Internet Memes Events

1979 "Moskau" (Single) by Dshinghis Khan Is Released
Dschinghis Khan was a German pop band, created in 1979 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. The name of the band was chosen to fit the song of the same name, written and produced by...
1983 May 25 "It's a trap!" - Admiral Ackbar Stars in the End of Return of the Jedi
Admiral Ackbar (played by Timothy M. Rose) is a character in the Star Wars fictional universe. He first appears in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and later is a supporting chara...
1985 Mar 14 "Donga", Starring Chiranjeevi and Radha, Released in India
Donga (Thief) is a Telegu film which was released on March 14, 1985. This film was directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy, and stars Chiranjeevi and Radha. This film is produced by T. Trivikram...
1990 "Godwin's Law" is Defined by Mike Godwin
Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is a humorous observation coined by Mike Godwin in 1990, and which has become an Internet adage. It states: "As a Usenet discu...
1992 MC Double Def DP Says: "Don't Copy That Floppy!"
Don’t Copy That Floppy was a popular anti-copyright infringement campaign run by the Software Publishers Association (SPA) beginning in 1992. The video for the campaign, starring M.E. ...
1996 Feb 1 The "Dancing Baby" Gains Popularity on the Internet
The dancing baby aka "Baby Cha-Cha" refers to a 3D character and 3D-rendered animation of a baby dancing for several seconds. The video, one of the earliest examples of an Internet phenom...
1997 Dec 17 Jorn Barger Coins the Term "Weblog"
On Dec. 17, 1997, Jorn Barger became the first person to use the term "weblog" to describe his collection of links logged from the internet.
1998 "Tunak Tunak Tun" by Daler Mehndi Released
"Tunak Tunak Tun", often referred to solely as "Tunak", is a bhangra/pop love song created by Punjabi artist Daler Mehndi and released in 1998. It has become an internet meme because of i...
1998 Aug The Hampster Dance (hampsterdance.com) Created
Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte, who was competing with her best friend and her sister to see who could generate the most traffic, designed The Hampster Dance in August 1998 as a homa...
1999 "Domo-kun" First Appears on Japanese Television
Domo (どーもくん, Dōmo-kun?) is the mascot of Japan's NHK television station, appearing in several 30 second stop-motion sketches shown as station identification during shows. In 2006 Nicke...
1999 Mahir Çağrı Invitates You Turkey--"I Kiss You!" Internet Meme is Born
Mahir Çağrı (born 1962) became an Internet celebrity in 1999. His picture-laden personal homepage, which exclaimed in broken English his love of the accordion, travel, and women was visit...
1999 May Peter Merholz Coins the Term "Blog"
The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999. Shortly therea...
1999 Sep 10 Brad L. Graham Coins the Term 'Blogosphere'
The term 'Blogosphere' was coined on September 10, 1999 by Brad L. Graham, as a joke. It was re-coined in 2002 by William Quick, and was quickly adopted and propagated by the warblog comm...
2000
to 2002
"All your base are belong to us" Gains Popularity Online
"All your base are belong to us" (often shortened to "All Your Base", "AYBABTU", or simply "AYB") is a broken English phrase that was central to an Internet phenomenon, or meme, in 2000-2...
2000 "Hatten är din" Gains Popularity Through Animutation
Hatten är din (Swedish for "The hat is yours"), was a popular internet meme from 2000. It is a flash animation featuring the music of Lebanese musician Azar Habib, the name of the song pl...
2000
to 2001
ROFLCOPTER!!!1 is introduced to Warcraft fans
The Roflcopter (sometimes called ROFLCOPTER) is an Internet phenomenon that originated on the Newgrounds flash website. It is a notable example of using ASCII Art and animation to great e...
2000 Aug 8 "Super Greg" Debuts Online
Super Greg is a fictional DJ created by copywriter Linus Karlsson and creative director Paul Malmstrom for the Minneapolis advertising agency Fallon McElligott as part of a viral marketin...
2000 Nov 2
to 2001 Mar 27
 "John Titor" Presents The Internet With a Dystopian Future (Omaha, Nebraska is the Capitol of the US)
John Titor is the name used on several bulletin boards during 2000 and 2001 by a poster claiming to be a time traveler from the year 2036. In these posts he made numerous predictions (a n...
