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Rage Against the Machine Praise British Fans

The fight for the Christmas number one took a new twist when Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello spoke of the campaign to propel the band's 1992 hit, 'Killing in the Name' to the top slot. Almost 800,000 people have now signed up for the Facebook campaign.

Speaking to BBC 6 Music, Morello said: "A little dose of anarchy for the Christmas holidays is good for the soul."

He continued: "I love the independent spirit of the British rock fans. Your country has a great rich history of cutting-edge, exciting rebel music.

"Whether it's the early Rolling Stones and the Who, or the Clash and the Sex Pistols, or Prodigy and Muse, I think that people are just fed up with being represented every Christmas holiday, being spoon fed some overblown, sugary ballad that sits at the top of the charts."

The guitarist also revealed that in addition to the Facebook group's charitable efforts -- over £30,000 has been raised for the homeless via the Shelter charity -- he too would be putting his hand in his pocket.

"Me personally, I am going to donate part of my proceeds from the sales to an organisation in the UK called Youth Music, which is the UK's largest children's music charity," he said. "My hope is that one of the results of this whole thing is that there will be a new generation of rockers who will take on the establishment with the music they write."

The battle for the top slot is about to shift a gear. Despite occupying pole position in the download charts. 'Killing In The Name' is now facing stiff competition from the CD version of Joe McElderry's cover of Miley Cyrus' 'The Climb' which is released today.

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ju

Not really up on the music scene these days but I'm told, (correct me if I've been misinformed) that both RTM and Joe whatsit are involved with Simon Cowell's music companies so I can't help wondering if all this hype has been engineered to make Mr Cowell even more money. If that's so, then whatever happens he can't lose.

December 19 2009 at 5:51 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dani

Christ was one of the original Revolutionaries. I personally believe he would be disgusted to see how greed and commercialism have tainted his Mass. The evils of poverty, bigotry, violence -- these were the root of his message. RTM is just spreading the Word, as it were.

December 17 2009 at 8:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
v shepard

Here speaks the voice of reason i bet cowel is not donating any of his profits to anything worthwhile

December 17 2009 at 4:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply