When Rage Against The Machine’s (RATM) ‘Killing in The Name’ was released in 1992, it rose to the 25th spot on the United Kingdom’s singles chart. Yesterday, in a feat owing in part to the grassroots power of social media, the song became the UK’s official Christmas no. 1 hit of 2009.

Ending a three-year streak where the winner of Britain’s ‘X Factor,’ the American Idol counterpart across the pond, nabbed the top spot on the singles chart for Christmas week, RATM’s song catapulted to the top on the heels of a Facebook campaign by Jon Morter, 35, a part-time British DJ fed up with the corporatist hold the X Factor enterprise maintains on the charts. Joe McElderry, 18, the most recent X Factor winner, did a cover of Miley Cyrus’ ‘The Climb,’ which nabbed 50,000 fewer sales than the RATM song, released when the young singer was still in his nappy. McElderry, however, was gracious, in defeat: “This time last year I never thought for one minute that I’d win The X Factor, never mind about having a debut single out, so I’m just delighted to be in the charts.”

If one compares his cover to those of the three previous years which made it to the top of the UK charts in the week of Christmas, it’s hard to discern any difference. And, McElderry is a mere uncharismatic parallel of Kris Allen, the most recent winner of American Idol.

The RATM song is an intriguing selection for the holiday season but it’s representative of the raw spontaneous combustible artistry that has made the band an exceptional standout musically and politically. The grassroots campaign to bring this song back into the public consciousness was smartly timed: The punk rock grit rubs hard against the PR-marketing-journalism carnivalesque rave that is saturated and processed to a sense-numbing level (to quote one of my own writings for an overseas publication). The strident lyrics are merely six lines, repeated with rhythmic and harmonic intensity, to emphasize the need to be suspicious of authority and its institutionalized racism. I’m sure one will not hear another song this particular week with a specific expletive uttered 17 times. Incidentally, not all of the BBC radio network has agreed to play the RATM song as customary for the top Christmas week single.

RATM’s musicianship is not to be dismissed. Guitar solos always have been technically gutsy and the band’s rhythmic frameworks defy genre categorization, integrating metal and rap elements quite effectively. Zack de la Rocha, the band’s frontman, always has been one of rock’s most compelling personalities. “Anger is a gift,” says de La Rocha, who never separates his activism from his music. One must always keep the distance from the hype and, occasionally, as he says, “dip that bandana into vinegar.”

Precisely.