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Crazy Frog

You might remember it as Axel F, Ringding

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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
Era
Early web, before YouTube
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

  1. Made

    Daniel Malmedahl, a student in Gothenburg, records himself imitating a two-stroke engine.1

  2. 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

  3. Mainstream

    The ringtone company Jamba! renames the character Crazy Frog and begins advertising it in the middle of the year.1

  4. 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

  5. Corrected

    The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority rules that the ringtone advertisements may not be shown before nine in the evening.1

  6. Came back

    A new single is released after a gap of twelve years.1

The version you rememberNot the same thing

The version people rememberCrazy Frog

A ringtone, a television advertisement and a chart single from 2004 and 2005.1

Where the footage came from2TAKTARE.MP3 and The Annoying Thing

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

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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

SourcesWhat was read

  1. Wikipedia — Crazy Frog

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

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