10.03.04
Rapid Electric Movements
Michael Stipe demands ringtones for electric cars:
The idea came to Stipe when he nearly got totalled by a battery-powered vehicle in Los Angeles. He then experienced a blinding moment of clarity in which “I suddenly thought to myself: ‘This is going to be a big, big problem. People will be run over by electric cars all the time. They make no noise. No sound. They’re silent!”
Stipe quickly rejected the idea that electric jalopies should mimic the sound of a petrol-driven engine on the grounds that it would be “stupid”. “And then it struck me – ringtones,” he says. “People will program their car, as part of the insurance policy that states: ‘Don’t run people over with your silent car’, with ringtones.”
[Did anyone catch the double meaning in the title of this post? Yeah, I thought so.]