So, it’s been discussed time and time again over the last week. Various points have been made: Simon Cowell is the great Satan (true, IMHO). Rage Against the Machine are great. Rage against the machine and the the X-Factor track are both on Sony so ultimately Simon Cowell and his ilk win. It’s pointless and no-one cares anyway. It matter a great deal. No-one cares about chart positions anymore. Simon Cowell is aiming to be Prime Minister and is a closet Tory.

OK, so I made that last one up, though it would be yet another perfectly reason to hate Simon Cowell. As to whether it’s a battle between pop and metal…let’s face it, the ultimate battle in music is between good and bad music. The Fall have a stylist. The Sugababes may be becoming a brand name, but I’d rather listen to them than Travis, Stereophonics, Nickleback…

…and is there not something secretly rather pleasurable about seeing a band like Rage Against The Machine reach #1, or at least, be serious contenders? Will it change the world? No, it won’t; and Sony are going to be quids in this Christmas. But the facebook campaign was not started by Sony, but by a husband and wife team making a protest. And whilst the Rage track may be old, may be on a major label, and may ruin some cherubs life because of us being scrooge-like to be a track on download…it’s Christmas.

To paraphrase Bill Nighy as Billy Mack in Love Actually: ‘Wouldn’t it be great this Christmas if the number one wasn’t yet another one of Simon Cowell’s puppets but a metal band who wiped the grin off that smug, evil, pseudo-svengali’s face and it was down to the general public?’

It won’t change the world, it won’t make Cowell stop making records (unfortunately) or bring an end to this ridiculous obssession with celebrity at any price. But it might show that the public have had enough.