Cowell Fuming Over Rage Campaign

20 December 2009

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Simon Cowell and Macca disagree on RATM X Factor winner row

Simon Cowell has slammed the "spiteful" campaign to make Rage Against The Machine the U.K. Christmas chart number one, insisting the anti-X Factor drive by "music snobs" is "getting out of hand".

Rock fans in Britain began an internet campaign to take the band's controversial hit Killing In The Name to the top of the British charts, in a bid to keep the winner of Cowell's TV talent show from the coveted festive number one slot.

Cowell's The X Factor acts have dominated the Christmas charts in Britain for the past five years, and the music mogul is not happy that his latest protege, Joe McElderry, could miss out on a chart-topping debut with his cover of Miley Cyrus' The Climb - and he's described the campaign as akin to bullying.

It almost feels like a little kid being bullied

He says, "All these musical snobs have ganged up against Joe. If you take me out of the equation, you have a teenager with his first single being attacked by a huge hate mob. It almost feels like a little kid being bullied. It feels like a spiteful campaign. It's David versus Goliath and it's not fair on Joe. It's getting out of hand".

Meanwhiel none other than music god Sir Paul McCartney has backed RATM in the row. The Internet campaign aimed at keeping TV talent show winner Joe McElderry off the top of the U.K. charts at Christmas (09) picked up a big-name supporter in McCartney.

And now McCartney has added his voice to the campaign, insisting it would "prove a point" if Killing In The Name beat McElderry's The Climb to the number one spot.

He says, "Everyone expects Joe to do it. If he goes to number one, then good luck to him... but it would be kind of funny if Rage Against The Machine got it."

RATM will donate all the royalties they receive from the campaign to charity.

Guitarist Tom Morello says, "The people in the U.K. are tired of being spoon-fed one schmaltzy ballad after another and they want to back their own charts, and we are honoured that they have chosen our song to be the rebel anthem to try to topple The X Factor label."

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