Five Retro Ringtones that we’ll Never Forget!
Having an outspoken ringtone in today’s age is bordering on social suicide – in fact, anything but the standard tones built into your device can be somewhat suspect. However, this wasn’t the case just a few years ago.
We can recall the days of sitting by the radio, hoping to record our favourite songs for our ringtones. Barring this, spending an unwieldy £3 for a thirty second clip of NSYNC’s ‘Bye bye bye’ would be seen as a wise investment for our mobile phones.
But to this day, there are still some retro ringtones we’ll never be able to forget. So we’ve decided to go on a trip down memory lane to listen to some of best (or worst) memorable tones of recent history!
The Crazy Frog
Who can forget this ill-conceived animated creation? The crazy frog originally began life as an internet video, but soon took off as one of the most memorable ringtones of all time.
The original version was remixed by Axel F in 2005, and debuted at number one in the UK singles chart for four weeks. We’re not entirely sure what the country was thinking buying this song…
Either way, the Crazy Frog lives long in the memory, with many school kids leaving their phones ringing just to hear the whole song – much to the dismay of the people ringing them. You can hear the full Crazy Frog song here. Be warned, if you use this as your ringtone now, we can’t be held liable for any discerning looks you might get.
Classic Nokia Tone
**We all love the old Nokia ringtone! **But which are the best Nokia mobile phones ever?
Arguably the most iconic retro ringtone of all time, the classic Nokia tone was made famous by the Trigger Happy TV sketch with the enormous phone. The phone would go off to this tune in awkward circumstances, only for the user to scream down the phone in a fictional conversation.
Admittedly, it made superb television, and made Nokia phones the handset to have. To this day it still features on many Microsoft Lumia devices in some shape or form. At its peak it’s estimated that the traditional Nokia ringtone was heard an estimated 1.8bn times a day worldwide- about 20,000 times per second!
You still might be able to pull off using this ringtone if you use a Nokia feature phone. However, you may find yourself reminiscing rather than actually answering your phone. You can find a collection of the hilarious Trigger Happy TV clips featuring the Nokia ringtone here!
Sony Ericsson Retro Ringtone
Back in the days when Sony Ericsson phones was battling Nokia for mobile dominance, we got this short and catchy retro ringtone. It was nothing too special, but it quickly found a way into most Sony Ericsson users’ hearts.
It lasted all the way to 2011 until Sony bought out Ericsson’s stake in the smartphone company. After this, the tone was left to live on in the few surviving Sony Ericsson handsets that there now are.
If you still have a working smartphone from the company, you might be able to find this retro ringtone in your music folder. It certainly sounds far too outdated for use in today’s smartphone heavy world – but then again, a comeback could be on the cards! You can listen to the Sony Ericsson ringtone here!
Sony may have dropped the Ericsson tag, but they still make quality handsets, such the Xperia Z3.
Mission Impossible
A fan favourite movie with one of the most memorable theme tunes was always going to make a popular ringtone. In fact, you’d probably find yourself acting out some of the movie’s more famous scenes if this ringtone was playing!
If you fancy yourself as the next Tom Cruise, or if you simply feel like you need a little bit of spy-based suspense in your day to day life, we’re sure that you’ll be able to download this ringtone today without any bother. Also, with the next movie planned for this year, you’ll be right in fashion with it as well!
If you need reminding of this classic movie music, you can catch the full Mission Impossible theme tune here!
That One you made yourself!
**We miss the good old days of mobile phones! **Especially considering that we now have these smartphone first world problems to deal with!
Let’s face it, one of the true joys which none of these millennial generation kids will never get to experience is composing their own ringtones. We’d often find ourselves spending hours hunting out new tunes simply to compose on our old mobile phones.
Of course, actually composing the ringtones wasn’t all that easy if you didn’t have a website to find them on, meaning half of the work actually involved looking up the notes you’d need to make a tune. However, once you’d manage to get one composed, there was no sweeter feeling…
Do you miss your retro Nokia? Relive the joy of physical buttons with the Nokia 105, free on contract.
Can you think of any classic ringtones we’ve missed?