United Breaks Guitars
You might remember it as Dave Carroll United Breaks Guitars
Funniest videos on the internet25 of 30
2009·Early YouTube
The complaint song that made customer service a public-relations risk.
At a glanceThe facts
- Remembered as
- Dave Carroll United Breaks Guitars
- Spread in
- 2009
- Format
- Video
- Made by
- Dave Carroll, with his band Sons of Maxwell
- Who or what it shows
- A Taylor guitar worth 3,500 dollars, damaged on a United Airlines flight in 2008
- Origin
- Origin not yet established
- Available
- Playable from the source
Why it matteredWhat changed
A musician who spent nine months failing to get compensation for a broken guitar wrote a song about it instead. It was watched 150,000 times in a day, and the airline telephoned to apologise.
TimelineIn order
- Made
Carroll’s guitar is damaged in the airline’s care on a journey from Halifax to Omaha by way of Chicago.1
- Posted
The song is posted to YouTube.1
- Took off
It has been watched more than half a million times.1
- Remixed
A second song follows. A third is released in March 2010.1
- Mainstream
Carroll publishes a book about it.1
What people misrememberSet straight
Commonly remembered asThe video wiped 180 million dollars off United’s share price.
ActuallyThe source calls that difficult to substantiate. The shares hit a low four days after the upload and had risen by four-fifths a month later.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
This is the copy ViralWorld can show you. Whether it is the first is not established.
Where it came fromWhat we know
Original source uncertain. This is the earliest copy currently known.
No original upload has been established for this record. The index is showing the earliest copy it currently knows about, and says so rather than guessing.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
- Where
- Known on YouTube.
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