(Christmas)-Factor

From today you'll be contribute to the race for Christmas Number One. This year we have two options, 'Cage Against The Machine' with 4"33 and Matt Cardle with 'When We Collide' a cover of Biffy Clyro's 'Many Of Horror'. But what should we make of this annual contest, or the latest Christmas tradition to oust Simon Cowell's Christmas bonus, is it damaging to music? What, if anything, is special about this year?

'Cage Against The Machine' is a magical effort to get John Cage's 4"33 Seconds to be played out on Radio 1 for Christmas Number One, the point? 'to stick it up Simon Cowell'. The argument is that Cowell's dominance of the Christmas charts is not out of love for music,but purely creating a horizontal internationalist view of the music industry, and rinsing money from every single sector, from finding 'artists' or singers, to promoting, to distribution, to sales. I don't think we need a proof to see why this is wrong, it just feels monopolistic and dirty.

'So what, it makes people happy, leave them to it'. Fair game, the x-factor final receives the most views from any TV program in the UK, and with the same product being exported to the US next year, its going to make even more people happy. Is that what we want though? One man deciding for us? No one can deny the power of advertising, and that's what X-factor is, week after week, you compare the least worst singer next to the worst, until you are left with someone that you've supported all the way through. Its a fantastic way of getting mediocre talent to sound familiar and inviting. Admittedly this year's final was a good competition, and each 'artist' was excellent at singing and preforming, but is it not time for something a bit more than pure performance, do we not want originality and creativity, rather an over-advertised singer? Don't we want a down to earth, new song, which is heart felt, something that's going to make us appreciate life just a little bit more during this festive time, a song like 'Many of Horror'

Perfect, so that's what Simon Cowell did. Fighting fire with fire, the evil genius put a perfectly good track up for competition. But now, what I ask is, does Matt Cardle improve Biffy Clyro's song at all? The production is flat, Matt's voice holds no warmth, no emotional interrogatory, not at least to any degree that Simon Neil's voice commands. Should we not just repurchase Biffy Clyro's original version of the song, why buy an inferior copy for the same price?

I believe in the spirit of 4"33, its a 'nice' idea, but what I want from Christmas Number One is a warming, sensitive song that makes you feel good. I think its frankly pathetic to rename the song so that you cannot see Biffy Clyro original underneath on iTunes. Biffy Clyro wrote a heart felt, sensitive song, but this year, 'Wham', they gave it away.

Biffy Clyro - Many Of Horror


Matt Cardle - When We Collide