Rage Against the Machine’s music blasted through a Vancouver radio station’s speakers for more than two days in a prank that baffled even ardent fans of the 90s rap-rock giants.
Tuesday saw the final performance by Kevin and Sonia, two of KISS FM Vancouver’s top hosts, at the soft-rock station.
Since then, the station has played the 1992 popular song “Killing in the Name” by the California band nonstop, albeit with cuts that mute the song’s most famous refrain, “f**k you, I won’t do what you tell me!”
The anti-police song from the group’s self-titled debut album was still being played as of Thursday morning, but under the name “Sonic Radio: The New Alternative.”
However, listeners noticed that the stunt had ceased at six in the morning local time, and the new station was now playing Queens of the Stone Age’s “No One Knows.”
This would seem to indicate that the action is less of a middle finger to the station’s executives and more of a publicity stunt to advertise the station’s format change.
In fact, some believed it to be a possible protest against Rogers’ parent company’s layoffs and budget cuts, while others thought it would be a format shift.
However, the hosts who were dismissed said the following on their Facebook page:
The hosts post on Facebook, “KiSS is evolving and unfortunately we were informed that we won’t be part of this new chapter.” We are immensely grateful to everyone who allowed us access to their life and shared their mornings with us via the radio and our podcast. We’ve never treated you like a given.
The station placed 12th out of 19 in the most recent ratings data, according to Vancouver is Awesome.
The Guardian was informed by a person who only went by the name “Apollo” that they weren’t responding to inquiries regarding the stunt.
I am not permitted to say. Apollo remarked, “I’m simply a man in a studio playing the Rage over and over. How do you feel? How about it?
A day into the joke, on Wednesday, the station started to accept calls asking for anything other than “Killing in the Name.”
The station, however, merely kept playing the song by the left-leaning rock band repeatedly.
Thank you for listening to KiSS RADiO in Vancouver & The Valley, KISS FM’s website now reads.
Although this KiSS is closing, you can still tune in to the KiSS Radio in Edmonton, Ottawa, and Toronto by visiting their websites or using a smart speaker.
The new Sonic Radio’s website features an article listing the station’s “favorite Alt Canadian Tracks” for Canada Day in addition to advertisements for alternative music.
‘Hi! We are SONiC, the New Alternative serving all areas between Chilliwack and Vancouver.
If you enjoy bands like Green Day, Weezer, Arcade Fire, Florence + The Machine, Metric, Foo Fighters, etc.? We’ll jive well together.
The viral stunt caught the attention of Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who tweeted about it after learning about it from a listener.
From its beginnings as RATM’s breakthrough single and a protest against police violence, “Killing in the Name” has frequently taken on a life of its own.
The song was the UK’s number one Christmas single in 2009 after British listeners purchased 500,000 copies of it, beating out a star from Simon Cowell’s popular X Factor competition.
In response, the band gave a free performance in London’s Finsbury Park.