• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

What's the oldest meme you remember?

Status
Not open for further replies.
-sdp

-sdp

Member
All your base and Goatse are some of the first I remember, many of the examples here are from the later days in the 2000's. ASCII art was fun. Maybe hamster dance as well?

It makes me feel old when O rlly owl was some people's first meme, and I'm surprised no one here has mentioned "Every time you masturbate.... God kills a kitten. That was as popular as many other memes here.
 
shira

shira

Member
bUNXwFD.jpg
 
F

Fugu

Member
It's hard to know what counts as a meme, but I'm going to say trout-slapping.

This is one image that I remember particularly well, partially because I still think it's hilarious:
stolen-megahurtz.jpg
 
Biff

Biff

Member
The problem with "meme" is that there's a difference between fads/really popular shit and "memes".

Like Pogs... That was a fad.
Dancing baby... Meme? Nah. The Internet didn't know what a meme was back in the late 90s.

Now, the first forced meme - that's a quality topic there.
And for that, my answer is Chocolate Rain.
 
mhayes86

mhayes86

Member
Erekiddo said:
Or better yet, the oldest memorable one you remember. We all remember the dancing baby bullshit.

Mine: Dschinghis Khan - Moskau

http://youtu.be/BQAKRw6mToA
Click to expand...

That was a meme? I came across that song several years ago because some metal band (I can't remember who) did a cover of it.

Anyway, probably the ooga-chaka baby, I think. Hell, it even made it onto that Ally McBeal show or something. If that doesn't count, then I don't know. Maybe Leeroy Jenkins around 2004/2005 when I was playing WoW? I can't remember how long ago some of the older memes are that I'm familiar with.
 
E

Erekiddo

Member
mhayes86 said:
That was a meme? I came across that song several years ago because some metal band (I can't remember who) did a cover of it.

Anyway, probably the ooga-chaka baby, I think. Hell, it even made it onto that Ally McBeal show or something.
Click to expand...

Meme, internet fad/sensation, offline sensation.

Doesn't matter. This thread has reminded me of stuff I had forgotten.
 
Q

Quixzlizx

Member
Does "Cowabunga!" count? I feel like the TMNT cartoon was full of memes for elementary-school aged kids.

Also "It's so bad" from The Wizard.
 
mhayes86

mhayes86

Member
Erekiddo said:
Meme, internet fad/sensation, offline sensation.

Doesn't matter. This thread has reminded me of stuff I had forgotten.
Click to expand...

Nah, I'm just surprised is all. I was never aware that it was any of those for any stretch of time. I heard the song on an album and thought it was catchy, so I looked it up and came across the original song on YouTube. Never heard about it outside of my circle of friends who I introduced it to.
 
M

megarockexe

Member
An old one I can remember that I'm not sure is up anymore is this "got pwned" website or something like that which was popular at the time. The gimmick was it played with subdomains, so it was like: yourname.gotpwned.com and then the preceding animations had that name on it.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
Brokun said:
Yes! This one.
Click to expand...

A younger MrCunningham used to spend so much of his time trying to make popular meme's on YTMND.


Meowster said:
Yeah it was from that but this guy was everywhere on the internet in the late 90s (I think? Was it early 2000s? I was so young then). I remember everyone emailing it on their AOL and Compuserve email accounts.
Click to expand...

The baby dance actually predates Ally McBeal and was making its rounds on the internet a year or so before the show ever aired. But the show actually made the baby dancing gif even more mainstream and popular online.
 
S

StoneFox

Member
Oh, the joys of memes before it was 'Vaguely funny image with Impact font on two lines' image macros.

I definitely remember All Your Base, Various YTMNDs, End of Ze World, Kamikaze Watermelon, Numa Numa, and Hamster Dance, although they all kinda blur together with regards of what year they became popular. YTMNDs used to be my jam during middle school.
 
karasu

karasu

Member
The oldest I remember is "You're the man now, dog!"I still say it to this day.

Aeana said:
We used to draw this on all kinds of things (back in the 80s) and I don't think any of us knew what it actually was.
Click to expand...

I thought it was just a fancy S. It isn't?
 
A

AnathemicOne

Banned
Not sure the exact age of these but the super earliest I remember are: Peanut Butter Jelly Time, End of Ze World, All Your World Are Belong To Us, and You Activated My Trap Card
 
T

thelastcrusader

Banned
MrCunningham said:
Goatse was the original Rick Roll. Back when online chat groups were still a thing, I would see people stealth re-direct websites to Goatse with messages like "Check out my website and photos of me".
Click to expand...

I'll never forget being sent fake URLs in AIM prefaced by a friend "turn your speakers up this song is amazing" only to have "YOU ARE WATCHING GAY PORN. EVERYONE THERE IS GAY PORN GOING ON IN THIS ROOM." blast through the speakers while a browser with Goatse was stuck on my screen and I couldn't close it except for ALT+CTRL+DELETE. The days of my youth.
 
M

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
YATTA!!
 
WaterAstro

WaterAstro

Member
People got the definition of meme wrong. A meme has to be spread through the culture through replication, taking the initial idea and changing it.

Macarena is just a dance. Everyone is doing the original macarena. They are not using the macarena dance and replicating it with an original style. An example of a dance music that turned into a meme is the Harlem Shake.

All Your Base is the oldest meme for sure.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Whats the oldest game you finished this year?
2 3 4 5
224
8K
Little Mac replied
What's the oldest game in your backlog you think you'll actually play?
2
71
2K
NightmareFarm replied
What are some of the most toxic fandoms?
2
54
3K
Kadve replied
What Does Star Trek Mean to You?
Social Opinion Community 2
82
3K
sono replied
What is the point of gaming hardware marketing? When you can't even remember the name?
14
898
BennyBlanco replied
Top Bottom