Old Memes

By Shamus Posted Thursday Apr 3, 2008

Filed under: Movies 50 comments

No time for anything substantive today. Instead, check out these exceptionally old memes, which may be so old they’re new again. All three five are strangely disturbing and compelling in their own way. A sort of, “how did this come to be?” Perhaps you missed one.


Monkey Vs. Robot:

THE TERRIBLE SECRET OF SPACE:

Numa Numa Guy:

PBJ Time:

As Phlux points out below, the list just doesn’t look right without good ‘ol AYBABTU:

All of these have millions upon millions of views, with the exception of Monkey vs. Robot and Terrible Secret of Space, both of which came and went years before YouTube appeared. Oh yeah – I probably should have mentioned up above, but any one of these is likely to infect you for days. These things were memes for a reason.

Anyway, people are strange.

 


From The Archives:
 

50 thoughts on “Old Memes

  1. Nick Pitino says:

    Huh, apparently I haven’t been around the internet enough. The Monkey VS Robot one is new to me.

    Cool though.

  2. GreyDuck says:

    Do you have stairs in your house?

    I got an entire department of non-geeky types at my former workplace hooked on TSOS when it came out. That was a hoot.

  3. Rebecca says:

    That’s not the best AYBABTU video.

  4. Katy says:

    Have you seen the Power Thirst Energy Drink spoof? That’s pretty hilarious. XD

  5. Chilango2 says:

    Then there’s the utlimate showdown of ultimate destiny. I forget when it came out.

    http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/showdown

    Honestly, I’ve seen all the AYBABTU videos and that is the best one, the voices match the best.

  6. A different Dan says:

    Rebecca@4: WHAT YOU SAY!

  7. krellen says:

    I’ve never seen the video before, but I’m quite familiar with James Kolchaka Superstar’s Monkey vs. Robot. I loved the Terrible Secret of Space though; thanks for the catch up Shamus.

  8. capital L says:

    “that is incorrect. shoving will protect you. shoving will protect you from the terrible secret of space.”

    Oh god that’s gonna be in my head for roughly a week minimum.

    Oh those halcyon days of SA lore…

  9. Vegedus says:

    Ah, yes, it’s good to see the oldies ones in a while to remind you there was an internetz before 4chan.

    Also, Star Wars kid…

  10. Rask says:

    I still think the best line from AYB is “Move Zig for Great Justice!”

  11. Rhykker says:

    Heh I was going to mention the Ultimate Showdown, but someone else did.

    Here’s a link to the newgrounds video, where I believe it originated. It was topping the charts for months (much to the dismay of some of the newgrounds community)

    http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/285267

    Over 10 million views, on newgrounds alone.

    I memorized the lyrics years ago, heh.

    “Angels sang out,
    in immaculate chorus…

    Down from the heavens,
    descended Chuck Norris.”

  12. KnottyMan says:

    For good ol’ suck your eyes out of your head seizure bait – http://www.starterupsteve.com/seizurebots/

  13. Nilus says:

    Shamus did you happen to see the new South Park last night. The episode, in part, was about internet Memes and how they make hypothetical money. The Numa numa guy was in it, along witha bunch others.

  14. Davesnot says:

    uh.. maybe there is a reason you get migrains? Dude!

  15. Ian Davis says:

    @GreyDuck: I am protected.

    Ah, nostalgia time :V

  16. evilbut says:

    The first thing that popped into my head when seeing that title:

    “WHAT YOU SAY!!”

  17. Bear says:

    If we’re dredging up the past…

    welcome to Zombo com!: http://zombo.com/

    And who can forget Weebl’s Stuff with:
    Magical Trevor: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/search/?q=trevor&x=0&y=0
    Where can ya see lions? Only in Kenya!: http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/kenya/
    And, of course… : http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/badgers/

    mAd c0w!!!: http://www.funfreepages.com/flash/mad_cow.php

    I Want a Fat Babe!: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/fatbabe

    everyone else has had more sex then me: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/bunny

    The insanity test: http://www.ratedo.com/articles/insanitytest/

    and if you want to roll people with Numa Numa, use this link (I’m ashamed I remember its on the web… must bash brain with hammer.): http://img69.exs.cx/img69/2278/gojyone.swf

  18. Studoku says:

    Badgerbadgerbadger definately deseves a mention.

  19. Eric Meyer says:

    Look up the David Blaine parody videos, too– though not if you have a low tolerance for swearing.

  20. WWWebb says:

    What’s all this movie stuff? If you’re going to pull out old memes, Joecartoon is still around with Frog in a Blender. Or you could go annoyingly old school and whip out the Hamsterdance.

  21. Ian says:

    “He’s gonna take you back to the past…”

  22. hevis says:

    Have you seen Zero Wing Rhapsody? Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen with AYBABTU lyrics.. :)

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=qE6emvdmg-M

  23. anonymouse says:

    “Ultimate Showdown” may be what became the meme, but I find this one even better: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/geeks

  24. El Zoof says:

    How quickly they forget the Yodel of Life.

