'Killing in the Name' Voted the UK's Favourite Christmas Number 1
Rage Against the Machine's protest song, 'Killing in the Name', has been voted the United Kingdom's favourite Christmas Number 1 ever. The
poll, which was organised by the UK's Official Charts in a collaboration with Nine Eight books, invited the public to choose their favourite ever Christmas song. 41,000 votes later, Rage Against the Machine's signature song won with 51.3 percent of the votes. Coming in close second was The Spice Girls' '2 Become 1'.
The track, which was initially released in November 1992, took 17 years to reach the top spot when in 2009 a campaign was organised to block a single from the television show X Factor from taking the Christmas Number 1, as it had done for a consecutive four years. The campaign - organised by English DJ John Morter and his wife Tracy - drew criticism from X Factor Simon Cowell, who described it as 'cynical' and 'stupid', meanwhile, the BBC reported the campaign had attracted over 750,000 supporters.
Rage Against the Machine added their support towards the campaign, and
Tom Morello stated that attaining the Christmas Number 1 spot would be a 'wonderful dose of anarchy' and added that he would donate the unexpected windfall to charity. On top of this, the campaign raised £70,000 for the homeless charity, Shelter. In June 2010, Rage Against the Machine performed a free concert at Finsbury Park in London, which drew over 40,000 fans. On stage were the campaign's organisers, John and Tracy Morter, who were handed a cheque which showed that a grand total of £162,000 had been raised for charity.
Featured on their debut album, 'Killing in the Name' explored themes of protest and revolution that run throughout RATM's music. Earlier this year, Tom Morello's remarkable life as a guitarist, songwriter, singer, and political activist was captured in the signed, limited edition:
Whatever It Takes.
Introduced by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone, Morello's Prophets of Rage collaborator Chuck D, and Nora Guthrie, daughter of the legendary Woody Guthrie,
Whatever It Takes is the photographic memoir of one of the greatest rock guitar players of our times.
To read more about the edition, click here.
