2nd 'United Breaks Guitars' video released
Last Updated: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 | 11:12 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
External Links
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)
Dave Carroll of the pop-folk band Sons of Maxwell has released a second satirical music video about airline customer service on YouTube. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)Folk musician Dave Carroll has launched his latest online volley at United Airlines, posting a second humorous music video about the airline destroying his guitar.
"When all this started, I wasn't really hoping for anything. I was just sharing my frustrations … and trying to find a creative way, as a songwriter, to write three songs about the same topic and have them all be lighthearted and funny and unique," Carroll, the primary songwriter of Halifax band Sons of Maxwell, told CBC News on Tuesday.
In July, Carroll released the video for his song United Breaks Guitars. It became a viral sensation that eventually garnered about five million hits on YouTube.
However, besides the online fame, Carroll says he has most enjoyed the discussion, including receiving thousands of emails from people who are awaiting subsequent videos after having had similar experiences.
"It's the passion behind the conversations, the watercooler discussions I'm hearing about and the amount of people who are thanking me for having a song that voices their concerns about their customer service nightmares in the past."
Carroll has yet to travel on the airline since the 2008 incident, in which he and his bandmates watched — in horror — as United baggage handlers in Chicago carelessly tossed their equipment from the plane.
He spent nine months trying to negotiate compensation for his smashed, $3,500 custom Taylor acoustic guitar before releasing the first video.
"But I would [fly United] and I may again one day. My goal with this whole thing is not to drive United into the ground. It's hopefully to compel them maybe to do some customer service improvements," he said.
With one more song to go in his proposed trilogy, Carroll has issued a challenge to the airline.
"If United would go online and on record saying that they were going to make substantive changes to customer service and make the experience better for people, I'd be inclined to write about that," he said.
"[The third song] is still not written and it'll be released in the fall, though. If United wants to take part, they just have to come to the table and share what they're going to do to make it better for everybody."
Share Tools
FILM REVIEW: Men in Black 3 by Eli Glasner May. 25, 2012 11:40 AM Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back in the action sequel Men in Black 3, a third instalment of a series now 15 years old. Though new addition Josh Brolin manages some amazing mimicry as a younger version of Jones, the story doesn't measure up to the weird and wonderful charms of the original, says film reviewer Eli Glasner.
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's family asks for government help
- The family of a Toronto woman who lost her life in pursuit of her lifelong dream to climb Mount Everest is asking the Canadian government to help pay the cost of bringing her body back to Canada. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Foreign investment review threshold rising to $1 billion
- The federal government is raising to $1 billion the amount of foreign money that can go into a Canadian company before the investment is reviewed. more »
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- Organ donation advocate Hèlène Campbell of Ottawa made her second appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but her first since undergoing a double-lung transplant. more »
Latest Arts & Entertainment News Headlines
- Shakespeare's Winter's Tale gets African reboot
- A Nigerian theatre company is performing an African reboot of The Winter's Tale, one of the lesser known tragicomedies written by the Bard, in London as part of the London Cultural Olympiad. more »
- Elton John cancels Las Vegas concerts over illness
- Elton John is suffering from a serious respiratory infection and has cancelled three Las Vegas performances on doctors' orders. more »
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- Organ donation advocate Hèlène Campbell of Ottawa made her second appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but her first since undergoing a double-lung transplant. more »
- Vancouver Bieber fans in disbelief over tour snub
- Justin Bieber announced yesterday morning the dates of his world tour in support his latest album Believe, but fans in Vancouver were disappointed to see that their city didn't make the list. more »
Q Blog
Toni Morrison on her two selves May. 25, 2012 11:54 AM Jian speaks with the celebrated African American author and academic about her two conflicting selves, and her new novel, Home.
CBC Books
Talking about war May. 25, 2012 11:51 AM The public conversation around war has always been complex and thorny. How does Canada's military approach differ from that of other countries? Are we a society of peacekeepers or warriors? These are some of the questions that Noah Richler explores in his new book What We Talk About When We Talk About War.
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- New mom among dead in Aylmer triple stabbing
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Workers' EI history to affect claim under new rules
- Conservatives move again to have robocalls suits tossed
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- SpaceX capsule captured by Canadarm2
- Coffee prices get jolt in jittery economy
- Gatineau police to question man in multiple homicides


