Holiday Cheer Cont:
Power to the people. Power to the people, right on.Here we have "American Idol" and "America's Got Talent," but in the smaller United Kingdom they've got "Britain's Got Talent" (hello, Susan Boyle) and "X-Factor" (which used to be "Pop Idol" which is the show that spawned our "Idol.")
Here cranky Simon Cowell is big, but in the UK he's BIG - so big that a grass-roots movement was launched to stop the new "X-Factor" winner, Joe McElderry, from having this year's British Christmas No. 1 song.
That Christmas No. 1 is a big thing across the pond and for the last few years the "X-Factor" winner has easily achieved the season's top hit.
But British music fans rose up against Cowell's control of the charts and created a viral campaign to make another song the Christmas No. 1.
And they didn't go for something by Taylor Swift or anyone else with an easy path to a hit.
No, the song that was chosen was 1992's "Killing in the Name" by political protest band Rage Against the Machine.
Amazingly, the campaign worked. "Killing in the Name" was downloaded more than 500,000 times last week, sending Cowell and "X-Factor" judge Cheryl Cole (Cowell certainly knows how to pick beautiful judges in England), into a tizzy, about how unfair this was to poor, young Joe.
(Sir Paul McCartney, by the way, came out for Rage Against the Machine, even though he had just performed on the "X-Factor" finale.)
Rage is tickled that its charity single (raising money for homelessness) has become its biggest hit ever.
The band said in a statement: "Rage Against the Machine is honored to have been drafted by this historic grassroots campaign to make our song 'Killing in the Name' the No. 1 song on the UK Christmas Week pop chart. This is a huge victory by and for fans of real music and we extend our heartfelt thanks to every fan and freedom fighter who helped make our anthem of defiance and rebellion the Anarchy Christmas Miracle of 2009.
"As promised we will play a free concert in the UK in celebration of this incredible upset victory over the heavily favored X-Factor single. We are also pleased that so much money has been raised for homeless charity Shelter and are happy to donate as well to aid this important cause. While there are many lessons that can be drawn from this historic upset, the main one is this: that ordinary people, banding together in solidarity, can change ANYTHING, be it the pop charts or the world."
How's that for a Christmas message.
-- Howard Gensler/Philadelphia Daily News