[Lactating Man Nips]

Hah. Cowell there complaining of cynicism. Look to your right Sim'.

[Munki Bhoy]

I love the half truths that have come out of the x-factor camp this week.

1) Joe shouldn't be denied his first number one by the campaign. Yeah, that's fair enough, the poor wee guy hasn't done anything wrong. The good news is, he was number one a few weeks ago with the rest of the finalists and their charity record "You Are Not Alone" and as such has nothing to worry about as he's already scored that first number one.

2) X-Factor has saved Christmas number one as it was rubbish previously. Well... yeah, most of the songs that have been Christmas number one have been somewhat rubbish, but that's not the point. Previously it was was a race to number one. The last few years it's been a foregone conclusion. If nothing else has happened this week, at least we've had a race for the first time in years. So this campaign has saved Christmas number one for me.

3) The campaign is bullying and ganging up against Joe. No it isn't, it's nothing to do with Joe. It's against you Simon Cowell bandwagon that has steamrollered it's way through the charts for the past while. It actually is a very well put together campaign, since it's literally a "rage" against "the machine" of Simon Cowell inc.

But hey, what did we expect? Of course the x-factor people were going to spend most of this week slating the campaign. They wouldn't be doing their job otherwise. Once a pantomime, always a pantomime.

[Latina]

1) Joe shouldn't be denied his first number one by the campaign.

I know it's been said before, but I hate the arrogance of the presumption that the X Factor winner should be Christmas Number One. If ever I start to feel any guilt over this I just remember that and snap back into reality.

Apparently Joe has taken over by the way, but the shops will be closing soon if they haven't already and then it'll be back to a downloads race tonight.

Five hours left to download, people!

[foot-loose]

I've not been paying much attention to this but I heard something about Simon Cowell being involved with Rage Against The Machine as well? Or Sony? Or something?

Anywhich way, unless Rage wins, this is only serving to promote The X Factor single more and more. Even if they DO win, X Factor still walks away with a ton of money. The place of "number one" doesn't give any extra pennies.

[Latina]

The place of "number one" doesn't give any extra pennies.

But it's more important than the money.

I'm bored of answering to the Sony thing so I'll keep it short... Lots of artists (Rage included) are signed to Sony, as it's one of the major players. But Rage are not signed to Simon's subsidiary label within it.

[Munki Bhoy]

I'll actually be curious to see how this X-Factor single's sales compare with Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Leo Jackson and Alexandra Burke. I have a sneaking suspicion that Joe might just be one of the best selling as x-factor fanatics may have rallied round due to this campaign and bought more than they otherwise normally would.

At which point Simon Cowell can go * himself for all the negative press he's given the campaign this week since it will actually have made him even more money.

[foot-loose]

The place of "number one" doesn't give any extra pennies.

But it's more important than the money.

To whom exactly? The public? Joe? None of them matter.

At which point Simon Cowell can go * himself for all the negative press he's given the campaign this week since it will actually have made him even more money.

Isn't that what I just said? Cowell loves all this "negative" press.

[Munki Bhoy]

At which point Simon Cowell can go * himself for all the negative press he's given the campaign this week since it will actually have made him even more money.

Isn't that what I just said? Cowell loves all this "negative" press.

Yeah, I was backing up your initial point.

[Latina]

The place of "number one" doesn't give any extra pennies.

But it's more important than the money.

To whom exactly? The public? Joe? None of them matter.

To anyone who cares about the Christmas Number One, whether that be the public who miss the days when there was actually interest in what it would be, or Cowell, who sees the X Factor Xmas #1 as a badge of honour and a mark of his dominance over the music scene in the UK. He knows fine well how significant it is, otherwise he wouldn't schedule the X Factor final for that same weekend every year.

That's all the campaign is about, and I think some people are losing sight of that.

[foot-loose]

To anyone who cares about the Christmas Number One, whether that be the public who miss the days when there was actually interest in what it would be, or Cowell, who sees the X Factor Xmas #1 as a badge of honour and a mark of his dominance over the music scene in the UK. He knows fine well how significant it is, otherwise he wouldn't schedule the X Factor final for that same weekend every year.

That's all the campaign is about, and I think some people are losing sight of that.

Isn't it more that the public already perceive that the Christmas number one is the only time of the year that actually matters and Cowell has realised he can make a fortune out of it? I'm not saying that he doesn't see it as a "badge of honour" but everything he does is geared towards making money. The X Factor show is not about making someone Christmas number one. It is a massive cash making machine from the competitions during the ad breaks to the "charity" single that is released - the Christmas sales are the cherry on the top.

My point is that yes, I'm sure Cowell WANTS to be the number one and thinks it would be nice etc etc etc, but this whole "battle" is only geared towards more sales, whither he is at number 1 or number 2, he is gonna walk off with a wad of cash. The bigger the battle, the bigger the wad. He wont be losing much sleep over which place he comes.

He won't say that in the papers though.

