Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

We were discussing other song memes that we haven't yet covered on the site and we all agreed that both Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)" were two hits that were notable enough to deserve entries.

Bohemian Rhapsody:
Huge rage comic
Reddit search results
YouTube search results

Ignition (Remix):
Petition to change national anthem to Ignition Remix
Joseph Gordon Levitt cover
YouTube search results

We started brainstorming other classic songs that have been heavily parodied and came up with the following list:

"Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot
"Lose Yourself" by Eminem
"Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears
"Macarena" by Los Del Rio
"I Want it That Way" by Backstreet Boys
"Who Let The Dogs Out?" by Baha Men
"It Wasn't Me" by Shaggy

Please feel free to create an entry for any of the above or reply to this thread with helpful links.

Micheal Jackson – Thriller:

Youtube Searches
Reddit Searches
Wikipedia Page

Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" & Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird".

Well, for me, one song in particular should be mentioned is My Milkshake by Kelis. The chorus for the song has became a popluar phrasal template.

Tumblr – My Milkshake

Facebook page with over 1m likes

Where the hood at?

Kung fu Fighting and the Super Mario Bros. Theme

oh and possibly whatever you like

"I Can't Decide" by Scissor Sisters. Parodied and animated by every fandom ever.

"Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen/Freddy Mercury. Generally put in videos with a montage of characters dying from a show or comic. I see a lot of Homestuck stuff parodying this song, for reasons obvious to Homestuckers.

Tbh, I'm shocked a Milkshake entry hasn't been made yet. It's got tons of parodies and popualarity. Other than that, maybe California Gurls by Katy Perry? It has quite a few parodies.
Also, we do already have a Bohemian Rhapsody entry, but it was deadpooled due to not being well written (And that a popular song does not equal a meme by the looks of it).

Fergilicious! So many parodies. Chongalicious being my favorite.

Bobby McFerrin – Don't Worry Be Happy was hugely popular and widely mocked in the late '80s. People didn't directly parody the song but just said "Don't worry, be happy!" for circumstances where that would be ill-advised, just like Alfred E. Newman's "What, me worry?" I haven't heard it mentioned in a long time, though.

Vanilla Ice was the go-to example for a white guy who thinks he's black up until the Offspring came out with Pretty Fly For A White Guy. People mocked his catchphrase "Word to your mother". He has been forgotten by now, so ymmv.

Biz Markie – Just a Friend had it's share of mockery, including this parody that went around the schoolyard:
Oh baby you-u-u
You've got a dis-e-ease
And you say it's just a rash
But it's all up in yo' @$#

Woody Guthrie – This Land Is Your Land is taught in schools, and schoolkids make fun of it. I don't know how many derivatives of it there are, but I remember hearing this version:
This land is my land
It's only my land
I've got a shotgun
And you don't got one
If you don't get off
I'll blow your hea-a-d off
This land is private property!

Christmas songs of 1940-1960 have been heavily parodied and might constitute their own meme as they were a unique cultural element that flared up and died down. The overall American Christmas culture is quite memetic, springing up out of next to nothing in the 19th century and quickly gaining dominant mindshare. Nearly everything that we think is traditional about Christmas comes from within a hundred years of 1960 and widespread television.

I'm most likely doing this wrong, and at least some of them have probably been said already, but I'll do my best.

Take on me- A Ha
Never gonna give you up- Rick Astley
Avast Your Ass/ Rock My Emotions/ Rainbow Tylenol- Kitsune^2

And that's all I can think of for now.

Du Hast – There are videos of people giving other people a rude wake up call by playing this song on a PC. Origin came from How High.

Killing In The Name – Became big on the net with the U.K. Christmas charts battle.