  25. Zaxares says:

    Yes, but what IS the terrible secret of space?? *eyes dart about frantically*

  26. RadioDave says:

    As much as I loved the badger meme… I can never truly forget The Llama Song.

    Thanks for the stroll down internet memory lane Shamus.

  27. Oboe Cop says:

    Hey can anyone tell me where Sparta is?

  28. Octalforty says:

    What, no hamsterdance? I would link to it, but the site has been redone, and their “original song” link doesn’t point to the original song. WTC?

  29. Tim Keating says:

    I had seen the other ones, but I just got exposed to “Numa Numa” a couple of months ago. I immediately had to go and buy “Dragostea Din Tei” on iTunes. My 7-year old son made me play it in the car for *weeks*.

  30. fish_head says:

    After initially finding your site and becoming addicted through DMotR, I am surprised to not see “They’re taking the Hobbits to Isengard”

    http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/hobbits

  31. Aaron Leong says:

    ZOMG THE NUMA NUMA GUY!

    I used to spend literally HOURS listening to that song when I was studying. It literally numbed your brain to the point that anything you read gets absorbed together with the fuzzy white noise.

    Thanks Shamus for the nostalgic moment! :P

    And I agree Tim, “Dragostea Din Tei” is addictive.

  32. Phlux says:

    @24

    I think hamsterdance was maybe the first internet meme. There were many before it that were just as worthy, but it was at the right time in the right place, just as the web was blossoming and it took the internet by storm.

    I can’t think of one before it that was quite so big.

    In a lot of ways, hamsterdance was also the first YTMND.

  33. BeckoningChasm says:

    Hey, I remember one real popular animated one about a deadly roller-coaster, set to a They Might Be Giants song!! Wow, that one was awesome!! I wonder who did that one, it was totally popular for a while there!!

    ;)

  34. Shandrunn says:

    OMG, Hamsterdance. That was HUGE back in like ’98 when internet was just getting widespread around here.

  35. TalrogSmash says:

    de da dee dot dee de doh doh
    dee dot dee dee doh …

    …yeeehaaw!…

  36. Namfoodle says:

    @ BeckoningChasm:

    That was pretty good. The funniest part was when some kid tried to “meme-jack” old Shamus.

  37. Lanthanide says:

    Here’s a new (and very good) one:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6IQ_FOCE6I

  38. cnh says:

    Can’t forget the father of our nation…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ8BCNj2oao

  39. And yet, can any of these memes withstand the glorious searing light of Moskau?

  40. Chris Arndt says:

    What about banaphone… hamster… gah! Something!

    So.

    I find the Lemon Demon Ultimate Showdown song awesome and catchy…. but I find the video distasteful…. mostly because of the paedophiliac gay themes.

    But why would Batman steal Indiana Jones’ gun?

  41. Jonathan says:

    It’s not in the same realm as Numa Numa, but this made me recall the extreme PvP of the Chip N’ Dales MMORPG: http://youtube.com/watch?v=mrqPhYJBoGs

  42. refugee says:

    The Great Dancing Grandbaby of Them All

    This survives

    Rather good:
    The Spong Monkeys like the moon.
    The Spongs also did some very entertaining ads for Quiznos. “Beware of Paper Cuts”

    and

    Independent Kittens Woman

    What is love?
    This.
    I particularly love the Empire Strikes Back Volkswagen.

    Tokyo Plastic’s Drum Machine.

    You may want to turn your volume down before starting each clip, since, annoyingly, most flash animations do not seem to provide volume controls.

    For awhile, there was a small trend of music machines, where you were given several “instruments”. Click on one, and it would insert its sound into a continuously running loop. Eventually, you could built up very interesting little pieces.

    Can’t find them now.

  43. Rev.Blacky says:

    “Oboe Cop:
    April 4th, 2008 at 7:59 am
    Hey can anyone tell me where Sparta is?”

    Yes.
    The city of Sparta lies at the southern end of the central Laconian butts, on the right bank of the Eurotas River. It was a strategic site, guarded on three sides by mountains and controlling the routes by which invading armies could penetrate Laconia and the southern Peloponnesus via the Langhda Pass over Mt Taygetus. At the same time, its distance from the sea ““ Sparta was 27 miles from its seaport, Gythium ““ made it difficult to blockade.

    Sparta (Σπάρτη, Spartē) is a municipality of Laconia, Greece. It is situated on the location of ancient Sparta. Population in 2001 was 18,184, of which 14,817 lived in the town itself.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P27ZNx9ovds

  44. tjtheman5 says:

    IT’S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!

    My hometown’s baseball team (Tampa bay Rays) had a performance of that song being danced to by a man in an inflatable banana costume.

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