay premium rate phone charges in the process. Music isn't about mainstream, well-groomed, artificial talent that sells to the masses; music is raw, powerful, emotional stuff borne out of prejudice, suffering and real life. How did the likes of the Stones, The Who etc. get discovered before the advent of plastic telly?
True friends stab you in the front.
17 December 2009
23:3035089Oh my god Andy, you are ME! Your views and mine seem to be identical. Music is pretty sacred and personal, and the manufactured mass-produced disposable sh*t that infests virtually the whole frontline of the industry is nothing short of soul destroying and crippling to individual creativity and open-mindedness.
PaulB - trust me, I live in a house where the wife and kids love to watch that damned show and I swear you are not missing the party, you are in fact GAINING by avoiding the sheer terror of the bloody thing. I always thought Pop music was as low as music could ever go but I was wrong. The X-Factor has reduced it even further, transforming it into a freakshow where millionaires chuckle at bewildered kids initially and ending in the birth of a new career for a gullible industry puppet.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
17 December 2009
23:4535091Sorry but I LIKE IT as most of the U.K. do it does help to kick off some singers we would not have heard and the winners and the runners up are good and go on to make good records.I do think that asking two million for each show next time round is well over the top,so you might get your way and it comes off the T.V. The cost of running it is to high,if it was the B.B.C. doing it,they would have turned round and said no the viewers would say to high of a cost take it off,
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
18 December 2009
00:0235094i have tried to watch reality tv on about a dozen occassions, never lasted more than a minute each time.
mind you, i sometimes turn on jeremy kyle(with the sound off, of course) just to stare at the victims.
makes me feel good about myself, so it must be worth sticking with.
Matt Bristow- Location: Whitfield, Dover
18 December 2009
23:5735170My first real post here so I'll go easy....
This is something I have been near evangelistic (sp?) about over the last few weeks.
For me its not about reality TV shows (I'll leave that for another rant) but its about X Factor itself and what it does. A couple of facts for you The X Factor has produced the last 5 years Xmas #1's the winners are tied to Cowell corp and have absolutely no rights for about 8 months after the final. Make your own conclusion on those 2 and who the real winner is!
Its not even about music fro what I can see. Take a minute to think about what if a young Bowie were to be on it do you think he would get to the final stages fat chance. Where have the 4 out of the last winners wound up?
Its not a talent show in the slightest its a machine to make the vile specamin Cowell money plain and simple. Sorry Vic but it just goes to show that state of broadcasting and mainstream music is at an all time low.
See I didn't even trouble the swear filter once I'm proud of myself!!!!!!!
Feel free to barate me where you see fit
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
19 December 2009
20:3035256A book, a magazine, a CD player, a drink. Now turn your set off, and have a relaxing evening. I do all year. TV will never control my life.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
20 December 2009
08:1435271You forget to mention a movie Colin, don't you watch dvds ?
Roger
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
20 December 2009
08:4335280I think we all probably watch too much TV.It's a great temptation to flop in front of the telly after a hard day,glass of chilled rose or a decent beer and switch off your mind so to speak.
I am a sucker for an old b&w movie..Brief Encounter,Its a Wonderful Life, Casablanca,Maltese Falcon etc. The local library in St Helier are running old movies for free every evening until the New Year.Tonight Its a Wonderful Life is being shown at 7pm and literally the whole family have booked a free seat to view it,bar the wife and I as she is working til 8pm and I have to collect her...shucks.
I HATE Xfactor,Britains Got NO Talent,Strictly Go Off Dancing,I'm a Z Rated Celeb put me in the Jungle type programmes and refuse to watch them and would rather retire to sit in front of the fire (lights off so I can watch the shadows dance off the walls and ceiling) and listen to a good radio play or an old Hancock tape.Last night as most of the family were out ar office parties or the Opera House my daughter and I fell asleep to the sound of Hancock in the Blood Donor.."a pint! thats nearly an armful!! no no no I'm sorry mush I've made a mistake...I'll join the Young Conservatives and play table tennis..."
