European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pace 18 scene s a o i q d personal rail a cell phones ringtone says a lot about its owner a ringtone does far More than Alert a cellphone to the Dull fact that someones those singsong notes Send a loud and Clear signal to everyone around you about who you Are or at least who you want people to think you they work like a a code sent out into the world to announce your your personality and often your sense of luring in whomever lies on your Given the wide variety of human types out youd think our Choice of ringtones would convey a vast and confusing variety of messages and think in analysing the nations most popu Lar i found that the Over whelming majority fall into rigidly focused categories taken convey a stunningly narrow it goes something like in a super hot sex machine who likes to party so watch looking Over billboards list of top ringtones week after week drives this Point Home with numbing and the results have More resonance than you May a top ringtone can generate hundreds of thousands of downloads per top tones move in the in some cases generating More Money for the pop stars who created them than they cull from their while the overarching message conveyed by these tones is that of shall we healthy the specific identities implied by the ringtones can be broken Down into six focused Cate what does All this strutting and preening mean about us collectively americans have to be the most egocentric people in the says the rap per a Man who has benefited from the ringtone craze More than then it helps to remember that Many people use these tones there meant to get a by far the biggest Market for ringtones is which explains the proliferation of hiphop joke and Novelty which double As the dominant Sellers in pop the categories or messages that most of us seem to fall into with popular examples of each in sexy my Black eyed a strutting ode to ones own body 90 weeks on the Chart and count this is Why in by the title  make its message any Small wonder its the 1 title of the with sales of Over 1 dont pussycat a proclamation that the cellphone owner is sexier than whoever Friend May be listening 77 weeks on the Chart and still holding lofty living because i got the title says it 108 weeks on the and still in the top 2 features lyrics extol Ling smoking pot and drinking Grey last weeks 1 Fly Jim the Harlem rappers Anthem of lofty the sixth most popular Jingle of in hot for you buy you a the Lyric is All about getting someone drunk enough so that you can have your Way with the second most popular ring Dingy of the it recently spent seven weeks at in a a common Anthem by americas most notorious the fifth most popular ring tone of the Candy 50 treating sex As a purchasable 120 weeks on the Chart with no to stuck in the past and proud of it stairway to led Zeppe the pm Staple and original Power the second most popular ring tone of Sweet Home Lynyrd Southern rocks proudest the third most popular ringtone of All 135 weeks on the and still in the top 10 last the super Mario Brothers dates Back from when Nintendo were the fourth most popular ringtone of Al to bad Cool theme from the Pink Henry Retro Cool of the High est 136 weeks on the Chart with Energy to bad from inner the classic outlaw theme after 132 its still on the theme from Mission lab a Vintage to take on hip that later bred the Cool movie franchise with Tom the seventh most popular tone of All having spent 124 weeks on the Chart so to a Rock Star party like a Rock shop hip hops Salute to Rock Roll acting shot to 1 on its first Day the 17th most popular ringtone of 2007 so Rock Neon ranges ironic Salute to the classic spoiled and out control charac after 33 weeks on the it holds in the top Pittsburgh Post