Rage Against The Machine played their song “Killing In The Name Of” live on BBC radio after promising to censor the lyrics. They agreed to do it but changed their minds when it came time to perform to the NSFW parts. Shocker!
Just to get you caught up, a grassroots campaign started on Facebook and organized itself to have users buy the track “Killing In The Name Of” the same week of the recent X-Factor winner. X-factor is the American Idol for the UK and has Simon Cowell on the show as well. So the goal is to have the RATM track to take the number one spot on the charts away from this years X-Factor winner Joe McElderry. The group is trying to make the statement that they are sick of manufactured pop music that is force fed through main stream media. The network says this is the best out there and spend millions making it appear that way when in fact the artist has very little to do with any of it. That’s what I got out of it anyway and the ending of the RATM song repeating the lyrics “Fuck You I Won’t Do What You Tell Me” over and over makes for a great statement.
Well the grassroots effort has turned into a full on media blitz and at last check RATM was actually ahead of the X-Factor star. Not bad for a song that is 17 years old (wow I feel old now). The group was asked to perform on BBC if they agreed to censor the lyrics. They agreed and performed the track but had a change of heart apparently when it came time to actually censor it. Who would have guessed. Censoring that would go against everything the group stands for and the actual cause they are supporting.
Well the radio interview was all over the place yesterday and now video of the performance is now online. I have to say I fully support the movement and RATM’s unwillingness to censor it. I love the fact that Zach gives the finger to the camera and is really animated. Oh and this is the uncensored performance that started all the talk but the video itself has been censored.