At which point Simon Cowell can go * himself for all the negative press he's given the campaign this week since it will actually have made him even more money.

Isn't that what I just said? Cowell loves all this "negative" press.

Yeah, I was backing up your initial point.

You can back me up all you want babeez.

[Yudster]

Rage did it. I love that the campaign "worked", but I'd have been a lot more enthusuastic about a proper Christmas song being used as the challenger.

[Johnny 1989]

Rage did it. I love that the campaign "worked", but I'd have been a lot more enthusuastic about a proper Christmas song being used as the challenger.

Woo-Hoo! I'm so pleased, if anything it kept X-Factor off of the top

EDIT: Plus it's not a bad tune either

[Latina]

I listened in whilst cleaning my living room for a Christmas party I'll be hosting tomorrow.

I thought when it came to it I'd be bothered that it wasn't a Christmas song, but it turns out my enthusiasm hasn't been dampened by that at all.

I rushed onto Facebook and had something of a virtual party that included friends I hadn't communicated with in a long while, including a mate in America who's now spreading the word to his compatriots. I also got an excited text from a good friend who usually doesn't give a damn about the charts, which I wasn't expecting at all.

It's all a lot of fun, and even Joe himself (appearing on Switch) admitted it was good to be part of an actual chart battle, which had been missing for a while.

I feel way more ready for Christmas now. Can't wait to play Rage at my party tomorrow.

[Lactating Man Nips]

It's actually a great record though isn't it ? I can't imagine why people are sneering about the profanity because that is the message that anybody with an ounce of passion can connect with.

[Johnny 1989]

It's actually a great record though isn't it ? I can't imagine why people are sneering about the profanity because that is the message that anybody with an ounce of passion can connect with.

I was originally going to buy just to help it beat X-Factor to number 1, however I caught it on Jon Holmes (6 Music) last week and it is a great song. Holmes himself said that he "must" buy a copy last night on his show

[Munki Bhoy]

Somewhere in the world right now, an ego the size of Brazil has a bruise the size of the UK on it.

[foot-loose]

Somewhere in the world right now, an ego the size of Brazil has a bruise the size of the UK on it.

Have we had any sorta comment of of Mr Cowell?

To be honest, I am pretty impressed that all the facebookey people managed to pull together and do this, it's quite an achievement. I do feel a bit sorry for Joe though - he seems a nice lad and he is caught in the middle of all this farce. It's tough at the top though so nae luck!

[Latina]

I've just realised I have to eat my words from the X Factor thread when I said these things never work.

I feel sorry for Joe too. After buying RATM I found myself averting my eyes whenever I saw his face this past week.

He'll probably be #1 next week. RATM will drop like a stone and his biggest competition will be Cheryl (who I was expecting to do better today), Lady Gaga and that Katy Perry thing. Oh, and whatever's out next week, but I have no idea where to find that out.

[Latina]

Have we had any sorta comment of of Mr Cowell?

I read something in the Guardian Online about him congratulating the campaign organisers, saying it was well run.

I don't think he's said anything to the media yet but I fully expect it to be a million miles away from his comments during the past week. It'll be one of those "Look, at the end of the day..." turn-around type things he does on X Factor (and generally) when opinion has turned against him.

[foot-loose]

Probably.

I like him now. I used to dislike him, but now I like him.

I don't know why.

[Latina]

Who, Simon or Joe? My opinion of the former yo-yos so much it's unbelievable. He doesn't half come out with some rubbish sometimes (opinions, not just music) but on the other hand he can be a compelling character.

[foot-loose]

Simon. I tend to look at him, and The X Factor, as a highly successful business venture. Regardless what you think of him "the man", he has created a highly successful telly show which uses every available source to get money. I'll compare him / the show to Jade Goody - regardless of what I thought about her "the person", she was very good at marketing herself. Like her or loathe her, she made a lot of pennies out of manipulating the public / media. Simon does it differently, but the end result is the same.

I have respect for that.

[Latina]

Jade Goody I found easy enough to ignore; Simon a bit less so given that I've always been a music and music charts fan, so every now and again he gets my goat. I know that popular music is all about business and money these days but sometimes it does get a bit much and I wish he'd feck off for a while.

I'd miss him like crazy if he left the X Factor though.

[foot-loose]

Jade Goody I found easy enough to ignore; Simon a bit less so given that I've always been a music and music charts fan, so every now and again he gets my goat. I know that popular music is all about business and money these days but sometimes it does get a bit much and I wish he'd feck off for a while.

I'd miss him like crazy if he left the X Factor though.

...


never mind.

[Yudster]

Joe McWotsit has gone up in my estimation. He's just a kid, but his response of "well if that's the worst thing that's going to come out of winning X-Factor then I'm not doing too badly" was perfect, and sounded really sincere too. I don't like his voice though, its all lightweight and weedy and a bit effeminate. People have been saying he's a potential West End star, but not with a voice like that he isn't. Did it sound different when he sang live on the show? I think it must have done, because no-one would put that mincy whine on the stage.