The Hampster Dance

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Screen capture of original Hampster Dance showing one frame of animated GIFs described in article.
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 dancing in various ways to a sped-up sample from the song "Whistle Stop" by Roger Miller.

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[edit] Overview

Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte, who was competing with her best friend and sister to see who could generate the most traffic, designed Hampsterdance in August 1998 as a homage to her pet hamster, named Hampton Hampster. Using four simple animated GIFs of hamsters, 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 website 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.

[edit] History

LaCarte failed to register the Hampsterdance name, and for some time the hampsterdance.com domain was owned by humor business Nutty Sites. Instead, hamsterdance2.com was used. 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 hamsters -- later dubbed Hampton, Dixie, Hado, and Fuzzy. Over the next few years alternate versions of the Hampsterdance appeared, such as for birthdays (the hamsters 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 2000, the creator tried to shut down a parody site. [1]

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 Hampsterdance the #1 web fad.[2]

[edit] Pop culture

The background music "Whistle Stop" was sampled by the indie pop group The Cuban Boys on their single Cognoscenti Vs. Intelligentsia. It reached No.4 in the UK singles chart in December 1999 and was the first of the many Hampsterdance singles.

In Canada The Hampsterdance 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[3]. In Australia "The Hampsterdance Song" was also released in 2001, credited to Hampton The Hampster. The song reached #5 on the ARIAnet singles chart[4], 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.[5]

[edit] Albums/Compilations

(in order of release)

  • Hampsterdance: The Album
  • Hampster Dance Party
  • Happy Times Ten
  • Hampsterdance Hits

[edit] Singles

(in order of release)

  • The Hampsterdance Song
  • Thank God I'm A Country Boy
  • Sing A Simple Song
  • Hampsterdance Christmas
  • Time to Party

[edit] Track listings

U.S. CD 1: Non-U.S. CD 1: Non-U.S. CD 2 (Maxi Single):
1. The Hampsterdance Song (Radio Mix) 1. The Hampsterdance Song (Radio Edit) 1. The Hampsterdance Song (Radio Edit)
2. The Hampsterdance Song (Extended Mix) 2. The Hampsterdance Song (Extended Mix) 2. The Hampsterdance Song (Extended Mix)
3. The Hampsterdance Song (Club Mix) 3. The Hampsterdance Song (Club Mix)
4. The Hampsterdance Song (Snapshot Remix)
5. The Hampsterdance Song (Tom Stevens Remix)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Don't Mess with Dancing Hamsters at Chilling Effects Clearinghouse
  2. ^ Top 10 Web fads - from CNET
  3. ^ http://top40-charts.com/song.php?sid=481 Hampsterdance Song - Chart History
  4. ^ australian-charts.com - Hampton The Hampster - The Hampsterdance Song
  5. ^ Radio Disney Music Top 30 Countdown

[edit] External links