Digest Number 683

[Stuart McHugh]

>  I don't remember Bang Bang Machine

i think that maybe proves my point about them ;) (they were a number one)
But there is the valid point that rigging an regular general election 
is when you actually cheat by making up voters. In these cases it's 
either (a) a band encouraging their fans to all get together and 
exercise their vote - and that might not be 'in the spirit' of 
something, but it's not technically 'wrong', or (b) where they get 
all friends and family to send in emails and postcards in support - 
in this case the people are unlikely to have any interest in the band 
or in the Peel show, and that seems wrong to me. (c) making up 
multiple email accounts  is also a way to fix the F50 and is simple 
to do and if done well hard to spot by John's team, except when 
something unexpected places highly. And still impossible to prove 
without FBI involvement.
I also recall The Damned getting disqualified for massive amounts of 
postcards coming in for 'In Dulche Decorum' which itself seems like a 
weird choice, the multiple postcard-sender probably one of the few 
fans who'd have chosen that song!
I run a regular poll at my website (www.jockrock.org) and often get 
in multiple votes which are all from different people at the same 
company or government department. Theres no way to tell if they're 
fans or not, and that doubt makes what's a fairly irrelevant poll 
even less relevant - but then again, such dodgy practices are what 
won Belle and Sebastian the Brits, and anything that pisses of Pete 
Waterman can't be bad!

Stuart
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