Gothic google bombing E.ON
2008-12-17 by Kevvy K
Bauhaus – Kick in the eye
So, do I start with the track or the E.ON googlebombing?
Let’s get the googlebombing out of the way.. for those who might not know, E.ON is a big power company who want to build the first new coal-fired power station in 34 years in the UK at Kingsnorth in Kent – it’s real ‘line in the sand’ type stuff in terms of what needs to happen in the context of climate change. If we start going down this road again in the context of all we know about the threat of climate change, then we are even more doomed than I think we are already.
Anyway, over the Summer, I was involved with a direct action camp where the propsed site will be.. and that is currently putting energy into the E.ON Face Off campaign, to try and prevent the decision being made in favour of the power station.
One part of the campaign involves ‘brand trashing’ – dragging E.ON’s name through the mud, and here’s where the ‘googlebombing’ comes in. The idea is that everytime you mention , you link to the nonewcoal website. Gradually, if dozens of sites do this, when people Google “E.ON” or “eon”, then nonewcoal gets a higher and higher rating. It’s now in the top 10 (#6 as of today).
“Kingsnorth is a terrible idea. One power plant with a lifetime of several decades will destroy the efforts of millions of citizens to reduce their emissions” – James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies.
Anyhoo… on my long train journey back from Poland, I passed the time with a trashy, queer, vampire paperback that was basically goth porn… they were always having a bit of Bauhaus on in the background, and it made me dig this out. Tongue-in-cheek scenesters are suggesting that the goth-funk revival may be the next big thing, and this is certainly one of the anthems. There was a slew of edits appeared recently, and this was also the subject of a rather tasty cover version by Argie-Bargie (is that an offensive term?) Fernando that you can check out on his myspace page.
Download MP3 (0:00min / 0MB)
Comments 
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Yep, great tactic – nonewcoal is sitting pretty at Number Six on the Google search for E.On – and we are "The Prisoner" of the lunatics who want to build more coal-fired power stations. Sorry – very poor TV reference there.
Meanwhile, with Bauhaus I could never quite get over their note-for-note cover of "Ziggy Stardust". Bowie worship taken to a bigger extreme than even Gary Numan!