Students Book

Music is everywhere
Read and listen
Indirect questions
Verbs + wh- clauses
Vocabulary: qualifying comparisons
Vocabulary: listening to music
a Look at the photos. Which of these two artists
would you probably enjoy listening to more? Why?
b Read the article quickly. How did these two artists
become involved in a ‘battle’ and who won?
For the previous four years it had been the same: singer wins
The X Factor, singer’s debut single goes to number one. So
when Joe McElderry won the TV talent contest this year, he
must have been sure he would be number one for the New
Year. Unfortunately for Joe, it didn’t happen that way. He was
beaten to the top spot by a song that is almost as old as he is.
‘Killing in the Name of’ is a heavy rock song by Rage Against
the Machine. It is nowhere near as catchy as a typical X Factor
tune. Back in 1992 it reached number 25 in the British charts.
Seventeen years later the Californian band were surprised
to fi nd themselves at the top of the charts as their song was
downloaded 50,000 more times than ‘The Climb’ by Joe
McElderry. Most British people didn’t even know who the band
were.
But what makes this story even more unusual is that the
winning song was the result of an incredible online campaign
to stop the talent show’s production line of manufactured
pop stars, who many people felt were destroying the British
music scene.
The whole idea was dreamed up by Jon Morter, a part-time rock DJ from
Essex, who started a Facebook campaign with the idea of beating the X
Factor winner to the number-one spot. He had tried a similar idea the year
before when he attempted to get Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ to
the top of the New Year charts. He managed to get it to number 73. But this
year Morter was far more successful when he was helped by the comedian
Peter Serafi nowicz, who persuaded his 268,000-plus Twitter followers to join
in. When ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and former X Factor winner Steve
Brookstein decided to join the campaign, it seemed that Joe McElderry had
no chance.
When Morter fi rst found out that his campaign had worked, he wondered
whether he was dreaming. Then he told The Guardian newspaper: ‘I think it
just shows that in this day and age, if you want to say something, then you
can – with the help of the internet and social networking sites like Facebook
and Twitter. If enough people are with you, you can beat the status quo.’
McElderry seemed just as happy with a number two song and offered his
congratulations: ‘Fair play to the guys who have organised the Facebook
campaign – it’s been exciting to be part of a much-hyped battle and they
defi nitely deserve congratulations. This time last year I never thought for
one minute I’d win The X Factor, never mind having a single out. I’m just
delighted to be in the charts.’
And as for the lucky winners in all this: Rage Against the Machine have
promised to give all profi ts of the single to charity and will perform a free
victory gig in the UK to thank those who bought their single.
c
CD3 T07
Read the text again and listen. Answer the questions.
1 Why did Joe McElderry think he would be number one for
the New Year?
2 Why were Rage Against the Machine surprised to find they
had a Christmas number one?
3 How did ‘Killing in the Name of’ get to the top of the charts?
4 Why did so many people buy the song?
5 Why was Joe Morter’s campaign more successful this year?
6 How did he react when he found out what had happened?
7 How did Joe McElderry react to his defeat?
8 How did Rage Against the Machine react to their victory?
Discussion box
1 Are you a fan of TV talent
shows? Why / Why not?
2 What other internet campaigns
have you heard of?
3 Do you think these campaigns
are a good thing or not?
Why / Why not?
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UNIT 11