Rage Against Scowl

There's a campaign on against Simon Cowell and the X Factor as most know. The idea is to use a song by RATM to keep the X Factor single from the Xmas #1. Cowell has repeatedly attacked the campaign, insisting it's unfair to the X Factor artists and it doesn't affect him personally at all.

That's a lie. And it also sidesteps the question why such a campaign would materialise in the first place.

The campaign materialised because people are sick and tired of the way Cowell and the organisations backing him have taken 'art' out of popular music. All people get now is schlock - this year it's a horrid cover of a horrid song by a horrid artist that actually is a horrid copy of yet another song. It's all shit and what worries people is that idiots still go out and waste their money on it.

Cowell's and Fuller's shows - the Idol and X Factor franchises - were purportedly to find talent that somehow didn't get recognised by the 'music industry'. The first thing you have to ask yourself is where the music industry fits into a British Xmas #1. There's no promotion to speak of - that's all taken care of by the shows themselves - and there's precious little need for 'plastic'. Today everything is digital. An Xmas #1 in Britain is the equivalent of a successful act with a MySpace page who muster up the fans to fill Wembley Stadium. The record companies have no role in the greater scheme of things anymore. Neither the artists nor the fans need them or want them.

And what 'talent' has been found in all these years? Ask Cowell himself. He says Leona Lewis is the only talent his shows have ever found. Leona's the exception to the rule. Look at all the rest and where they are today. They're nowhere. Does Simon Cowell care? Of course not. A flash in the pan Xmas #1 is still money in the coffers of Sony BMG and Cowell's and Fuller's corporations. The investments in these ephemeral acts is minimal. The revenues gained - especially from the obscenely lucrative voting - are ginormous. It's not about music and it's certainly not about art - it's about making a quick fortune year after year and the collateral damage of the 'artists' exploited for those ends is something none of them bother about.

Which brings us back to the first part of the question - the fact Simon Cowell is lying. For not making a #1 does in fact impact on Simon Cowell and his friends personally. It breaks the bubble. It means the 'magic' of the X Factor and the Fuller 'Idol' shows is broken. It means they're finally exposed for the trash they are. It means contestants have that much lower incentive to try out for next year's competition. It means the lure of the show - instant (but brief) success for whoever wins - is ruined.

Simon Cowell says he's been in this business of reality television pseudo hunts for 'talent' for nine years. That's about enough. It's about time music got back to being the business of sharing art.