Screen capture of original Hampster Dance showing one frame of animated GIFs described in article.
The Hampster Dance or Hampsterdance is one of the earliest examples of an Internet meme, originally a simple Geocities page featuring rows of animated hamsters and other rodents dancing in various ways to a sped-up sample from the song "Whistle Stop" by Roger Miller.
Overview
Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte, who was competing with her best friend and sister to see who could generate the most traffic, designed The Hampster Dance in August 1998 as a homage to her pet hamster, named Hampton Hamster. Using four simple animated GIFs of hamsters and other rodents, repeated dozens of times each, and a loop of background music embedded in the HTML, then a fairly new browser feature, she named the site Hampton's Hampster House and had Hampton declare his intent to become a "web star". The clip, a 9-second loop WAV file (dedodedo.wav), was taken from the opening credits song, "Whistle Stop", to Walt Disney's 1973 animated version of Robin Hood. It was eventually removed due to alleged infringement on Disney's copyright in the original song.citation needed Until January 1999, only 800 visits were recorded (about 4 per day), but without warning, that jumped to 15,000 per day. The Web site spread by e-mail, early blogs, and bumper stickers, and was eventually even featured in a television commercial for Internet Service Provider Earthlink.
Fans of the site created variations on the original dance, using politicians such as Dan Quayle and Cynthia McKinney as well as household objects such as Pez dispensers.
History
LaCarte failed to register the Hamspterdance name, and for some time the hampsterdance.com domain was owned by humor business Nutty Sites. Initially, hamsterdance.com was used, and later hampsterdance2.com. hampsterdance2.com was registered and by 2002 had sold the rights to Abatis, Inc. which later acquired control of the first domain.citation needed
Initially, the website consisted of a single page website with four hampsters and other rodents -- later dubbed Hampton, Dixie, Hado, and Fuzzy. Over the next few years alternate versions of the Hampsterdance appeared, such as for birthdays (the hampsters are slightly modified to hold presents). The continued popularity of the site led LaCarte to a professional redesign, and the addition of an online store for t-shirts and CDs of "Hampster" music.
In 2004 Abatis partnered with Unreal Productions of Keyport, NJ to redesign the original Hampsters into a full 3-D CGI contemporary "look and feel." The website was also redesigned using the new characters and a DVD is in production with the first of a new series of adventures with the Furry Foursome and their roadie, Frank The Ferret.
In 2005, CNET named The Hampster Dance the #1 web fad.[1]
Pop culture
In Canada The "Official" Hampster Dance Song was released as a single and was declared worst or cheesiest video of the year by MuchMusic in the one-hour special Fromage 2001. It stayed for two weeks on the Canada Top 40, peaking at #38[2]. In Australia "The Hampster Dance Song" was also released in 2001, credited to Hampton The Hampster. The song reached #5 on the ARIAnet singles chart[3], and spun off follow up releases and videos, such as "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" (a cover of the John Denver song, reaching #12) and "Hampster Party" (reaching #44).citation needed It was also released in New Zealand at the same time, with similar results.citation needed The Hampster Dance Song was featured in the 2001 movie See Spot Run and in the 2005 movie Are We There Yet?. Debuting at Number 16 on July 30, 2000, "The Hampster Dance Song", ended its run in the Top 30 Countdown on Radio Disney in the United States in 2007.[4]
Albums/Compilations
(in order of release)
Singles
(in order of release)
- The Hamster Dance Song
- Thank God I'm A Country Boy
- Sing A Simple Song
- Hampster Dance Christmas
- Time to Party
Track listings
| U.S. CD 1: |
Non-U.S. CD 1: |
Non-U.S. CD 2 (Maxi Single): |
| 1. The Hampster Dance Song (Radio Mix) |
1. The Hampster Dance Song (Radio Edit) |
1. The Hampster Dance Song (Radio Edit) |
| 2. The Hampster Dance Song (Extended Mix) |
2. The Hampster Dance Song (Extended Mix) |
2. The Hampster Dance Song (Extended Mix) |
| 3. The Hampster Dance Song (Club Mix) |
|
3. The Hampster Dance Song (Club Mix) |
|
|
4. The Hampster Dance Song (Snapshot Remix) |
|
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5. The Hampster Dance Song (Tom Stevens Remix) |
See also
References
- ^ Top 10 Web fads - from CNET
- ^ http://top40-charts.com/song.php?sid=481 Hampster Dance Song - Chart History
- ^ australian-charts.com - Hampton The Hampster - The Hampsterdance Song
- ^ Radio Disney Music Top 30 Countdown
External links
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