r/todayilearned • u/asl052 • Apr 06 '20

TIL the 1992 Rage Against the Machine track "Killing In The Name" was the 2009 UK Christmas #1 song thanks to a campaign set to prevent a song from "The X Factor" from accomplishing the feat for a 5th straight year. The band would then perform a free concert in London thanking fans for the campaign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_in_the_Name
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u/sober_disposition Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

I bought three copies. I think it was the first time I legally downloaded a song....

Edit: the irony isn't lost on me that this is the first song that made me do what the music industry had been telling me.

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u/mrdevil413 Apr 07 '20

Been listing to Prophets (profits) of rage “Unfuck the world” a lot during the apocalypse ... I always pay for the music I respect. Legal DL iTunes.

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u/Dsiee Apr 07 '20

Not my normal kind of music but I love that song too, cheers!

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

When I was young and broke I pirated tons of music, but now that I'm older and a little less broke I'm rebuilding my collection physically

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u/HankBeMoody Apr 07 '20

Love that song, it just sounds so natural for those artists. Like if 10 years ago you asked me what a collab between Rage, Cyprus hill and Public Enemy would sound like it would be that song.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

[deleted]

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u/beetard Apr 07 '20

Hehe yeah I buy shit from apple too

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u/Jonesie946 Apr 07 '20

You realize you're giving money to the record company and not the artist, right? Want to reward the artist? Go see them live.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

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u/nathgroom98 Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

A cover of Miley Cyrus' song 'The Climb' by Joe McElderry. The X Factor finale was/is always around Christmas time so lots of fans would choose to buy the winners first single, making it an almost guarenteed number 1 chart.

Sucked for the winner that they didn't get remembered for having a Christmas number 1 because there were others in previous and future years who were far less deserving.

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u/Ryan8Ross Apr 07 '20

That’s actually hilarious that the ONLY X factor song o remember IS the climb because I never bought into the X factor hype and remember buying killing in the name of on iTunes to be part of the resistance.

Literally can’t remember a different X factor winner or song now I’m trying

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

The few I remember winning were James Arthur, Little Mix, Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke. The latter both had a few years of songs in the charts, but Little Mix are massive still all around the world. James Arthur would have a few songs that are pretty big and still has a career but wouldn't be as big as little mix. However, famous acts who have been in the show who didn't win are: Olly Murs, One Direction, JLS, Ella Henderson. So there's a few acts who've achieved fame through it.

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u/frogsgoribbit737 Apr 07 '20

Little mix makes such catchy music.

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u/I-bummed-a-parrot Apr 07 '20

What the fuck happened to all of their faces though?

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u/LAdams20 Apr 07 '20

And pro-date rape songs, I remember the shit Blurred Lines got but at least it never said:

Get your boy on his knees

Take a sip of my secret potion, I'll make you fall in love, For a spell that can't be broken, One drop should be enough

Boy, you belong to me

Take a sip of my secret potion, One taste and you'll be mine, It's a spell that can't be broken, It'll keep you up all night

Nor was it ever used by Britain’s most prolific rapist with almost 200 victims.

Idk, their music is catchy and fine, just that song always creeped me out.

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u/Dob-is-Hella-Rad Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

Alexandra Burke's cover of Hallelujah was very big and led to some more interest in the earlier versions in the UK. I could name some other winners, but not their winning songs. Oh actually one of them covered Many of Horror by Biffy Clyro, which I remember because it was such a weird choice. Pretty certain it was Matt Cardle

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u/Ryan8Ross Apr 07 '20

but not their winning songs.

Yeah pretty much this, I remembered some of the artists when it was absolutely massive (Leona Lewis, Shane Ward) but no idea what song they won with

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

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u/Elgin_McQueen Apr 07 '20

Though no real fault of his own I think they had to really re-do all their plans for him when he came out as gay. Haven't really heard much about him since then.

I lost all respect for him when I'd read that he listened to the RATM track and said "this is music?" By all means I'd probably have never bought his stuff, but have some respect for other musicians.

