Thanks to a Facebook campaign launched by an English couple disenchanted with recent Christmas number ones for Simon Cowell’s X-Factor production line, this year’s festive chart-topper is none other than “Killing in the Name”.

The song is liberally dosed with swear words and encapsulates RATM’s anti-establishment ethos. It beats the X-Factor entry (contest winner Joe McElderry’s “The Climb”) into second spot.

“The people in the UK are tired of being spoon-fed one schmaltzy ballad after another and they want to back their own charts, and we are honored that they have chosen our song to be the rebel anthem to try to topple the X-Factor label,” said RATM guitarist Tom Morello this week.

Fabulous stuff, if you ask me. But you may also want to ask what all this has to do with football. Well, the episode has demonstrated the power of grassroots campaigning via social networking or viral means: the Facebook initiative saw 1.5 million people sign up in support of it, and yielded 500,000 downloads for the song (RATM are donating all the royalties to the charity Shelter).

“Killing in the Name” beat “The Climb” by about 50,000 downloads, according to the BBC.

Emboldened by their success, the campaign’s originators, Jon and Tracy Morter, now say they may try and mastermind a World Cup chart upset.

Just as the Christmas No. 1 has grown to occupy a special place in British pop culture (largely because the slot tends to be occupied by either gimmicky or cheesy songs), and so too has the “World Cup song”.

Beginning back in 1966, with the England squad’s No. 1 hit “Back Home”, and continuing through Scotland’s 1978 efforts “Ole Ola” (by Rod Stewart) and “Ally’s Tartan Army” (by Andy Cameron), the idea of jumping on one of the Home Nations’ football bandwagons swiftly took hold with musicians and their labels.

By 1982, England’s dire “This Time We’ll Get it Right/England We’ll Fly the Flag” made it to No. 2; Scotland’s equally lame “We Have a Dream” go to No. 5, while Northern Ireland’s “Yer Man” (which featured Gerry Armstrong and squad accompanying angel-faced songstress Dana) sadly did not chart.
Suddenly our TV screens were filled with early music videos featuring sheepish footballers grouped around microphones.

The years between World Cups were occupied by the likes of Kevin Keegan, Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle pursuing “solo careers”. Just as Christmas became associated with chart success for Bob the Builder or Mr. Blobby, the “footballer’s single” became a running joke down the pub.

Yet it wasn’t long before the public grew tired of badly sung efforts with questionable lyrics promising an unlikely World Cup win. Indeed, by the time Bryan Robson’s shoulder popped out in Mexico in 1986, his squad’s “We’ve Got the Whole World at Our Feet” had disappeared from the charts, having peaked at No. 66.

Then something amazing happened. Not quite RATM-amazing, but significant nonetheless. In 1990, England headed for Italy with their supporters singing something called “World in Motion”.

The song was recorded by cool alternative/electro band New Order and featured a rap by John Barnes, some vocals from Paul Gascoigne among other squad members, and contained a sample of commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme’s 1966 pronouncement “They think it’s all over!”

“World in Motion” is regularly described as the gold standard of football songs. It raised the bar for England songs at least, and had no serious competition for six years (remember, England failed to qualify for USA ‘94).

In 1996, England hosted the European Championships and comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel teamed up with the band The Lightning Seeds to release the angst-laden “Three Lions”, which surfed to the top of the charts on the wave of Cool Britannia/New Labor.

Football songwriting had by now become a highly competitive business. By 1998 and the France World Cup, the UK charts boasted no fewer than five England songs to go with tunes championing Scotland, Jamaica and Cameroon. “Three Lions” was re-released and went back to No. 1.

It was actually re-re-released in 2002, making it to No. 16 as England’s trip to Japan and South Korea inspired efforts by Ant & Dec (“We’re on the Ball”), Bell & Spurling’s Goldenballs (“Mr. Beckham to You”), England Boys (“Go England”), Crazy Rider featuring Terry Venables (“England”), Fat Les and Ricky Tomlinson (“Who Invented Fish and Chips?”), Svengland (“This Time We’ll Get it Right”) and many others.

Alas, there was a preview of Roy Keane-fueled disharmony to come as the Irish squad’s “Here Come the Good Times” failed to chart.

By now, the emphasis had changed, in that most of the musicians were aiming to better the chart position of the “official” song, or that endorsed by the Football Association. In 2002 it was the Ant & Dec song, and in 2006 it was the guitar-driven “World at Your Feet” by the band Embrace.

So, come the New Year, keep a close eye on the entertainment pages and sites. Look out for the announcement of the “official” World Cup song, then just wait for the Facebook campaigns to get underway. As RATM would say, it’s time to take the power back!


Catch John Dykes on ESPN’s Football Focus every Tuesday (8 p.m.) and First Edition on Friday (9 p.m.).

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