When Matt Cardle crooned the first line of the first verse of his soon-to-be winning X Factor single When We Collide on December 12 of 2010, in a showdown which saw him facing off against One Direction, at the same time on sofas up and down the United Kingdom people were turning to their loved ones and uttering the disbelieving words, "Isn't that a Biffy Clyro song?"
A bizarre turn of events to say the least, but also, considering just how far the Biff had come in the ten years they had spent causing chaos on the UK underground circuit, also not that out of pocket at all at the same time. For the band themselves, being approached to have their single Many Of Horror, a centrepiece of their 2010 full-length Only Revolutions, covered on the programme just showed that the different corners of the music industry aren't as wide set as they may once have seemed.
"Britain's a small place," drummer Ben Johnston told Australian radio station Undercover FM. "Everybody knows everybody, certainly in something like the music industry. He said it was a great song and he should use it."
With that latter "he" being Cardle, that makes the former "he" Simon Cowell, who, with his entertainment company Syco Entertainment, had a stranglehold on popular culture in the UK in the first decade of the Millennium, thanks in big part to the success of programmes such as Pop Idol and, eventually, The X Factor.
From 2005, the race for Christmas Number One had been commandeered by winners of the show, starting with Shane Ward, followed by Leona Lewis in 2006, Leon Jackson in 2007, and Alexandra Burke in 2008. Such a trend ended in 2009 thanks to a magnificent plot to place Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name at the top of the tree instead Joe McEldeery's take on Miley Cyrus' The Climb; a campaign that was successful and resulted in a legendary free show at London's Finsbury Park and Zach de la Rocha saying, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" live on BBC radio despite being told multiple times not to.
Perhaps because said campaign had more of a pro-song approach than an anti-Cowell vibe, the powers that be were looking for something different in the song that would suit a winner of TV's biggest talent show. As 2010 rolled around, the powers that be were looking for something different in their approach to what song would suit a winner of TV's biggest talent show. Something actually brilliant to represent their brand. And there are few bands more perfectly attached to brilliance than Biffy.
