Rage Against

I had a conversation with my cousin the other night. She feels very strongly about the battle currently raging between X-Factor winner Joe McElderry, and Rage Against the Machine for the title of Christmas number 1.

Sick to death - as many people are - about the commercialization of popular music, and how it has (and explicitly so this decade) become nothing more than an opportunity for big-shots like Simon Cowell to line his pockets more so. What has happened to songs which mean something and get people thinking? While I don't think that all songs should be aimed at creating political change in the country and world, it just seems as though at the moment, there is a distinct lack of songs which actually carry any political punch (especially in comparison to past decades, and various movements such as the punk movement).

She said that Rage reaching number one would be an amazing way to end this decade, a decade characterised by glorified karaoke contests such as pop idol and x-factor (and because Simon clearly wasn't content enough; Britain's got Talent), which in themselves are very entertaining, but what with so much going on in the world at the moment, it is as if people are just turning a blind eye to real issues, living in a dream like state of escapism, a veil created by pop stars who are here today and forgotten tomorrow, given their 15minutes of fame singing songs they don't even write themselves.

Even though as they say, Simon Cowell will probably cash in no matter who wins (as both artists are signed under Sony, which I have no doubt Simon has massive shares in), doing something is always better than just letting things carry on as per usual, and may help people realise what has become of an industry that should be about freedom of speech.

People have we forgotten that we have a voice? Yea it may be small but as someone said; "United we stand, divided we fall," and we need to re-discover the power of unity, and that is more what this battle is about: standing up against the system.
Simon does not have the monopoly on choice, and we are not puppets of the media.

Rage Against the Machine For Number 1 Facebook Page
An Article from the Telegraph