My greatest Christmas present

Bob Slayer is heartened by Kunt And The Gang's chart success

In 2009, off the back of a huge Facebook campaign, Rage Against The Machine caused one of the biggest shocks in UK chart history when they stopped X Factor from having their fifth consecutive Christmas No 1. Sadly this Christmas X Factor were back on top... Does that mean the alternative has lost? Well, no. The thing about the alternative is that it doesn’t need to win to make a difference, and the most interesting and significant hit in the Christmas charts actually fell just outside the Top 40.

Fans of comedy act Kunt And The Gang got behind his track Use My Arsehole As A Cunt and helped it to reach No 66 (and No 8 in the independent chart), a feat that is all the more remarkable by the fact that he has no record label, no budget and received practically no press or radio. To put Kunt’s assault on the busiest chart of the year in perspective, No 66 was one above Let It Be, the highest placed Beatles track in the chart – which, as Kunt points out, by John Lennon’s reasoning makes Kunt bigger than Jesus, and on his birthday as well. Had the single been released any other week it would have been comfortably in the Top 40.

But why the big deal, there have been other more successful internet hits including the aforementioned Rage Against The Machine? But think about it, where did you find out about other apparent social network success stories? My bet is that it was probably by reading about them in the traditional press.

Kunt’s very name and choice of track make this a very unlikely prospect and therefore makes him a much purer, unhyped social network success story. He was not so much an anti-X-Factor vote such as Surfin Bird and Cage Against The Machine (No 3 and 21 respectively this Christmas); rather he was a genuine desire by his fans to gatecrash a party in which they didn’t belong. In doing so Kunt is unlocking ways for cult artists, not just in music, to worry less and less about mainstream and old school media...

Kunt stands one foot in underground music scene, with numerous tours in music pubs and clubs as well as punk festivals such as Holidays In The Sun/Rebellion, and the other foot firmly in comedy, having done sold out runs at Edinburgh and Brighton Fringe Festivals.

In a rare bit of press coverage, ‘conservative fuddy-duddy’ Steve Bennett of Chortle admits that Kunt is a ‘guilty pleasure...’ and describes him an ‘X-rated Frank Sidebottom’. It’s a nice reference because if Frank was a naughty child obsessed with pop and football then Kunt has the obsessions of a teenager: wanking, sex, rude words, pop and maybe football... It's not surprising that Kunt is claiming no credit for the astute satire of the Nick Clegg remix of Use My Arsehole...

In another rare feature on the burgeoning internet phenomenon, cult website B3ta.com said: ‘His songs are more than just rude... Use my Arsehole As A Cunt is a metaphor for the compromises we accept to earn a living.’ How ironic is it that this the song about how much he is prepared to be shafted in order to get a record deal has enjoyed chart success without the support of any record label.

In an age when anything reaches a certain level of success it is likely to get co-opted by the mainstream, Kunt has future proofed himself from that eventuality. Surely only the mad would think he could ever pass from cult to mainstream. But what a huge cult Mr Kunt could become...

I believe that Kunt, little Kunt and his arsehole are the new three wise men of the underground and could become a Christmas institution for the social network generation. The new Cliff Richards who serves up a new festive hit every year.

However Kunt doesn't need to sing about snow Santa or mice pies... His Christmas message is that there is an alternative and is an example to anyone in music, comedy or any form of entertainment, who values creative freedom over mainstream success. I love you Kunt, thank you for giving us a happy Christmas and let’s have a wonderful 2011.