'The Crazy Frog sound? That's my fault.'

BBC News ^ | 27 January 2005 | Giles Wilson

[Cultural Jihad]

'The Crazy Frog sound? That's my fault.'
By Giles Wilson
BBC News Magazine

The sight of a strange blue-grey frog with a helmet and goggles, revving up an imaginary motorbike while making an infuriating "ding ding dididing" noise, is familiar to much of the country. In fact to most of them it's too familiar... far, far too familiar.

Adverts for the Crazy Frog mobile phone ringtone have played hundreds of times on certain TV channels over the past few weeks; it has earned an estimated £10m, and according to the company selling it, is the most successful ringtone in the world. Now a dance mix has been recorded and played on Chris Moyles's Radio 1 breakfast show.

The frog is irritating to the point of distraction and back again. And yet at the same time, it's strangely compelling.

Weblogger Tim Ireland, who has written on his site Bloggerheads about Crazy Frog's development, is just one of those who is very clear about what this irritating creature does to his head.

"The world would be better off if this wasn't constantly played on its TV screens," he says.

But it's a frustration not completely shared by Daniel Malmedahl, a 24-year-old computer components salesman from Gothenburg, Sweden.

"It's driving people to distraction?" he says. "Is that a compliment?"

It was Daniel who, as a 17-year-old in 1997, sat down in front of his computer and recorded himself imitating his friends' souped-up mopeds. Although he didn't know it at the time, his funny little recording would one day become the Crazy Frog.

"We had many laughs because it's so characteristic, this two-stroke engine sound. My friends found it funny when I started imitating it," he says.

"When we recorded it, we found it very, very funny. We laughed until we got tears."

Before long, an acquaintance of Daniel's had posted the recording on the web, where a researcher on Swedish TV found it and persuaded Daniel to perform the sound live on television.

From there, it was used on various websites, particularly on one called the Insanity Test, which had the sound playing alongside a picture of a racing car, with the challenge for people to listen without laughing.

In 2003, Daniel's fellow Swede, Erik Wernquist, drew the now familiar animated frog to go with the sound, christened it The Annoying Thing, and put it on his website for download.

Not rich

And then the final piece in the tale came late last year, when ringtone company Jamster contacted Erik and Daniel for permission to sell it as a download for phones.

The good news is that both men are making some money of their creation.

"Actually Jamster is making a hell of a lot of money," says Daniel. "It's one of the best-selling ringtones in the world. And yes, they give me a cut of it. But I don't think it's even a little percent of how much they are making from it."

"Will it make me rich? No," he laughs. "Actually that's none of your business, but no it's not going to make me rich."

He's more pleased at the attention his sound has got.

"I'm very, very, very stunned that it's gone so far, almost too far. It's such a little creation, it's less than a minute and I would guess that most people actually would have no idea that it's an imitation of a two stroke engine."

Imitation

So what next? There's more where the Crazy Frog came from.

"I have a lot of sounds," Daniel says. "I always tend to imitate a lot of stuff in my environment, at work, at home, with my friends. It could be anything - even a door opening."

Then, with a combination of "sshkkkkks" and "ennngggsss", he demonstrates his imitation of the opening of a spaceship's door.

One sound he recorded was based on an old Amiga game. "It sounds very funny and I had to imitate it. So I sent it to a [company] who would investigate if it could be a hit."

Sadly, though, the company's reaction was just to wonder if the Crazy Frog had "lost it".

"People have very high expectations," he says.

So will Daniel spare a thought for those who are going round the bend listening to his two-stroke moped?

"Well I don't know if I can apologise... Many people find it funny and appreciate it. But you know I have no influence of the broadcasting of commercials, that's out of my hands."

But the question which cannot go unanswered: can he still make the noise?

Hear his answer here...

[EagleUSA]

Oh Darn -- I thought this was about the French!!!

[nuconvert]

"The frog is irritating to the point of distraction and back again. And yet at the same time, it's strangely compelling."

I'm not compelled in the least.
btw - does that frog have a penis?

[kaktuskid]

Uhh, yeah!

Have seen this annoying ad during late night hours