'Crazy Frog' hops over Coldplay to Britain's number one spot

AFP, May, 2005

LONDON (AFP) — In an event that will have music purists weeping over their vinyl LPs, a novelty song based on a mobile phone ringtone leapfrogged over the comeback single from rockers Coldplay to the coveted British number one spot.

As expected, "Crazy Frog," a musical re-working of the amphibian mobile phone ring, easily outsold "Speed of Sound", the new song by Coldplay, the top-selling British four-piece band now hugely popular in the United States.

The first ringtone to top the British charts, German dance duo Bass Bumber sampled the "Crazy Frog" tune and re-worked it into a version of "Axel F", the theme from the 1980s Eddie Murphy movie "Beverly Hills Cop".

"Crazy Frog" was initially conceived by Daniel Malmedahl, a young Swede who was trying to...