2001 Apr 4 "Yatta!" By Green Leaves Released
On April 4, 2001, the "Yatta!" single was released under the Pony Canyon label in Japan, it surprisingly hit #6 in the charts and went triple-platinum in Japan within a number of weeks. W...
2001 Jun "Here's a Bunny With a Pancake On Its Head" - Oolong the Rabbit Gains Fame
Oolong (July 28, 1994 — January 7, 2003), named after the oolong variety of tea, was the name of a domestic rabbit owned by photographer Hironori Akutagawa. The rabbit was famous for its ...
2001 Jul 20 Randy Constan Weirds People Out With His "Peter Pan" Costume
Randy Constan is a Peter Pan impersonator who posted his cosplay pictures on a website in 2001, in what he stated was an attempt to find a girlfriend. The website became a widely-circulat...
2002 Mar 21 "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" Makes Its Debut on Newgrounds.com
"Peanut Butter Jelly Time" was a Flash animation created by Ryan Gancenia Etrata and Kevin Flynn posted onto the Offtopic.com forums in early 2002. On March 21, 2002, a user by the name Y...
2002 Nov 4 "Star Wars Kid" Video Created
"Star Wars Kid" is an Internet phenomenon (also called an Internet meme) which started when a fourteen-year-old French Canadian high school student filmed himself wielding a golf ball ret...
2003 The Whistles Go 'Wooooo!' - Bubb Rubb Makes His Internet Debut
Whistle tips, also referred to as whistler tips, or whistlers, are modified vehicle exhaust pipes that generate a deafening whistling sound during the operation of a motor vehicle, and th...
2003 May 22 My Way Entertainment Releases, "The Juggernaut, Bitch!!"
On May 22, 2003, the parody troupe My Way Entertainment released "The Juggernaut Bitch!!", an overdub of part of the X-Men animated TV series episode "Phoenix Saga Part 3: Cry of the Bans...
2003 Aug First Recorded Instance of "O RLY?"
O RLY? is an Internet phenomenon, typically presented as an image macro featuring a Snowy Owl. The phrase "O RLY?" ("Oh, really?") is typically used in a sarcastic or sardonic manner, oft...
2003 Sep 2 "Badger Badger Badger" by Jonti Picking First Published
"Badger Badger Badger", "The Badger Song" or "Badgers" is a Flash cartoon by British animator Jonti Picking. It consists of images of badgers doing calisthenics, a toadstool in front of a...
2004 Feb "Mustard Man" Gains Popularity
Mike "Nug" Nahrgang is a Canadian comedian and actor. He has won three Canadian Comedy Awards as a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Minnesota Wrecking Crew. Nug is also the web-ren...
2004 Apr 25 "Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise" - The Picard Song Gains Prominence
Picard Song is a YTMND created by user ShittyMcShit, his first and only site. It was created on April 25, 2004, and was the first YTMND to get over a million views. Its components are a t...
2004 Jun 2 Günther Releases "Pleasureman" Including the Single "Ding Dong Song"
"Ding Dong Song" is a song by Swedish pop singer Günther, featuring The Sunshine Girls. The song, originally released in 1984 as Tralala by Dutch band Phil & Company, was released in 2004...
2004 Oct 8 George W. Bush Coins the Term "Internets"
"Internets" is a Bushism-turned-catchphrase used humorously to portray the speaker as ignorant about the Internet or about technology in general, or as having a provincial or folksy attit...
2004 Dec 6 "Numa Numa" First Appears on Newgrounds.com
The Numa Numa phenomenon was first popularized by Gary Brolsma's release of Numa Numa Dance onto Newgrounds.com on December 6, 2004. The video shows Gary Brolsma in headphones lipsyncing ...
2005 Jan 14 "The Flying Spaghetti Monster" Appears Online (Bless His Noodly Appendage)
The Flying Spaghetti Monster (or FSM) is the deity of the parody religion the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism. It was created in 2005 by Bobby Henderson as a sati...
