Raging against the machine
Us British don't have a reputation for standing up for ourselves, we queue politely in stores, apologise when someone runs into us and seem to pay much higher prices than most countries in the world for food, clothing, cars, houses.... well, just about everything. So far 'they' have been getting away with it. TV is one of the main bones of contention amongst us Brits. The 4 free channels you get with a normal TV cable are simply not cutting it, most people have switched to 'Freeview' which basically gives more channels -run by the same 4 channels- which show repeats of old stuff and not much else. Sky TV is very expensive and we still don't get channels like History or Syfy, its pretty much all re-runs, sport and the occasional good movie. Greg and I have not had a TV for the past 2 years. The continual barrage of 'reality' TV, and worse still, X-Factor and other programmes aimed at those who see fame as everything, turned us (and our TV) firmly OFF. You would think that listening to the radio would be the next best entertainment. Unless you have digital radio (we don't) the only channels available in most areas without specialist cables are Radio1, Radio2, 2 local stations which only play mainstream chart music and a classical channel. Not much choice at all. Listening to the radio used to be the preferred option in our household a few years ago, but all the radio programmes are now full of music released by the winners, runners up, and seemingly ALL the contestants of these awful talent shows. In my opinion there is only one talent to have come out of these shows, and that is Susan Boyle. Having not been a fan of most chart music since I was 14, I have followed my own path and searched out music I like myself. However, that is not to say I don't care about British chart music. I would love for people to realise there is music other than what is played on the main radio stations. I would LOVE for a diverse chart, with pop, hiphop, country, metal, funk and every kind of music in there and for that music to be played on the radio. But instead year upon year, it's talent show this, talent show that and the X-Factor winner at number one every Christmas. This year we seem to have awoken from our uncomfortable slumber. There is a campaign (I believe started on Facebook) to get a different song to number one this Christmas. The chosen song is 'Killing In The Name' by Rage Against The Machine. A song which saw me through my teenage years, when raging against the machine seemed like a worthwhile cause. Hearing the song has prompted me to ask questions about myself. What happened to that spirit, that inner fire that made me feel I could actually change the world? Dampened by commercial TV, endless streams of heartbreaking programmes filled with people who want to be famous. (Or just loved?) The fact that no matter which way you place your government vote, things will be bad. Who listened to us when we said 'Don't go to war?' and of course, the recession. This year I'm standing up. I'm celebrating Christmas, with love, cheer, and Christmas spirit. I'm buying Rage Against The Machine! If it gets to number 1, my heart will be renewed, because maybe we can stand up and make a difference. If it doesn't, I will be happy that at least we tried. At least some of us are standing up at last 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8413557.stm |
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Hint of Mischief wrote: This year I'm standing up. I'm celebrating Christmas, with love, cheer, and Christmas spirit. I'm buying Rage Against The Machine! If it gets to number 1, my heart will be renewed, because maybe we can stand up and make a difference. If it doesn't, I will be happy that at least we tried. At least some of us are standing up at last
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8413557.stm You go girl!!! 
Kristine  |
| Rage is awesome!! Of course before Chris Cornell took over lead singer duties from Zack de La Rocha.
I saw them live at Woodstock '99. Have you listened to a lot of their music? Very political. It's too bad the message from their music wasn't taken up by more people. |
Hint of Mischief wrote: Hearing the song has prompted me to ask questions about myself. What happened to that spirit, that inner fire that made me feel I could actually change the world? Dampened by commercial TV, endless streams of heartbreaking programmes filled with people who want to be famous. (Or just loved?) The fact that no matter which way you place your government vote, things will be bad. Who listened to us when we said 'Don't go to war?' and of course, the recession.
This year I'm standing up. I'm celebrating Christmas, with love, cheer, and Christmas spirit. I'm buying Rage Against The Machine! If it gets to number 1, my heart will be renewed, because maybe we can stand up and make a difference. If it doesn't, I will be happy that at least we tried. At least some of us are standing up at last Good for you Cassie, keep the fire! A few voices together can make a difference! Americans used to have that fire, now they have succome to the dismally gloomy Eeyore syndrome. Oh me, Oh my, if I stand up and fight somebody might say bad things about me and it just won't work anyway. Somewhere in American evolution, we have lost our spine and become sheep. |
| Kind of an interesting place to start a revolution from, but I suppose music has long been people's outlet against injustice and oppression.
