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Oldweb Diary

😂 Meme Museum

The Meme Museum

A curated archive of the internet's most iconic memes — complete with origin stories, year of birth, and the cultural context that made them spread.

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😂 Memes — early-web

Dancing Baby — viral internet meme from 1996, early web era

Dancing Baby

1996early-webClassicViral

Created in 1996 by animator Michael Girard using 3D character animation software called Character Studio. The file was shared by developers as a test animation and spread virally through email chains. It later appeared on the TV show Ally McBeal, exposing it to millions. Many consider it the very first internet meme — before the word meme was even used in this context.

Hamster Dance — viral internet meme from 1998, early web era

Hamster Dance

1998early-webClassicAnimals

Created in 1998 by Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte as a fan page for her hamster Hampton Hamster. The page featured rows of animated GIF hamsters dancing to a sped-up sample of 'Whistle Stop' from the Robin Hood Disney soundtrack. It became one of the first viral websites of the internet era, inspiring a chart-topping novelty song in 2000 and being referenced in countless TV shows.

Clippy — viral internet meme from 1997, early web era

Clippy

1997early-webClassicTech

Microsoft Office's assistant character introduced in 1997. The paperclip with a face became infamous for being annoying and intrusive. Despite (or because of) its negative reception, Clippy became one of the most recognizable icons of the 90s computing era. References to 'killing Clippy' became a meme in itself, and the character remains culturally significant decades later.

I Will Survive Alien — viral internet meme from 1999, early web era

I Will Survive Alien

1999early-webClassicVideo

A 45-second clip from the late 1990s showing an alien singing Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' before getting crushed by a falling object. One of the first viral video clips that parents showed to their kids. The absurdity of an alien singing a disco song made it a cultural touchstone of the pre-YouTube internet era.