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
20 December 2009
10:2235286Don`t watch tv full stop Roger. Been like that for over 5 years now, and before that, I used to watch the odd Horizon programme on BBC2, or other documentary. But I got so sick of the hype that went with it, I gave it all up. And, I haven`t missed it in the slightest. Great educational medium the tv, but sadly, so much crap to go with it, and I mean crap! Music, reading, walking, so much more, I`m well happy with all that. (When I`m not working of course). Great films you mentioned marek, but can`t sit down in front of them even. I see the camera crews and all the others creating a fantasy that doesn`t exist.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
Guest 667- Registered: 6 Apr 2008
- Posts: 919
20 December 2009
10:5735290If you do not like a TV programme fine do not watch it, but millions did and millions voted so what is the problem. If the show and others like it are so bad how come we have Steve Brookstein, Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Leon Jackson, Alexandra Burke Joe McElderry, Diversity, Susan Boyle all doing very well thank you. All who had nothing, reached their dream and made something of their lives by entering and I expect a lot of people who never ever watched these shows have purchased their records.
Reality shows are on TV because they draw in BIG TV audiences and with it money, if they did not then they would not be on TV in the first place. Just like the soaps, I hate them but they are there because millions of people watch them day in day out. You do of course have the right to complain to the TV companies and I am sure they will give you an answer.
I disagree with this about the Christmas No 1. If the record "Rage" that is trying to stop the X Factor winner getting to No 1 was any good then fine it would be best record wins, but it is awful. It is only being put up to have a go at Simon Cowell who is already a Mutli Millionaire and to whom it will make no difference what so ever. The person it will get at is young Joe McElderry the lad who won the X Factor. Just what has he done to deserve all this hate thrown at him winning and trying to get to no one in the charts?
He went on a reality show that millions like to watch and won, he did so to better his life to achieve his dream. WHY NOT! Why should he not try to better his life and by hitting out at Simon Cowell you hurt him NOT Cowell. Simon Cowell has shares it appears in the other record company as well so how sad is that by those campaigning on Facebook. Cowell wins no matter who gets to No 1.
As it happens I do not think much of the X Factor winning song but I do get angry with a campaign born out of pure jealousy and hate which is trying to stop a young man achieve his dream. I just hope he wins and all those who tried to stop him wasted their money.
Of course Simon Cowell is the main financial winner it does not make him Vile. The winners of these shows know the pit falls when they enter and they still go all out to win. They are also financial winners and as long as they stay good enough people will purchase their music. Yes some have fallen by the way side, but they have made money for life, money they would never have made otherwise and millions of people have enjoyed their entertainment along the way.
20 December 2009
11:1335291Those pretty awful "talent" shows do serve a purpose, and a talent to make money and please the masses is not to be sniffed at. I hate them, don't watch much TV and frankly when we had the powercuts last night I really enjoyed the opportunity to force the family to play scrabble and other proper games!! I also think those horrible shows perform that old favourite of placating and distracting the less-well-informed into docility - it has its pro and con sides!! TV has become King and that is sad - give me radio and a free mind anytime!!
Guest 690- Registered: 10 Oct 2009
- Posts: 4,150
20 December 2009
11:4035296Good posting Bern, but would never refer to tv as king. Next time there`s a power cut I`ll pop round for a game of scrabble. lol. Bet it brought the family together with a few laughs in the process. Drifting from the original topic here, so I`ll start a new one. Thank you Bern.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
20 December 2009
14:3135322Thing is, for every person that loves X-Factor and watches it weekly, there is a person that hates it, sees it for the cheap freakshow it really is and the pot-of-gold it generates for one aggressive businessman. The reason that there has been such a large reaction against it this year is that Cowell has hijacked the Xmas No1 spot for his own ends, and the Xmas No1 spot was always a highly competitive spot among ALL artists once. Now it is Cowell's and Cowell's alone, and has been for 5 years. This is a reaction from the people who are sick to death with it and want THEIR No1 back.
I hope the X-Factor lad gets in the top ten at best, but if he gets No1 then I guess we can all go to sleep knowing that British music culture is dead and buried in the pocket of one greedy pop tycoon.