Killing in the Name this Christmas

I love Rage Against The Machine. I remember listening to it alone in my friend’s brother’s room when I was 14 and thinking it was the most inspirational music I had ever heard. I was into metal and rock at the time but this took it to another level. Dirty bass lines and guitar riffs, funk drums and breaks, Zac de la Rocha rapping/shouting (shapping) his angry political musings interspersed with Tom Morello’s weird and wonderfully inventive guitar solos! For me, Rage Against the Machine was a seminal album which certainly shaped my musical outlook today.

The fact that a song called "Killing in The Name" has topped the charts for Christmas is in itself novel but the fact that a Facebook lead a movement that has managed to topple the Cowell Musical Monopoly is is even more novel. What does this mean? Well it confirms perhaps that the UK charts are not really based upon music or its inherent merit. X Factor proves that by using public profile and clever PR to claim regular top 20 positions (the rest of the X Factor hopefuls are at number 12). The fact that Rage Against the Machine is at number one says less about them as a band and their music but more about the fact that there are a lot of people in the UK who seem to be tired of the commercial PR machine that drives popular music (or at least that’s how I interpret it….. and I hope it is true).

My ultimate gripe with the UK music industry is the fact that music seems to count very little. The music industry seems to be more about celebrity and fashion which is a crying shame. There is a world of wonderful and diverse music out there just waiting to be discovered but which people will never hear because they are force fed the latest musical, fashion entrails.

I’ll end my rant there for fear of getting carried away but what this little episode has also shown is the viral power of Facebook and its ability to mobilize the masses! I believe that one day, when Facebook becomes self sufficient and no longer needs humans to sustain it, it may well take over the world!

Croissant Day

Croissant Day is the spear head of Acoustic Jim's campaign to pre-launch the release of the eagerly anticipated second debut EP Show Your Love.

The prevelance of croissants stems from YouTube video posted by Acoustic Jim called "Les Fourmies." The song is in French and with the croissant being french icon - rumoured to replacing the "coq" in 2010 - it seemed the perfect prop for the video. Since then the Croissant Sessions were recorded live in London with the Broken Jokers, the Happy Croissant Day cards have featured a boy riding a giant (and arguably phallic) croissant. Finally the artwork for the second debut EP - Show Your Love - features Boy Wonder offering a croissant to the grim reaper (left)

The obsession has perhaps become a little worrying. Jim discovered his love for Croissants at an early age. As any normal person would he complimented the flakey, pastry treat with an assortment of jams. As he grew up though, he started to experiment with condiments and discovered the seedy underworld of applying marmite. A practice viewed as dispicable by the French and indeed rumour has it that everytime marmite is spread on a croissant, a frenchman dies a little inside. Undeterred, Jim continues to spread the word and challenge those who like marmite to try it on a croissant. There are hundereds of converts around the world although figures are uncertain due to the reluctance of most to come forward and admit such "heinous" practice. So go on! Show your love and spread some marmite on a croissant today!