Bringing the 'Tone down

Hot Press extends a deeply sarcastic 'well done' to the lunkheads behind the latest email prank plaguing international Inboxes this week.

In response to an internet poll by the BBC looking to determine "The World's Top 10" - that is, the top ten pop songs of all time on planet earth - anonymous voters have pushed The Wolfe Tones' 'A Nation Once Again' near the top of the list.

The email currently making the rounds (anonymously, of course) reads:

"Do your duty... VOTE!!!

"The BBC are at it again - this time however they're asking everyone to vote for their favourite song of all time. So obviously we're going to try and mess it up for them.

"In the boxes for Favourite song and Artist add the following. Song: A Nation Once Again. Artist: Wolfe Tones. Why: 800 years is why."

'A Nation Once Again' is a Irish-nationalist rebel song written in the 1840s, but latterly popularised by the ballad group The Wolfe Tones. Their work is considered - depending on whom you ask - to be either the legitimate expression of a staunchly defiant, we-will-never-forget kind of Irish nationalism - or, conversely, to be highly dangerous, irresponsible, cowardly (the Tones traditionally refused to play live in Northern Ireland), and only a few steps away from actual incitement to hatred.

Socio-political columnist Fintan O'Toole of the Irish Times described them as a band who "expressed hatred for all things English and [who] whipped up support for violent nationalism". He called the group's breakup in 2001 "a gain both for Irish traditional music and for Irish politics”.

Of course, it's difficult to take the poll too seriously in any case as other Top 10 contenders include the slightly less political anthem 'Believe' (In Life After Love), by Cher.