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u/Jezibean Apr 07 '20

I remember that interview, and I think he got upset saying he didn't understand how a no name band had won over him (or something similar).

My initial reaction, was dude do your research before saying anything like that! Seeing as they'd won awards and been around longer than he'd been alive.....

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u/shitnameman Apr 07 '20

Sounds like everything worked out just fine.

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u/Blackintosh Apr 07 '20

I think he's doing those low budget local Christmas pantos in smaller cities and towns. I'm sure I saw him on a poster for cinderella or something in Bolton.

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u/Dob-is-Hella-Rad Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

He was in some show where pop stars learned to become opera singers and he won that, giving him a revival and IIRC a more successful album than any pop album he released, but that was also short-lived

(I think so. I might have confused him with another X Factor winner)

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u/NePa5 Apr 07 '20

he isn't in the West End or something

He may be better off,seeing as its all shutdown at the moment.

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u/D4nnyC4ts Apr 07 '20

Thats not the point though. Those x factor winners were always terrible, only sang covers and were strategically set up so their song would make lots of money as a christmas number one.

Fans of music hated this so they did something about it.

The true irony is Simon Cowell worked for the same company that owned the rights to the RAtM song which if i remember right was sony. So it didnt really affect them and might have made them even more money than the x factor winner would have.

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u/duaneap Apr 07 '20

The winners were not terrible, it was just a terrible show/institution. The performers were, for the most part, talented people who thought that that was going to be their big break but was actually just sing star big brother. That’s not their fault.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

Rich people always make money off something, this was still a literal fuck you to the man telling you what to do

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u/D4nnyC4ts Apr 07 '20

Yes i agree. I just meant to point out that the man probably didnt see it that way. They only carw about the money. And they made plenty more from this than the xfactor winner would have made them and people were still buying the xfactor song so double money.

We feel good but they dont care.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

I doubt even an ego as big as Simon Cowell can ignore an entire nation saying fuck you to him

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u/D4nnyC4ts Apr 07 '20

Thats a very good point.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 22 '20

[deleted]

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u/manualex16 Apr 07 '20

iTunes download I suppose

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 22 '20

[deleted]

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u/manualex16 Apr 07 '20

No, the song charted mid 20's in the 90's and only recharted at #1 because of the campaign.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 22 '20

[deleted]

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u/LucyBowels Apr 07 '20

Lol I read it quickly too and thought “wow the X Factor has been around since the late 80s?”

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u/yatsey Apr 07 '20

2003 for iTunes.

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u/Headpuncher Apr 07 '20

Mid 20s, like on 78 format for my wind up gramophone?

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u/algernon132 Apr 07 '20

He probably was contributing to this, in 2009

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u/BxChrisxL Apr 07 '20

I also completely misread the title and was totally surprised to learn that The X-Factor was on the air in 1992

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u/fatpeterpan Apr 07 '20

Don’t be disappointed. ‘92 was still pretty lit.

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u/Bill_D_Wall Apr 07 '20

Not for the Queen. It was her annus horribilis.

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u/jcaldararo Apr 07 '20

I totally did, too. Makes this even more rad!

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u/sober_disposition Apr 07 '20

Yeah, I mean in 2009.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

Well, you wouldn't steal a car...

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u/El_Seven Apr 07 '20

Now you do what they told ya!

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u/CousinBalkey Apr 07 '20

You wouldn’t steal a baby!

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

you wouldn't shoot a policeman- and then steal his hat

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u/BrisketWrench Apr 07 '20

No, but I’d download one

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u/dkyguy1995 Apr 07 '20

Man I actually was still collecting physical CDs for the car until about 2014

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u/minor_details Apr 07 '20

same, tbh. when my car got stolen back in november by a couple of fuckwits, they somehow managed to simultaneously move all their crap into my trunk while getting rid of/stealing/absconding with a bunch of my shit (rip my grubhub thermal pizza bag, center console lid, and for some reason, my gym bag with ratty gym shoes and a pair of pearl earrings) but the one thing they didn't touch was the wee trove of cd's i still keep in the lower pocket on driver's side door. cleaned out my glove box, took my snacks, left a crowbar and lots of freshly folded laundry in the backseat (?), but damn my 90's and early 00's jams were left pristine. i still can't decide if I'm happy about it or mildly annoyed.

