Irony thy name is...

[IainC]

I was going to post this in Music but it's not really about music.

So, as British people, RAtM fans and anyone with an internet connection knows 'Killing in the Name' a 17 year old Rage Against the Machine track got the coveted Xmas no. 1 spot narrowly beating X-Factor winner Joe McElderry who was the odds on favourite (every previous X-Factor winner has taken the laurels until now).

As part of his carefully stagemanaged media campaign, Joe of course has a forum where his fans can discuss the subtle nuances and deeper meaning of his cover of a Miley Cyrus song.

When the news of his narrow loss became public, the fans weighed in on reasons why he may have lost

Particular gems:

It just makes me love him even more now. This was a battle of good v evil, and it sums up the state of the country that evil has won the day again, but there will be karma in the future. Joe needs to keep his head down, and work hard, and he'll be rewarded in the future.

Really? Good vs Evil? You're going to compare a talent show winner coming second in a sales chart to some cosmic struggle between primordial forces?

This one is my favourite though:

This is a sad outcome for music in general, it shows that anybody can start a campaign and rule the music chart, just pick a song and watch the sheep come flooding to the flock, this is no statement about the charts it's a statement about mob rule.

[Ironwood]

Cue Brooker.

[taolurker]

Re: Irony thy name is...
Awesome pictures thread?

[stray]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73dki6hJ3W4


On a serious note... Umm.. I guess anyone who would start distinguishing things like this as "good" vs "evil" is probably.. a conservative? I guess? RatM is evil in that respect then (i.e. dirty liberalz).

[Sky]

I used to have this RATM shirt:



A bunch of good old boys bought us a round of drinks because I was wearing it and they were too drunk to look closely. I got the fuck out of there.

[Righ]

Cue Brooker.

He could have done some research:

Then we release it online at the lowest price possible. What's the bare minimum you can charge and still be eligible for a chart position? It could be as little as 2p.

It's 40p, and that is how much the record company must charge the retailer, so unless you can get people to sell the download for free it will cost more than 40p to download.

I think that this would have been a better single to push because it's a 2009 song and like "Killing In The Name" it's an angry anthem of resistance. In other words it's resistance, now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmLb5rszAh8

Senser. Still awesome.

[Sir T]

Read in the paper today that SImon Cowell knows a good buisness opportunity when he sees it. He offered a job to the people that orginised the Facebook campaign.

he also said it might made him see that some people might not like the X factor... 

[Grimwell]

On a serious note... Umm.. I guess anyone who would start distinguishing things like this as "good" vs "evil" is probably.. an conservative idiot? I guess? RatM is evil in that respect then (i.e. dirty liberalz).

Fixed that for ya. Also, Rage = Liberals = trying to force them into a hole they were not designed for.

[stray]

Liberals in the truest sense of the word then. They can pull off wearing Che t-shirts wthout being douchebags.

[edit] Actually, maybe they can't because I think they're signed with Sony or something.

I'm going to try and ignore that glaring fact. 

[HaemishM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73dki6hJ3W4

Goddamn, is that the song that won X-Factor? FUCK ME, IT BURNS LIKE VD.

Also, I agree with Righ. I love that song by Rage, but if we're talking a 2009 resistance song, Senser is the business.

[IainC]

Goddamn, is that the song that won X-Factor? FUCK ME, IT BURNS LIKE VD.

It's someone who won a TV VOTING SHOW covering a fucking MILEY CYRUS SONG. It's never going to be the fucking Pixies.

[Yegolev]

Still have a year left in the decade.

That's the irony.

[K9]

This is a sad outcome for music in general, it shows that anybody can start a campaign and rule the music chart, just pick a song and watch the sheep come flooding to the flock

 

[K9]

Still have a year left in the decade.

That's the irony.

We started in year zero, not year one.

[Sir T]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73dki6hJ3W4

Goddamn, is that the song that won X-Factor? FUCK ME, IT BURNS LIKE VD.

Also, I agree with Righ. I love that song by Rage, but if we're talking a 2009 resistance song, Senser is the business.

No that's not the song that won the X factor. That's the singer that won the X factor. The last three remaining candidates were told to record that song proir to the final; shows and whoever won, that was the version that would be released to the frothing public.

Which actually makes it worse as the song was basically totally interchangeable between all 3 performers and would have been Simon's Xmas No 1 no matter what. It didn't matter who actually won.

[Sky]

We started in year zero, not year one.

Incorrect. 1BC rolled right into 1AD.

[K9]

We started in year zero, not year one.

Incorrect. 1BC rolled right into 1AD.

I choose to believe otherwise.

[IainC]

I choose to believe otherwise.

This is a belief easily countered with facts.

