“Gangnam Style” to McKayla Maroney: These memes have been around for ten years

“Gangnam Style” to McKayla Maroney
These memes have been around for ten years

Every day, countless memes flood the internet, often in the form of images or short video clips. Some disappear from the scene shortly afterwards, others enjoy cult status and still inspire fans all over the world years later. These legendary memes celebrate their 10th anniversary in 2022.

And do you feel old already?

For example, the question “Feel old yet?” keeps popping up on social media platforms. or a corresponding variation thereof. Combined with pictures of former child stars, this quickly creates a certain nostalgia. For example, Macaulay Culkin (41), the once small leading actor from the cult film “Kevin – Home Alone” from 1990, fooled his fans on his 40th birthday with the following tweet: “Hey guys, wanna feel old? I’m 40.” A compilation of the portal “BuzzFeed” with nostalgic pictures from May 2012, which translates to the title “48 things that will make you feel old”, is considered to be a kind of initial spark for the widespread meme.

The music video for “Gangnam Style” by South Korean rapper Psy (44) is one of the most successful of the past decade. The clip is alone on YouTube, which was published in the summer of 2012, has now more than 4.3 billion views. The song with catchy tune potential and the funny and colorful music video including cult dance not only made Psy an international star, but was also the trigger for the publication of countless parodies in the months and years that followed.

Here’s my number, maybe you want to call me?

Carly Rae Jepsen (36), once a candidate for the Canadian version of “Deutschland sucht den Superstar”, became internationally known in 2012 – with her single “Call Me Maybe”, which was released at the end of 2011. Pop superstar Justin Bieber (27) had declared shortly before the turn of the year on Twitterthat the song is possibly more catchy than any other song he’s ever heard. Especially after the music video was released in March 2012, numerous parodies followed – including the US military and of the American swimming team for the Summer Olympics in London.

Ironically, Justin Bieber should also introduce Laina Morris and her fictional character Overly Attached Girlfriend (OAG), with whom she embodies an overly attached friend. In June 2012 she released under the title “JB Fanvideo” on YouTube a parody that fascinates many users on the song “Boyfriend”. “If I was your girlfriend, I’d never let you leave without a small recording device taped under your sleeve,” OAG sings among other things. So if she were his girlfriend, she would never let Bieber out of the house without first attaching at least a small recording device to him. Morris published a few days later also a Jepsen parody.

And also as part of the Olympic Games a particularly popular meme emerged in 2012: “McKayla is Not Impressed”. A photo of former gymnast McKayla Maroney (26), who had won a silver medal at the time, went around the world. In the picture, the athlete could be seen with a disappointed expression on her face and her mouth pursed. A little later she even recreated the recording together with the then US President Barack Obama (60).

Outrageously photogenic

The American Zeddie Little was almost insanely photogenic in another photo, which also conquered the world and accordingly made him the “Ridiculously Photogenic Guy”. Little, who comes from the city of Charleston in South Carolina, was photographed running a ten-kilometer run in early 2012 and, in contrast to the other participants, appears unusually happy in the photo. In an interview he explainedthat he had seen an old employer shortly before the picture was taken. He was just happy at that point.

The “Bad Luck Brian” meme is not intended to represent such moments of happiness – quite the opposite. First circulating in early 2012, the photo of a boy with braces is used to highlight particularly tragic, embarrassing or unfortunate situations. Last year, near Cleveland resident Kyle Craven explained, who became “Bad Luck Brian” that the picture was taken for a school yearbook around 2006. Craven had allowed himself a joke, was summoned to the headmistress at the time and had to be photographed again the following day.

The Cat Tardar Sauce was first released in April 2012 made famous by a post on the Reddit portal, on which she looks like a perpetual curmudgeon because of her facial expression. To date, Tardar Sauce is probably one of the most famous animals in the world under the name “Grumpy Cat”. Her owner Tabatha Bunden unfortunately had to announce in May 2019that the cat had died as a result of a urinary tract infection.

Mario Balotelli (31) is not only known to football fans, the internet also celebrated the professional athlete’s goal celebration in 2012. Balotelli led the Italian national team to a 2-1 win over Germany in the semi-finals of the European Championship. A photo showing him with a bare torso and tense muscles has been alienated umpteen times. So Balotelli suddenly became a wrestler, played table football or stood in a film scene instead of Kate Winslet (45) next to Leonardo DiCaprio (47) on board the Titanic.

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