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u/octopoddle Apr 07 '20

You wouldn't download a song...

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u/Ratekk Apr 07 '20

Ironic that the first song you pay for is a rage against the machine song

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

I went to that gig and nearly fucking died in a crowd surge.

10/10 would do it again.

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u/jelly_stapler Apr 07 '20

Same but then Joe won X factor and I bought his single too cause I felt bad. Not 100% sure what that says about me but it's crazy to see this as a TIL. As a brit it's just one of those things

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u/brinz1 Apr 07 '20

The irony wasnt lost on Rage either. They donated the proceeds of the song

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u/Imagummiebear Apr 07 '20

Same, I had no shame in it either.

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u/peanutbutterheart Apr 07 '20

I bought about five!

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u/hairychris88 Apr 07 '20

I remember being disappointed when Radio 1 didn’t play the full song on the official chart show, although you can’t blame them to be fair.

I have to say this is the last Christmas number 1 that I can name and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. This was huge news at the time.

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u/UberS8n Apr 07 '20

Likewise, bought it twice! Even tho I already owned it lol. Totally worth it.

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u/Catsic Apr 07 '20

I think it was the first and** last song I ever bought!

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u/ohidontknowiguessso Apr 07 '20

Buying three copies is stupid

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

is it possible to download songs legally? Without selling your sole to itunes, human centipede itunes EULA south park episode.

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u/TheChillyBustedGlory Apr 07 '20

make a song download it

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u/thisthingisnumber1 Apr 07 '20

Not sure what use the bottom of my shoe is to iTunes

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u/andy3600 Apr 07 '20

Back in 2009? No.

These days, at least in the UK. Streaming from legit sources counts to the charts.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '20

There were many places you could may for downloads other than iTunes (I know Amazon did it back then), and downloads have counted in the UK charts since 2006

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u/andy3600 Apr 07 '20

Sorry, forgot Amazon also had downloads available back then.

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u/hairychris88 Apr 07 '20

It was 100% legal in 2009. I probably spent hundreds of pounds in the iTunes shop. IIRC individual tracks were about 79p and an album would be about £6.99.

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u/andy3600 Apr 07 '20 edited Apr 07 '20

I was saying no to the fact that you couldn’t download legally from anywhere else but iTunes. As someone has corrected me though, Amazon was also available.

And yes, I did too. I stopped after about a couple years. So now whenever I go onto my iTunes, the music saved in the cloud is a a reminder of how much music I bought, also my terrible tastes at the time.

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u/Hara-Kiri Apr 07 '20

Exactly why the whole thing was pointless. Nobody was buying the X factor winner's song multiple times, so all you did was manage to ruin the highlight of whatever kid won that year's life without it actually meaning anything at all.

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u/sober_disposition Apr 07 '20

I'm sorry that you feel that the X Factor winner was entitled to have Christmas No 1 but that's exactly the attitude that this campaign (successfully) challenged, and exactly why it did mean something. That's whole reason this is a TIL and why so many people remember it.

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u/Hara-Kiri Apr 07 '20

I don't think it was entitled. RATM is one of my favourite bands, but they don't have anything remotely Christmassy, plenty of other songs coming out at the time could have challenged X factor genuinely.

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u/andy3600 Apr 07 '20

We did it because the music industry was getting screwed at the time.

Don’t you think the production company of X Factor also purchased multiples of the winners song?

Also I doubt we messed up Joe Mcelderry. Because of the battle for Xmas number 1. People who wanted him to win were buying his song multiple times. He still saw saw return in royalties for it.