Bin Laden song takes world by storm

Lisa Snedeker

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001 | 8:40 a.m.

A patriotism-fueled parody song written by a Las Vegas radio team is being played on more than 100 U.S. radio stations and around the world via the Internet.

"The Bin Laden Bomb Song," sung to the tune of Harry Belafonte's calypso-pop classic, "The Banana Boat Song," was written by KOMP-FM's morning show crew about a week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Two months later, people around the world are downloading cartoon versions of a gun-toting Bin Laden running and ducking for cover as a cartoon version of Secretary of State Colin Powell sings: "Come Mr. Taliban, hand over Bin Laden ... Colin Powell going to bomb his home." President Bush accompanies him on a large drum.

"I never thought it would be this big," longtime KOMP morning show disc jockey Craig Williams told The Associated Press Monday.

Williams collaborated with Al Miller, Andy Kaye and Doug Marsh on the tune.

"It started with Andy Kaye walking around the hallways singing 'Hey Mr. Taliban,' " said Williams, a 40-year-old Las Vegas native.

The group is known for writing parodies "as soon as something big comes out, but it's not mean-spirited," said Miller, 34, a Chicago native who has been playing guitar for 20 years.

Within 48 hours of the song's debut, the radio station was inundated with requests.

"Once we made it available for download on komp.com, it ballooned from there," Williams said. "It's been e-mailed all over the world. We're getting played in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, France and Germany."

The accompanying cartoon video can be downloaded for free off two websites: madblast.com and gotlaughs.com.

"The video has been downloaded more than 10 million times," Miller said. "It's taken over as an Internet phenomenon." The song has been downloaded from the KOMP website more than 60,000 times, the disc jockeys said.

The foursome have also been featured on National Public Radio, CNN and the British Broadcasting Corp., among others. NBC's "Today" show plans to tape the KOMP morning show Tuesday for an upcoming segment, the network said.

"It's an example of how something is spread around the world through the Internet," said news producer Cecilia Alvear. "After all this tragedy, maybe people just want to be able to laugh."

Miller said he hopes the song can help people heal.

"I got an e-mail from a guy in upstate New York that said he laughed for the first time since the attacks when he heard our song. That validated it for me."

KOMP also is credited with another popular attack-related song. Dave Martin, production director, spliced a version of U2's "Peace on Earth" with sound bites from Sept. 11 events and President Bush's speech.

The song was one of the most frequently played tributes in radio markets across the country, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

KOMP has purchased binladenbombsong.com and plans call for the song along with other parodies to be available on a CD within two weeks. All proceeds will go to Las Vegas-area charities.

"I think the song is hilarious and clever," said Tony Bonnici, general manager of KOMP's owner, Lotus Broadcasting. "I think we needed it and I think the country needed it."