5 ms·

The oral history of the Hampsterdance

57 points by MilnerRoute 8y ago

na85 8y ago
Honestly, looking at the little hamster dolls on the website, I'm not surprised to see that they lost money. Part of successful product development is making something people actually want to buy - slick marketing will only take you so far as the juicero showed us. Those little hamster dolls just simply aren't cute or cuddly-looking.
dang 8y ago
Url changed from https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/12/29/0227257/how-one-merchandiser-lost-1m-trying-to-monetize-the-hamster-dance-site https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/12/29/0227257/how-one-mer..., which points to this.
sct202 8y ago
How did the original hampster dance song ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qN72LEQnaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qN72LEQnaU ) morph into this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WptWKFk-C9Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WptWKFk-C9Y I'm not surprised their attempts to hold onto fame didn't work, it's like they completely forgot what they had made.
- dwringer 8y ago
  The original never had that weird breakdown, it was just the website with spinning hamsters playing what is the intro of that first video, and it predates that version. I'm not surprised the person who did the remix moved onto other bad hamster music.
- jeffwass 8y ago
  The original hampster dance song was just a sped-up version of Whistle Stop, from the 1973 Disney animated Robin Hood. Original version and speed here, the section used starts at around 30s : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYEKhxWy6o https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYEKhxWy6o Edit - This was mentioned in the article with a YouTube link as well.
  - taneq 8y ago
    > The original hampster dance song was just a sped-up version of Whistle Stop, from the 1973 Disney animated Robin Hood. Mind. Blown. How have I never noticed this!
- taneq 8y ago
  > How did the original hampster dance song ( <link to video titled Hampsterdance 2> ) I think the hampsterdance web site came first (with the grid of dancing hamsters and the short music loop) and everything spun off from there. Quality elder meme.
neom 8y ago
I must confess: I partook in disrupting many a "Computers" class at the Berwickshire High School in the late 90s. Turns out sub7 + every browser in the class playing hamsterdance is a somewhat challenging teaching environment. Sorry.
krrrh 8y ago
It would be great to see this sort of treatment for Mahir Cagri whose page followed a similar trajectory at the time.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
asimjalis 8y ago
Why is it "hampster" instead of "hamster"?
- Kye 8y ago
  Some people pronounce it with a p. That's the reason behind just about every spelling difference.
nreilly 8y ago
Anyone know about the original banana phone song? Ring ring ring ring ring ring banana phone, boop boop be doop be doop. With a video that had someone going crazy listening to it. Oh. After trying to find it with google before, too many times, DDG found it in one go: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UqWwsUhrFBw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UqWwsUhrFBw

57 points by MilnerRoute 8y ago

na85 8y ago

Honestly, looking at the little hamster dolls on the website, I'm not surprised to see that they lost money. Part of successful product development is making something people actually want to buy - slick marketing will only take you so far as the juicero showed us. Those little hamster dolls just simply aren't cute or cuddly-looking.

dang 8y ago

Url changed from https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/12/29/0227257/how-one-merchandiser-lost-1m-trying-to-monetize-the-hamster-dance-site https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/12/29/0227257/how-one-mer..., which points to this.

sct202 8y ago

How did the original hampster dance song ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qN72LEQnaU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qN72LEQnaU ) morph into this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WptWKFk-C9Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WptWKFk-C9Y I'm not surprised their attempts to hold onto fame didn't work, it's like they completely forgot what they had made.

dwringer 8y ago
The original never had that weird breakdown, it was just the website with spinning hamsters playing what is the intro of that first video, and it predates that version. I'm not surprised the person who did the remix moved onto other bad hamster music.
jeffwass 8y ago
The original hampster dance song was just a sped-up version of Whistle Stop, from the 1973 Disney animated Robin Hood. Original version and speed here, the section used starts at around 30s : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYEKhxWy6o https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYEKhxWy6o Edit - This was mentioned in the article with a YouTube link as well.
- taneq 8y ago
  > The original hampster dance song was just a sped-up version of Whistle Stop, from the 1973 Disney animated Robin Hood. Mind. Blown. How have I never noticed this!
taneq 8y ago
> How did the original hampster dance song ( <link to video titled Hampsterdance 2> ) I think the hampsterdance web site came first (with the grid of dancing hamsters and the short music loop) and everything spun off from there. Quality elder meme.

neom 8y ago

I must confess: I partook in disrupting many a "Computers" class at the Berwickshire High School in the late 90s. Turns out sub7 + every browser in the class playing hamsterdance is a somewhat challenging teaching environment. Sorry.

krrrh 8y ago

It would be great to see this sort of treatment for Mahir Cagri whose page followed a similar trajectory at the time.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

asimjalis 8y ago

Why is it "hampster" instead of "hamster"?

Kye 8y ago
Some people pronounce it with a p. That's the reason behind just about every spelling difference.

nreilly 8y ago

Anyone know about the original banana phone song? Ring ring ring ring ring ring banana phone, boop boop be doop be doop. With a video that had someone going crazy listening to it. Oh. After trying to find it with google before, too many times, DDG found it in one go: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UqWwsUhrFBw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UqWwsUhrFBw