#364: 1992, Rage Against The Machine, Killing in the Name

George and Ray have both posted seasonal songs, so I’m following suit with the Christmas number one of two years ago. With yet another media-manufactured single (albeit not Simon Cowell sanctioned) as Christmas number one, we need to be reminded that it doesn’t have to be this way.

I take my share of the blame: today’s pick is the only Christmas number one I’ve bought since Band Aid in 1984 (good cause, not so good song) and that was despite the fact it was a song I already owned.  In fact, that year it became the fastest selling digital track of all time.

There was some cynicism about the ‘Christmas in the Name’ campaign at the time by those that commented that as RATM were signed by Sony that it would all end up in Cowell’s pockets anyway.  This misses the point: the band donated their royalties to Shelter and the main point was it was as big a ‘Fuck You‘ to the X-Factor divine right to be Christmas number one (“And now you do what they told ya”) as you could get.

But there are other reasons to praise the song: the great guitar riffs, the explosive finale.  And there’s the message.  Zack de la Rocha’s lyrics denounced racism in the police force of his home city of LA in the aftermath of their beating of Rodney King and the riots that followed earlier that year, and identified that there were white supremisists in their number: “Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses” and “You justify those that died by wearing the badge, they’re the chosen whites”.

Sadly, it’s a message that still has relevance for the police in southern California in 2011.  This July, the police in the LA suburb of Fullerton beat Kelly Thomas, a homeless schizophrenic 37 year old, to death despite the fact that he complied with officer requests.  The officer in question put on latex gloves saying “Now see my fists? They are getting ready to fuck you up” before pulverizing his face whilst Thomas begged for mercy.

Now that really is offensive.