2005 Feb "Chuck Norris Facts" Gain Popularity Online
"When Chuck Norris falls in water, Chuck Norris doesn't get wet. Water gets Chuck Norris." —The Internet
2005 Sep 9 "Ualuealuealeuale" Finds Batman Tongue-Tied
Many internet sites (often from YTMND) have juxtaposed 'Chacarron Macarron' by El Chombo with humorous videos of various figures and characters, such as dancing stormtroopers, Batman, Mar...
2005 Dec 15 "Canon Rock" by JerryC Posted Online
"Canon Rock" is a neo-classical metal arrangement of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D major by the Taiwanese musician and composer Jerry Chang (JerryC). The composition contains a variety of...
2005 Dec 23 "Boom Goes the Dynamite" - Brian Collins Nervously Anchors Sports News
Brian Collins, a nervous sports anchor, fumbles highlights, concluding with this infamous catch phrase. Popularly used in an episode of Family Guy among numerous other popular references,...
2006 Jan 24 "Developers" - Steve Ballmer Pumps Up the Volume
Footage featuring Ballmer's flamboyant stage appearances at Microsoft events have been widely circulated on the Internet, becoming viral videos. The most famous of these is commonly title...
2006 Mar The "Crichton Leprechaun" Shocks and Mystifies Mobile Alabama
The Crichton Leprechaun (known alternatively as the Mobile Leprechaun) is a leprechaun purported to have been sighted in March 2006 by the residents of the Crichton neighborhood in Mobile...
2006 May 8 "La caida de Edgar (Edgar's Fall)" Posted Online
Edgar's fall (La caida de Edgar) is a video that was uploaded to YouTube in March 2006 from México. This internet meme has been one of the most popular videos in YouTube, with 15,011,758 ...
2006 Jun 14 LOLcats.com Domain Name Registered
The first recorded use of the term "lolcat" is from the anonymous imageboard 4chan circa 2005. The word "Lolcat" is attested as early as June 2006, and the domain name "LOLcats.com" was r...
2006 Jun 21 "Angry German Kid" Delights Millions With a Healthy Dose of Schadenfreude
The Angry German Kid apparently left his webcam on as he prepared for another gaming session at the PC. Well, first the game wouldn't load properly, and the kid starts getting very angry,...
2006 Aug 6 "Leeroy Jenkins" Charges Into Battle
Leeroy Jenkins, sometimes misspelled Leroy Jenkins and often elongated with numerous additional letters, is an Internet phenomenon named for a player character created by Ben Schultz in B...
2006 Aug 17 "Bas Rutten Street Defense" - Everybody Underestimates the Kick to the Groin.
Bas Rutten produced a series of self defense instructional videos. I hope I never get into a situation that will require these brutal techniques, but damn he makes it look easy.
2006 Nov 6 The Sneezing Baby Panda gives everyone the sniffles
The sneezing baby panda made its first known YouTube appearance as part of a Japanese television clip. The original video, titled "Panda Sneezing yOU WILL LVOE" never became nearly as po...
2007 Mar 11 "THE BEST CAT VIDEO YOU'LL EVER SEE" is First Seen
"The title said it all. Including the best of the best footage on cats. You'll see tricks, flips and much more!" —797Productions
2007 Apr 22 "Chocolate Rain" Posted to Youtube
"Chocolate Rain" is a song and music video written and performed by Tay Zonday, a singer and songwriter. After being posted on YouTube on April 22, 2007, the song quickly became popula...
2007 May First Recorded "Rickroll"
Rickrolling is an Internet meme typically involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch: a person provides a web link th...
2007 Jun 4 Jon "DocEvil" Hendren Coins the Term 'Wikigroaning'
On June 4, 2007, website columnist Jon "DocEvil" Hendren wrote "The Art of Wikigroaning", coining the term wikigroaning. Wikigroaning is a game in which readers explore two Wikipedia arti...
2007 Jun 7 "charlie schmidt's 'cool cat'" aka Keyboard Cat Posted Online
Keyboard Cat is an Internet meme. It consists of footage of "Fatso", a cat (now deceased) owned by Charlie Schmidt of Spokane, Washington, wearing a blue shirt and "playing" an upbeat rhy...