Crazy Frog with Axel F

“Crazy Frog is an abomination.”
“Crazy Frog makes novelty pap like The Teletubbies and Bob the Builder sound like Shostakovich.”
“Crazy Frog’s so-called ‘hit’ is a tissue-thin fabrication — a blip on the musical landscape… an aberration. It’s a substandard pastiche of someone else’s hard work, a shoddy piece of animation, and a ‘lyric’ that make a dial-up modem sound like a Bosendorfer.”
“Crazy Frog embodies everything that’s cynical and crass about today’s music biz. It’s a ring tone for Pete’s sake — a flippin’ ring tone. I mean, what’s wrong with the youth of today?! Don’t they know that the likes of Pink Floyd and the Beatles spent months and months painstakingly crafting their sound? It took musical virtuosity. It took sublime songwriting skills. They were visionaries and they sweated blood for their craft… And then you’ve got Crazy Frog… Crazy Frog?! It’s a ‘song’ that was glued together by some layabout over his first bong before breakfast.”
“Give me a break. If this is a glimpse of the future of music then, please, kill me now.”
Well, that’s the rather strident opinion of our graphic designer here at .
Not sure why he flew off the handle. Maybe putting up with me watching the Crazy Frog video clip for the 20th time on end was a little much for him on a Monday morning… I’m not sure. Or maybe it was the fact he took exception to a draft of this issue’s Video Watch that I asked him to read:
Crazy Frog Rules. Crazy Frog Rocks. Crazy Frog kicks amphibious butt. Crazy Frog is the best thing that’s happened to recorded music since Edison cobbled together the phonograph in his garage.
For those who have been living under a lily pad for the last six months, Crazy Frog is a cute little animated buddy that gets up to all manner of high jinks accompanied by the sounds of Axel F. That’s Axel Foley, don’t you know — Eddie Murphy’s character in Beverley Hills Cop. The theme tune reimagined by Crazy Frog was originally penned by Euro synthmeister, Harold Faltermeyer.
I suspect Harold couldn’t believe his luck. Let me just give you a snippet of a phone transcript venue managed to secure from an Interpol phone tap.
“Is that Harold Faltermeyer?”
“Ja, this is Harold.”
“Crazy Frog here Hazza.”
“If this is about my phone plan, I can assure you that I’m perfectly happy with…”
“No, no, no Haz. This is Crazy Frog, I write mobile phone ringtones.”
“As I say, I’m perfectly happy with…”
“Shuddup Haz, I’ve got a much better offer for you.”
“Okay, but I get free calls after 7pm…”
“No, no, no… I’ve remixed your Axel F tune and we’re planning on selling it to everyone under the age of 13 and a half.”
“Keep talking Herr Frog.”
… And of course the rest is history. Crazy Frog with his storming ring tone magnum opus teamed up with a graphic artist’s state-of-the-art computer animations, and the results charged up charts the world over.
It’s a triumph of ear candy combined with eye candy.
Crazy Frog — my bug-eyed, anatomically curious fried — venue salutes you. – CH.