[HaemishM]

Goddamn, is that the song that won X-Factor? FUCK ME, IT BURNS LIKE VD.

It's someone who won a TV VOTING SHOW covering a fucking MILEY CYRUS SONG. It's never going to be the fucking Pixies.

I'd settle for it being fucking Shakira. Instead, it's a the vaguely male version of Celine Dion's left ovary.

[Venkman]

I choose to believe otherwise.

This is a belief easily countered with facts.

Err, as far as I can tell, we didn't "start" in year zero or one. We "started" in the 16th century and retroactively identified "1" to be 1581 years prior.

In other words, moot point is moot

[IainC]

Err, as far as I can tell, we didn't "start" in year zero or one. We "started" in the 16th century and retroactively identified "1" to be 1581 years prior.

In other words, moot point is moot

It's not a moot point. Just because the change was retroactively applied, it doesn't mean that the first year of the system doesn't matter. 1BC was followed by 1AD regardless of how the people alive during that period counted the years. It's still relevant today because we use that starting point to derive everything else.

[tazelbain]

TWO whole digits are flipping this year not just ONE.  Once when I was a youth, alll FOUR digits flipped.  Nukes spontaneously launched, airplanes fell from skies, and Jesus returned to win Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  Good times.

[MahrinSkel]

Really?  This slapfight was stupid in 1999, it's *really* stupid over where the decade line should be.  Hell, we lost 4-5 whole years because medieval monks found math hard (ever try to do math with Roman numerals?).  It's really 2013, STFU.

--Dave

[Amarr HM]

Roman numerals don't feature a zero, that might be a good indicator.

[Venkman]

Really?  This slapfight was stupid in 1999, it's *really* stupid over where the decade line should be.  Hell, we lost 4-5 whole years because medieval monks found math hard (ever try to do math with Roman numerals?).  It's really 2013, STFU.

--Dave

Jerry: Oh, by the way, Newman, I'm just curious, when you booked the hotel, did you book it for the millennium new year?
Newman: As a matter of fact, I did.
Jerry: Oh, well, that's interesting, because, since everyone knows that there's no year zero, the millennium doesn't really begin until 2001, which would make your party one year late, and thus, quite lame.

 

[Cadaverine]

The Earth being flat, or 6,000 years old can easily be countered with facts.  Doesn't stop people from believing one or the other, or both.

Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice-skate uphill.   

[Yegolev]

Ever come back to a thread after a long day, read the posts after yours and think to yourself, "Today, I did well." ?

[Engels]

Had never heard of Senser before. They sound right up my alley. Can anyone recommend an album?

[Righ]

They have four albums and a compilation. Their brilliant début Stacked Up or their latest album How To Do Battle are their best and either one is a fine place to start. After the début album, the band split up and singer Heitham Al-Sayed started a new band. Kerstin Haigh continued fronting Senser on her own, and while Asylum has its moments, it isn't as great. The remainder of the band then split up, but the original members found themselves working together again when they had to make a compilation album (Parallel Charge) for their label. They started writing together again, and brought out SCHEMAtic which was better than the previous album (but still not as great as Stacked Up). That got them back on the live circuit together, and that dynamic has paid off in the latest album, which I think does measure up to their superb début.

From Stacked Up -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAjgTQS3dSw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg9FA8h81NU

There's no second single from the new album yet, so here's somebody else's video for one of the songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IxdU6avseg&

There's some needless 'I am cool DJ' dicking around by whoever made the video, but you'll get the idea.

[bhodi]

That reminds me a lot of the prodigy. Older stuff.

[Righ]

You can stream the first two albums in full for free on Last.fm. Over on Napster (now only $5 a month) you can stream everything on the now long deleted EPs and singles.

[Engels]

Thanks Righ. I think I like the last album...the songs you linked from their debut are definately kickass, but their latter stuff seems somehow more textured. Chewier, even.

[Azazel]

I think that this would have been a better single to push because it's a 2009 song and like "Killing In The Name" it's an angry anthem of resistance. In other words it's resistance, now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmLb5rszAh8

Senser. Still awesome.

hmm... noisy rock shit that no-one's ever heard of as opposed to a catchy (noisy rock) song that everyone has heard a few times at least since it was released almost 2 decades ago. For a smart guy like yourself that's a pretty dumb suggestion. That would have failed miserably.

[Teleku]

I think he's saying that morally it would have been a better song for what the message was.  Not that it was actually the best song to win in reality.

[Engels]

hmm... noisy rock shit that no-one's ever heard of as opposed to a catchy (noisy rock) song that everyone has heard a few times at least since it was released almost 2 decades ago. For a smart guy like yourself that's a pretty dumb suggestion. That would have failed miserably.

Your inability to spot talent isn't his problem.