Do you have the radio equivalent of NPR over there in the UK? In our area, the NPR station provides intelligently reported news and a broad mix of eclectic music. Here it's broadcast from a local college, and you'd have to listen a long time to hear one of the chart-topping songs, if ever. I'm pretty sure you can listen online to many of these stations, such as our local KLCC. We've been TV-less for about 18 months, and I really don't miss it. If we want to watch a specific show, you can usually find it online anyway. I don't understand the U.S. obsession with reality TV either. It just depresses me. Reminds me of the book "1984", where the central government uses manufactured trash media (mostly music) to keep the general populace placated, ignorant, and helpless. In the U.S., people are too busy worrying about their jobs, their debt, their families, and the celebrity soap opera to actually know what's going on. Their main "news" sources are dominated by polarizing personalities who twist facts beyond recognition and try to force a shades-of-gray world into their black-and-white ideology. You may have heard we have a two-party system. There is actually only one party with two branches that differ on just one issue (abortion). So yeah, call them spineless, uninformed, realistically hopeless .. it appears that it will take something much larger than the present debacle to jar the masses into conscious involvement. |
| extremely talented band, who would stand behind you in your push. Good song choice. I saw them as a special guest at a festival show. They were so good and drew so much energy from the crowd that when the headliner(s) (Soundgarden and Metallica) came out everyone sat down exhausted. |
| We did it
It feels great to know there are enough people who are willing to stand up against what we are 'supposed' to like watching & listening to. There have been several people interviewed on the news and chat shows to put the point across, and they have done it well. I guess we can listen to a wide variety of radio stations over the internet. But put the radio on in the car & the choice is shockingly bad. |
| Ah, well done, Cassie!
Back in the days before the internet, when dinosaurs roamed and I was still in what the American's would term junior high school (also known as the very early 80s  ) there was this peculiar campaigned being waged against the Norwegian government's stranglehold on the media (radio and TV both) This man somewhere on one of the small islands surrounding Stavanger started his own little pirate radio station called Siddis radio. It played <gasp> popular music with a little nonsense banter between him and himself  , mostly at off hours, and I remember that friends and I used to gather at somebody's house after going to the movies (yes, this was back in the day when one actually went to the movies) and listen to this renegade broadcast music we actually enjoyed listening to. He had tremendous widespread grassroots support, not just among my age group, but in general because people were so fed up with being "told" by the government what we should be listening to. I'm sure it was going on other places in the country too.
He was arrested several times, at least once along with his mother and their poodle <vbg> The details are fuzzy, but the upshot was that the government finally realized that they couldn't "shield" us from abject commercialism any more. Or, more to the point, they were losing valuable revenue in licensing and other fees, and that the vast majority of Norwegians really didn't care to listen to news in Sami for 30 minutes every day, or classical music programming just because we SHOULD be more highbrow than we were so they finally gave in an allowed for private/local radio stations, and Siddis radio became one of the first legitimate radio stations. (Which, I'm sure, thrilled the poodle to no end )
Kristine |
| That sounds just like the plot for the movie "Pirate Radio" at least as far as I can gleen from the TV ads! |
Ron wrote: That sounds just like the plot for the movie "Pirate Radio" at least as far as I can gleen from the TV ads!
I know. I saw the ads and wondered where the storyline came from. Major differences are that I think the movie features a foreigner (American?) driving the radio pirating, and the transmissions came from a boat of some kind, and the target is the UK. Or something along those lines. Does that sound about right? Where I grew up as far as I know transmissions were always on land. The cops put a lot of manpower into stopping them for a while including the use of a helicopters and jamming the signal some how. Technologically challenged person that I am, plus it was decades ago, details are fuzzy. Still, I've been tempted to go see the movie just for kicks with a dash of nostalgia thrown in.
Kristine |
| Good for you Cassie! Keep the fire burning for the next injustice. |
| Is the movie about Radio Caroline?
A bit before my time but I've heard a lot about it  |
| well written, very informative and now sending me to do some homework.
I commend you, rebellious one, keep up the good work. |
| Do you not have a computer Cassie?
Do you not have Internet access? Then you have a million and one free radio stations of all types 
As for the RATM campaign is it not more hearding of sheep, not by sheepies though? IE someone telling you what to buy? using the machine called Facebook! Jaundiced view of mine it maybe, and no I didn't buy any X-Factor stuff, nor am I likely to when PlantRock is my favorite radio station. |
| I can understand what you mean Cassie, but I have to say I loved Simon Cowells comments at the shows and had a laugh about all the idiots who turned up with no talent at all!!
I prefer "old" music, like 50's, rockabilly, rock'n'roll etc. etc. That's why I'm going to listen to real rockbands who actually learned to play an instrument and write their own songs! Creative people! Well, in UK there is an "Oldie Station", I cant remember the name of it but you might start searching for one! There is an Oldie Radio Station also in Germany, which I love to listen too cause it play's "real" Music! ... yes, so come on, make a difference!! |
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