Crazy Frog
You might remember it as Axel F, Ringding
Viral classics23 of 40
2003·Early web, before YouTube
A Swedish teenager imitating a two-stroke engine, sold as a ringtone to the entire world.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Axel F
- Spread in
- 2003
- Format
- Phenomenon
- Made by
- Daniel Malmedahl made the sound; Erik Wernquist made the character
- Original title
- The Annoying Thing
- Taken from
- A 1997 recording of Malmedahl imitating a two-stroke engine, shared as 2TAKTARE.MP3
- Origin
- No single original
- Available
- Playable from the source
What this wasThe story
Erik Wernquist's animation set to Daniel Malmedahl's mouth-made engine noise, spread as a ringtone and a video until it outsold Coldplay. One of the first cases of an internet joke becoming a mainstream commercial product.
Why it matteredWhat changed
A student’s impression of a two-stroke engine, an animator’s character and a ringtone company’s advertising produced a number-one single. Something passed around the internet for fun was bought up and sold back as a ringtone.
TimelineIn order
- Made
Daniel Malmedahl, a student in Gothenburg, records himself imitating a two-stroke engine.1
- Made
Erik Wernquist posts a 3D animated character set to the sound, which he calls The Annoying Thing. He credits the sound to “Anonymous”, and to Malmedahl once he learns who made it.1
- Mainstream
The ringtone company Jamba! renames the character Crazy Frog and begins advertising it in the middle of the year.1
- Record
A single setting the sound to Axel F is released. It enters the UK chart at number one and stays there four weeks.1
- Corrected
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority rules that the ringtone advertisements may not be shown before nine in the evening.1
- Came back
A new single is released after a gap of twelve years.1
The version you rememberNot the same thing
A ringtone, a television advertisement and a chart single from 2004 and 2005.1
A sound file that had circulated on file-sharing networks for years, and an animation made by somebody else who did not know whose sound it was.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asA 2005 novelty record.
ActuallyThe sound is from 1997 and the character from 2003. The single came last.1
Commonly remembered asA frog.
ActuallyIts animator said: “It’s not a frog and it’s not particularly crazy either.”1
More from hereIn this collection
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later
The version shown here is an official copy on YouTube, published by a rights holder.
Where it came fromWhat we know
This spread through many posts rather than one identifiable original. The example shown is one surviving copy and is not claimed as the first.
View the official copy on YouTube
Nothing here is claimed to be the first version of this. It spread through many posts rather than from one identifiable original.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things