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Gennaro Castaldo Watch: "The greatest chart upset ever"
That noise? That's the sound of the dislocated jaw of HMV Chart Wrangler Gennaro Castaldo, who literally cannot believe his eyes at Rage Against The Machine being number one:
Gennaro Castaldo, from high street retailer HMV, said it was a "truly remarkable outcome - possibly the greatest chart upset ever".
Elsewhere on the same BBC news page, cooler heads suggest Englebert Humperdink breaking The Beatles' run of number ones might be a little more of an upset. And, to be honest, wasn't Mad World by Gary Jules a lot more of a surprise number one than this?
And haven't we known it's been a close-run thing for almost the entire week? Surely the only people who thought it was still a shoo-in for Joe were the people who read the Star, where Gennaro was predicting an X Factor victory just twenty hours ago.
Still, always happy to react to the breaking news, Gennaro carries on:
"Everyone thought the momentum was with Joe going into the weekend, but, clearly, off the radar a whole load of people were downloading the Rage track right up to the last minute as they sensed they might pull off a shock.
"Off the radar"? Isn't the point about digital downloads that they're all happily clocked up in real time? Is Gennaro suggesting there's some sort of secret download store where the sales figures are delivered to the chart people in cipher and don't get de-encrypted until a few minutes before the show starts on radio one?
Still, it's not about winning or losing, is it? It's about how you play the game:
"It's not so much that Joe lost the race - sales of his single have matched those of recent X Factor winners, and he shouldn't take this personally; this is all about the stunning impact of the Rage Against The Machine internet campaign in galvanising music fans to protest against the dominance of the reality show in recent years."
Hang about: Joe didn't lose the race? What sort of everyone-wins-prizes soft-hearted viewpoint is that? It's bad enough he lost, Gennaro; you don't need to patronise the man as well.
Having said which: it would be nice for someone to draw Joe a lovely picture to show him that everyone loves him too, wouldn't it?
7 comments:
Is Gennaro suggesting there's some sort of secret download store where the sales figures are delivered to the chart people in cipher and don't get de-encrypted until a few minutes before the show starts on radio one?
Remember the mid 80's when (I think) Bruno Brookes presented the chart run down? There'd the the occasional sound effect of a dot matrix printer and the implication that the chart was being compiled even as we listened! That's about the only thing I can think of that's stupider than Castaldo's quote.
You'd think HMV would at least have noticed people buying it from their own download site.
Is that a tenous enough reason to link to this?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40985499@N03/4201985596/
Englebert Humperdink and Gary Jules were planned Christmas releases (backed by major record company promotion).
RATM were commandeered by THE PEOPLE!
From a small campaign - and you say it's not the greatest upset.
Against a show who's final was watched by 20 million people.
Are you an idiot or just lacking common knowledge?
No it isn't ironic, people joined in because they wanted to.
I see it as a chance to change something which had not long ago seemed depressingly inevitable. Now if someone did the same for the next general election...
Laura,
'cleverly orchestrated gimmick' - a husband and wife with 3 kids doing something on facebook for a laugh. Oh the absolute genius of it (sarcasm intended). They will rule the world with that idea huh.
As Dave said - people did it as they wanted something different and wanted to do this. I SOOOOOOOO wanted RATM to be Xmas No1, makes me smile that. The sizeable minority have spoken against x-factors arrogance. It is a victory over that, look at the charts. Positions 1 and 2 - who remembers 2nd place in anything.
Glad you are pleased x-factor is not no1 though. Merry Xmas.
@senior
Who remembers 2nd place in anything?
Ultravox's Vienna?
Ha ha, nice one. Didn't even know 'Common People' was 2nd or even in a xmas battle. Both that and Vienna are great, great songs though, shoo in on any playlist, but that's it for me. OK, I guess 'some' people do remember 2nd in the charts then. Fair play. But the list of xmas no 1s (published everywhere, every year) will only show one entry for 2009.
It was meant it in a sporting metaphor way, like those pub quiz questions, name the runner up in the 1984 FA Cup final. Very few know the answer. I think you get my drift. The victor takes the spoils, no time for losers etc. Cowell got a bloody nose, at least he is being humble about it. He ain't going away, I know that of course.
At least some homeless people will get a few extra blankets and bit of food due to this. That is one of the nice side effects of this.
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