Viral videos are one of the many things that make the internet great. They're always entertaining, and give us a mind numbing break from the stress of daily life. Not only that, they bring people together. When I reference videos that I watched when I was younger (which I do more often than I'd like to admit) people know exactly what I'm talking about. That's the beauty of viral videos - they help to shape our lives, the lives of those we're close to, and the lives of those we may never meet. Here's a list of some of the popular YouTube videos that shaped my childhood.
1. Charlie the Unicorn
This is my all-time favorite internet series from my childhood. In the Charlie the Unicorn videos, a very masculine sounding unicorn gets goaded into following a pair of optimistic, mysterious pals on various adventures that never seem to end well for him. You'd think after losing a kidney in Candy Mountain he would avoid these two like the plague, but he somehow ends up getting duped into 3 more magical trips.
2. Leave Britney Alone
In this cry for help, Chris Crocker shot to internet fame with his iconic "Leave Britney Alone" video. After Britney Spears's very public 2007 breakdown, Crocker took it upon himself to take this emotional stand against the media and their exploitation of celebrities during their times of need. I don't know about you, but sometimes I wish I had a Chris Crocker to advocate for me when I'm roughing it.
3. ASDFMovie
This collection makes absolutely no sense, and that's why it's amazing. It's just a bunch of short animated clips that leaving you thinking "What on Earth?!?" and then laughing at the magic of its simplicity.
4. How to be Ninja
Ryan Higa started his internet fame with his "How to be Ninja" video, a spoof tutorial on the martial arts. The popularity of this video encouraged him to make sequels such as "How to be Gangster."
5. Why Are You Asking All Them Questions?
This video, a collaboration between internet stars Spoken Reasons and Emmanuel Hudson, uses song to tell the story of how arguments between couples typically go. I have such fond memories of laughing at this video over and over again with my cheer squad.
6. Shoes
Every girl I knew was completely obsessed with Shoes. Can I sum up this video in a single word? ICONIC.
7. Llamas with Hats
Yet again another series of pointless animated shorts that never failed to make me laugh. The first four in the Llamas with Hats series gave me such quality entertainment as I followed the newest disasters of Paul and Carl the llamas. However, in my opinion, the series went downhill after the original four episodes.
8. Fred
Lucas Cruikshank's character Fred Figglehorn took us all back to joys and simplicity of childhood. These videos became so popular that Cruikshank found himself on the popular Nickelodeon show iCarly and even getting his own film!
9. "Charlie Bit My Finger"
This adorable video of a young boy and his brother went viral. A young boy named Jack with his charming little accent had his finger bitten by his baby brother Charlie, the aftermath of which was documented and put on YouTube for the world to fall in love with.
10. I'm a Banana
Here we have another video that is extremely funny, yet no one really knows why. All it is is a guy dancing around in a banana suit singing about himself and insisting that everyone "LOOK AT ME MOVE!" It must have something special, though, because millions of people have been watching this guy move around with his silly costume and laughing for years.
11. Jenna Marbles
Jenna Marbles used her YouTube channel to explain to us a variety of confusing things about life. Some of her earliest and most beloved works explain what a girl's makeup, clothing, hair, nails, and even bra mean, and how to use "the face" to get unwanted suitors to leave you alone.
12. Potter Puppet Pals
This series, which featured a number of felt puppets created to look like the main characters of Harry Potter, made franchise fans go wild. The most popular of these was The Mysterious Ticking Noise, which had you searching far and wide for enough people to sing all of the individual parts. The other videos from these creators are great too, and I definitely recommend giving them a watch.
13. The Infamous "Rick Roll"
The Rick Roll is easily the most versatile of all the viral videos out there. Any category of video could be a Rick Roll, all you had to do was post the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley with an unsuspecting title. If you were really good, you could get the picture that was shown when the video was searched to match the title, leaving unsuspecting viewers stunned when the popular 80s song started to play. In all honesty, I love the song thanks to this trend!
