I am a proud man.

I remember being about 17, at school, having just purchased Rage’s first album. This must have been about ’93 time. I remember carving Anarchy symbols into the back of school desks, even though I had no idea what it really meant.

I remember arguing with the head of year and prefects about their tastes in music that dominated our six form social area stereo.

90′s dance music, with ugly bursts of Madonna and the like in-between.

I remember breaking that stereo.

Back then, we were the minority. The long-haired ones that would do nothing with their lives. The ones that would probably be in a band that would do nothing, or something. Probably nothing.

Well, they were right.

And they got stronger and stronger, and bigger and bigger, as the industry adjusted itself, Whilst our types and our types of music just got weaker and weaker…

But there was something that they always seemed to miss. And it’s the same thing that supporters of the programmes like the X-factor seem to miss as well.

There is more to music than gain.

And since those days, my friends have lived and breathed music. Played it everywhere we could. Played it in forests, woods, on beaches, on hills. Done thousands of gigs. Laughed, jammed and cried. We’ve lost soldiers, we’ve gained soldiers. Every part of our lives has been about it. Playing, inventing, sharing. There is no money here. There are no big lights. There is no backing track to sing along to. We are the backing track. Ever since those days of broken stereos, we have done this. And we will continue to do so. It’s dirty, noisy, emotional, and most important of all….it’s real.

And now, i’m thirty-something. I still have the same passion I had for it than when I was seventeen. I’ve seen the industry turn uglier than it ever was. I’ve seen it become a characature of itself. I’ve seen it spoonfeed the masses. I’ve seen it lie.

But yesterday, Rage against the machine were announced number one in the U.K for Christmas. Beating, the X-factor winner Joe cliche. All on the back of an internet campaign that one guy started. The internet, being used as a communication tool of those people that share the same as I have written above. All of us, coming together as one.

Look. At. What. We. Achieved.

To say that i’m proud is an understatement. I have a brand new daughter, and when she looks back at the Christmas number one when she was born, it’ll be “Killing in the name of”. The band her Daddy was so passionate about for all those years. The mindless sheep I saw yesterday buying Joe Cliches single at Sainsbury’s, whilst discussing what happened in Eastenders last night have, for once, been silenced.

Now, we have the choice to further this. To keep it real. These…are exciting times…

Excuse the noise, but we had just heard some great news…

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