Dave Carroll Smashes YouTube Records With 'United Breaks Guitars'

It's hard to imagine that any artist could compete with Michael Jackson for media buzz right now. But, since posting the first video in a song trilogy, 'United Breaks Guitars,' on YouTube, Canadian folk rocker Dave Carroll has gone from relative unknown to the latest Internet phenom. "I don't think anyone can imagine this happening," Carroll tells Spinner. "It's become YouTube's number one rated music video of all time and number three in any category."

The video was made for $150, with friends donating their time and the local firehouse, where Carroll is a volunteer firefighter, providing the "tarmac" for the shockingly hilarious scene where the "baggage handler" swings a guitar case round and round and hurls it through the air. That action by a real United worker resulted in $1200 worth of damages for Carroll and his band, The Sons of Maxwell, and the story certainly struck a chord with the public. "I got home last Tuesday night and there were 1,000 emails in my inbox," he says while relaxing at a restaurant in his hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. "30 to 40-percent of them were people saying thank you for voicing this, it happened to me too."

The simple country ditty isn't about revenge, says the 41-year-old. Carroll let go of the frustration of wrangling with United to recoup the money the band spent in repairs, then wrote the songs simply because that's what he does. If there is any justice, though, CD sales both on iTunes and by mail-order have shot through the roof.

"My mother handles our mail-order. I went round there on Saturday and her couch was piled high with CDs ready to be mailed out." It was the third "couch full," his mom said, thrilled, but looking tired.

"We might have to hire someone to help her," Carroll says. "Or at least buy her a bigger sofa."