Publication: MTV News Online
Date: April, 1997
Transcribed by
David de Sola (ddesola@emerald.tufts.edu)
David de Sola (ddesola@emerald.tufts.edu)
page: title: Tool Fans Alarmed By April Fools' "Joke" author: http://www.mtv.com/sendme.tin?page=/news/articles/1434926/19970402/tool.jhtml Tool Fans Alarmed By April Fools' "Joke" April 2 [14:00 EST] -- A fake news item posted on a fan website as an April Fools' joke gave Net-savvy Tool fans a scare on Tuesday. The false story posted on "t.d.n., the tool page" stated, in rather urgent tones, that three of the band's members were in critical condition following a tour bus accident in Australia, and that the band's spring and summer tour had been canceled. Noting that the shocking "news" came on April Fools' Day, many fans realized that the item was intended as a prank, but many others failed to see the intended humor and began shooting e-mails and phone calls around in an attempt to learn more. The fan-monitored website posted an apology, and called the bus accident story an "outlandish prank," but not before fans flooded the band's record label, Zoo Records, with a steady stream of phone calls. "We got so many calls yesterday, that we had to take the phone off the hook," a Zoo Records representative told MTV News. "It was literally out of control." The Zoo rep noted that the label had no knowledge of the joke when calls began rolling in, and were just as alarmed as the Tool devotees who were calling them. The label had the story straightened out by about 11 a.m. Eastern time, and as the rep said, "We had a good laugh, eventually." Zoo assures us that everyone in Tool is perfectly fine, and the band is currently wrapping up its Australian tour.page: title: Tool Victim Of Online April Fools' Prank author: Kurt Loder (?) http://www.mtv.com/sendme.tin?page=/news/articles/1434925/19970404/tool.jhtml [Week in Rock] Tool Victim Of Online April Fools' Prank 04.04.1997 KURT: Tuesday was April Fool's Day, and to celebrate it, some clown posted a message on an Internet web site for the industrial band "Tool," claiming that three members of the group had been hospitalized in critical condition following a tour-bus crash in Australia. For the record, this is totally untrue. The group did just wrap up an Australian tour, but there was no accident, no one was hospitalized, and the members of Tool are doing just fine.
Posted to t.d.n: 03/14/01 01:17:00