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Ringtone hops to the top
29/05/2005 19:58 - (SA)
London - In an event that will have music purists weeping over their vinyl LPs, a novelty song based on a mobile phone ringtone leapfrogged over the comeback single from rockers Coldplay on Sunday to the coveted British number one spot.
As expected, Crazy Frog, a musical re-working of the amphibian mobile phone ring, easily outsold Speed of Sound, the new song by Coldplay, the top-selling British four-piece band now hugely popular in the United States.
The first ringtone to top the British charts, German dance duo Bass Bumber sampled the Crazy Frog tune and re-worked it into a version of Axel F, the theme from the 1980s Eddie Murphy movie
Beverly Hills Cop.
Crazy Frog was initially conceived by Daniel Malmedahl, a young Swede who was trying to electronically mimic the sound of car engines.
It spread when it was marketed in 2004 by the German group Jamba! as a ringtone download. Since its release, it has become a wildly popular hit among mobile phone users all over Europe - while annoying others who would just as soon throw the ringing phone out the window.
Coldplay took number two spot in the charts with their single, the first from imminent album X and Y, so hotly-tipped that its late completion forced record company EMI to issue a profit warning earlier thus year.
In the album chart, Demon Days, the new title by Gorillaz, an invented cartoon four-piece dance band whose music is the work of Blur singer-songwriter Damon Albarn, went straight to number one.
- AFP
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South Africa
