A Month of Guilty Pleasures: Crazy Frog - Axel F

One of the biggest worldwide hit songs of 2005 began as a couple of music producers trying to create a dance hit based on a ring tone. The character Crazy Frog, aka “The Most Annoying Thing In The World,” is a cartoon-like amphibian created in 2004 by a German mobile phone company. The company, known internationally as Jamba!, invented the animal, as well as the unique and high-pitched sounds he made hoping that the annoying little critter would catch on. After a good deal of advertising by the company, the ring tone became ubiquitous throughout Europe and turned into one of the top-selling tones in history. Of course the music industry saw this as a major opportunity, and German producers the Bass Bumpers were hired to create a song using Crazy Frog. They very randomly chose to sample the theme to the 1985 film Beverly Hills Cop known as “Axel F.” The song, originally performed by Harold Faltermeyer, was apparently a good choice as it went on to hit number one in over a dozen European countries including the UK, Spain, and France. “Axel F” borrows lines from both the original song, as well as some of Crazy Frog’s infamous ring tone gibberish. Although a major hit across Europe, the same level of popularity failed to translate on this side of the pond as it was barely able to muster a top 50 chart appearance.

As popular as “Axel F” became over a year ago, most would describe the song as being just as annoying as it is catchy. The cartoon Frog’s “A ding ding dings” being yelped in a high pitch may be cringe inducing for some, but in some strange way, the tune sounds like a production stroke of genius.

Watch the "Axel F" video.

Full list of Guilty Pleasures.

_{Animated character by Erik Wernquist}