Didn't Do What They Were Told To

Prior to this weekend, this might have been the lasting image that California band Rage Against The Machine left with many people. As you can see a horde of security guards tried to talk the band's drunken bass player off the stage during the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards while a few others encouraged him to jump. Even a ladder was brought out, because after all, people who scale things without a ladder only do it so that those down below can find a ladder to aide in their descent. It's been done for ages, which is why nobody talks about the thousands of wooden ladders strewn around Mt. Everest's base camp but only concentrate on newly discovered skeletal remains of underpaid sherpas.

The bassist -- Tim Commerford -- got down okay, but the lead singer was so pissed off by the stunt that it signaled the end of the band. For a little while.

Now, Rage Against The Machine has scored an interesting upset, namely giving a middle-finger salute to Simon Cowell's pop factory by scoring the No. 1 spot on the UK singles chart prior to Christmas. The song, Killing In The Name Of, defeated British X-Factor winner Joe McElderry's The Climb by some 50,000 downloads. Proceeds from the sale of each download (500,000 in total) went towards Shelter, a homeless organization while the band has promised a free show in the UK as a way of thanking fans who were able to "topple this very sterile pop monopoly."

Although it comes as a bit of surprise considering the song is 17 years old, basically one year younger than McElderry himself, some incidents the last few days only sparked the "upset." McElderry himself came out and said how it was a dreadful tune, one he couldn't imagine singing with his grandma. Well, not too many would raise a glass of red wine, toast their grandma and then feel eager to recite the song's core refrain: "Fuck you, I won't do what you told me!"

Had McElderry kept his mouth shut, or at least tossed a complement the band's way, there's a good chance he might have won.

Late last week, Rage Against The Machine were interviewed on BBC Radio 5 (which is probably heads and shoulders over most radio stations on this side of the pond but is called "Radio 5" for a reason) and performed Killing In The Name Of. The station, oblivious to the fact the band might say "Fuck you, I won't do what you told me!" on the air, concluded the live 9-minute segment with Rage playing the song, with some belief or agreement that the group wouldn't utter that line.

Yet wouldn't you know it, Rage Against The Machine basically said to the BBC, "Fuck you, I won't do what you told me," by singing, er, "Fuck you, I won't do what you told me!" before being cut off by an annoyed host who said they promised they weren't going to sing that part.

So, when a new formulaic pop singer calls an established act's material "dreadful," and then a national media outlet stirs the pot further by giving Rage Against The Machine airtime, it is not a recipe for underdog-squashing success.

Sure, Rage Against The Machine can defeat a prepackaged pop singer, but I'd be interested to see how they would've fared had Cowell pulled out all the stops and put William Hung's She Bang up against Killing In The Name Of in a battle of singles. Who would be the underdog then? Not such an easy choice now for Joe Q. Musicphan, is it?