A Facebook group has been set up trying to persuade music fans to buy Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing In The Name' in the week before the Christmas chart. It's another bid to try and stop whoever wins this year's 'X-Factor' from having the Christmas number one. Of course, the Cowell franchise has dominated the festive top spot for four years now.
Now, a RATM track might seem like a good choice for any attempt to stick it to the man, and many of the band's fans will happily remember when, on its original release, Radio 1's Bruno Brookes accidentally played the uncensored version of the song - with its famous "fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" line - leading to 138 odd complaints.
However, would getting RATM to the Christmas number one spot really be sticking it to the man? Call me cynical, but a similar campaign last year aimed to get Jeff Buckley's certainly iconic version of 'Hallelujah' to the Christmas number one spot, above 'X-Factor' winner Alexandra Burke's rather schmaltzy cover of the Leonard Cohen classic.
But Burke's cover was released by Cowell's label SyCo, a joint venture with Sony Music. Buckley's version was released by Columbia, a division of Sony Music. The publishing rights in the Cohen song were owed by, erm, Sony/ATV, the music publishing company half owned by Sony Music.
And what about RATM's 'Killing In The Name'? Well, that was released by Epic Records. A division of Sony Music. The song is published by, yes, that's right, Sony/ATV, the JV pubbery owned by Sony and the estate of Michael Jackson.
In a cleverer/more sinister (take your pick) record industry this would all have been orchestrated by Sony's marketing department. Though as far as we can see the people behind the Facebook group have no affiliations with Sony, and, indeed, specifically deny any association with the label and the band.
But either way, once again Sony, and by association Cowell, are set to benefit from both the British public's love and hate for the 'X-Factor' farce. Wonderful.