The instantaneous and shareable nature of the Internet is one of the things that separates it from other mediums. Viral videos and Internet memes can take hold and spread quickly. Thanks to social networking, the speed in which the latest phenomena can spread is lightning fast. More and more frequently, Internet memes are making appearances in other more traditional media like TV and film.
With only two months left of 2009, we thought we would look back at some of the biggest Internet memes of the year. Most — if not all — of these memes have inspired spin-offs and secondary memes, and in the process, become a part of our Internet cultural history.
Did we miss any of your favorites? Let us know in the comments!
#1 David After Dentist
One of the first big memes of 2009 was the YouTube video “David After Dentist.” The story is exactly like it sounds. Young David went to the dentist to get a tooth pulled and was treated with some pretty heavy sedatives. Armed with a Flip Cam and a good sense of humor, David’s Dad decided to videotape the aftermath.
Watch here:
#2 Susan Boyle
In April 2009, 47-year old Susan Boyle appeared on “Britain’s Got Talent” and mesmerized the audience (and the judges) with her jaw-droppingly awesome voice.
Once the video hit YouTube, the rest of the world took notice and a true phenomenon was born. With an estimated 100 million views in the first few weeks, Boyle’s performance is one of the top Internet video phenomena of all time.
Sadly, we can’t embed her fantastic debut performance from Les Miserables, but you can watch it here.
#3 United Breaks Guitars
In 2008, United Airlines broke Dave Carroll’s Taylor Guitar. After battling with the airline for months and making no progress, Carroll decided to take action. He wrote the song and shot the video “United Breaks Guitars” and released it on YouTube in mid 2009. The video earned more than 3 million views in just 10 days.
In August, Carroll released “United Breaks Guitars 2,” but it failed to generate the same buzz as the original.
#4 Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt
At the beginning of Summer 2009, an interesting t-shirt appeared on Amazon.com. Called “Three Wolf Moon,” the shirt featured an awesomely awful emblem of three wolves howling at the moon, the shirt garnered over-the-top reviews on Amazon.com, rating it as the best shirt ever and making outrageous claims about its power.
The shirt became a best-seller and the creators of the shirt are even shopping around a book based on the topic.
In an October episode of NBC’s “The Office,” Dwight K. Schrute wears the shirt and ends up getting pretty lucky with the ladies.
#5 Baby Dancing to Beyonce
This is one of our favorite memes of the year. Featuring baby Cory from New Zealand (then just 13 months old), this video became viral after the VMAs. Little Cory dances to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” with such a level of engrossment and with so much obvious enjoyment, how could it not be a huge hit?
Watch:
#6 JK Wedding Dance
Jill and Kevin’s wedding dance is the rare Internet meme that has two waves of popularity. When the video first hit the web in late July, the awesomely choreographed dance by the wedding party down the aisle during Jill and Kevin’s wedding became a huge hit, especially after being featured on the Today Show.
Then in October, NBC’s “The Office” paid homage to the dance by re-creating it with cast members for Jim and Pam’s fictional TV wedding. The result? The original video had a huge uptick in popularity (probably aided by people who missed it the first time).
Another winner in this meme, embattled R&B star Chris Brown, who saw sales for his single “Forever” (which is featured in both videos) climb the charts after the video’s release.
#7 Christian Bale (Strong Language)
Even before February 2009, there were rumors that all had not gone well on the set of “Terminator: Salvation.” Then in February, someone leaked an audio recording of actor Christian Bale going off on a crew-member. The audio took off online and in the mainstream press.
DJ RevoLucian created “Bale Out – RevoLucian’s Christian Bale Remix” from the audio and a NSFW meme within a meme was born. Not to take anything away from Bale, but he still has nothing on David O. Russell (link has very explicit language).
#8 Balloon Boy
Two weeks ago, a helium filled weather balloon was launched in Colorado, supposedly with a 6-year old boy trapped inside. In under 24-hours, the Internet went from shared bafflement, to fear for the boy’s safety, to relief that he was OK (and hiding in a box the whole time), to questioning if the whole event was a hoax to full-blown Internet meme.
That’s breaking news to Internet in-joke in under 10 hours. Amazing.
(Photo courtesy of ImaLetYouFinish.com)
A week later, the meme came full-Internet circle with the video “I’m in a Box” (a riff of “I’m on a Boat”), which you can watch below (note NSFW language):
#9 Kanye West at the VMAs
We can all thank Kanye West for providing us so much endless entertainment. After pulling an ODB and hijacking Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs, a full-on meme was born. The outburst gave MTV.com a record number of unique video views.
The barrage of parodies and jokes started almost instantaneously. Even President Obama opined on Kanye’s behavior, calling him a “Jackass.”
We won’t lie, we were a little obsessed with the Kanye-meme here at Mashable. Unless something REALLY spectacular happens, this is sure to be the meme of 2009.
If you missed the clip that started it all, watch it below:
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So what did we miss? What memetastic event is your favorite? What do you think the next big meme will be about (I’d put money on puppies, kittens or babies — but that’s just me)? Let us know!
Reviews: Mashable, YouTube
Tags: balloon boy, internet memes, kanye west, Meme, memes, susan boyle, viral video
