- 7 weeks ago
Remember when the internet was wild and uncharted? Join us as we explore the best relics from '90s and 2000s web culture! From customizable profiles to random site generators, these online treasures shaped how we interact with technology today. Which digital memory hits your nostalgia button hardest? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00I remember having a short-lived Neopets obsession.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the best things from 90s and 2000s internet culture.
00:09What got the word out for MySpace? Because it did happen pretty quickly.
00:12Yeah.
00:14Number 10, early eBay.
00:16Some websites have lasted a long time, but aren't quite what they used to be.
00:19Although early PayPal was also on our short list, eBay, which even bought PayPal at one point, is our pick.
00:24Laura sells collector's items over the internet using a person-to-person auction service called eBay.
00:31In the late 90s and 2000s, eBay was basically the biggest name in town when it came to e-commerce.
00:36Buyers could find cheap deals.
00:38Feedback shows you won't get hosed.
00:42Sellers could get fair prices without big fees on their end.
00:44Fast forward to now, and the site is rife with bots-inflated prices and anti-seller policies.
00:49Sadly, it's still one of the better online marketplaces, but it's a shadow of what it was.
00:54Damn you, eBay!
00:58Number 9, YTMND.
01:00An acronym for You're the Man Now, Dog, the original version of the meme.
01:03You're the man now, dog!
01:07YTMNDs are a series of websites that feature still images or looping GIFs, often accompanied by similarly repeating audio files or songs.
01:15You're the man now, dog!
01:16You're the man now, dog!
01:18You're the man now, dog!
01:19YTMNDs help spread many early memes, like the titular Finding Forrester quote by Sean Connery or the headbanging What Is Love.
01:26It's love, baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more, no more, no more.
01:32And if you're wondering how short, repetitive clips could possibly have gotten so popular, perhaps you'd like to consider how much time you spend scrolling through TikTok or YouTube shorts these days?
01:41You're the man now, dog!
01:43You're the man now, dog!
01:44You're the man now, dog!
01:46Number 8, Homestar Runner.
01:47Everybody loves the Homestar Runner.
01:50He is a terrific athlete.
01:52One day, his friend, Pom Pom, asked him to enter the Strongest Man in the World contest.
01:58Flash animations were all the rage in the early days of the internet.
02:01One of the most popular and prolific series was Homestar Runner.
02:04I have found that the sheep were not eaten by a dragon.
02:10Phew!
02:11The cartoon follows the titular Homestar Runner, as well as various supporting characters with several spinoffs and tie-ins to the main series, most notably the Strong Bad emails.
02:20Dear Strong Bad, what would you do if you were stuck on a desert island with Homestar Runner?
02:25Yami-yugi, England.
02:27Well, Yami-yugi, I suspect it would be like most cartoons.
02:32You know, we start to go nuts after a while.
02:34I would look at Homestar and he would look like a big steak.
02:38The goofy, bizarre, pop-culture-related humor made it broadly appealing, and many of its bits became memes.
02:43The series is still running today, with more sporadic releases, but it still retains the down-to-earth feel and humor that made it popular decades ago.
02:50And the truck door comes in the night!
02:54Number 7, StumbleUpon.
02:56It's easy to find yourself going down an internet rabbit hole on some obscure topic for hours today.
03:01However, the site StumbleUpon made it even more fun.
03:03So I went to StumbleUpon here, right? And I typed in food and cooking. Check this out, dude.
03:08With one click, StumbleUpon would take you to a completely random website.
03:12You could also filter the search to refine results and also discuss them with other users.
03:16No curated algorithm. Not targeted results, just the wide-open wilderness of the World Wide Web and whatever weird corner of it you could find.
03:23To get started finding new and interesting material, click the Stumble button.
03:26StumbleUpon will automatically present content that matches one of your preset interests.
03:32Each time you click the Stumble button, you will be presented with new content.
03:36Unfortunately, StumbleUpon was shut down in 2018.
03:39While there are alternatives, it's just not the same.
03:42Thank you!
03:42Number 6, AOL Instant Messenger.
03:45Chat rooms and instant messaging were some of the coolest ways to interact with people during the dawn of the internet.
03:50An instant message pops up. It's having a verbal chat electronically.
03:54One of the bigger names in this space was AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM.
03:58Writing back and forth in real time with someone was something novel back then,
04:02and users often found unique ways to utilize features,
04:05like treating the away messages in the same way as a status update on social media today.
04:09I just want to fly.
04:10Put your arms around me, baby.
04:12Dash Dash Sugar Ray. Lyrics by Mark McGrath.
04:15Wait, that's about you.
04:17What do you mean?
04:19He's like obsessed with you.
04:21He wants to hug you.
04:22It's just an away message, Maya.
04:24However, the decline of AOL in general in the 21st century's second decade,
04:28as well as the rise of social networking sites, spelled doom for AIM.
04:32The service will continue to work through mid-December.
04:36Number 5, Newgrounds.
04:38Okay, yes, Newgrounds is still around.
04:40But during its heyday, the website basically did the same jobs
04:42as half a dozen of the most popular sites of today, by itself.
04:50Newgrounds was the place for online games, forums, flash animations, and artwork.
04:54Old Godzilla was hopping around.
04:57Tokyo City like a big playground.
04:59When suddenly Batman burst from the shade.
05:01And hit Godzilla with a bad grenade.
05:03It was the site where many users first discovered meme videos or even adult content.
05:07Newgrounds had it all.
05:09It still does have all the same features.
05:11The only problem is that people seem to want specific features from specific sites now,
05:15whereas Newgrounds is still a jack-of-all-trades.
05:17All right, guys, you do know that there's no actual Candy Mountain, right?
05:20Sean the Non-Believer.
05:22Sean.
05:24Sean.
05:28Yeah.
05:29Number 4, Weeble Stuff Cartoons.
05:31One of the most popular Flash cartoon creators was British creator John T. Picking,
05:36better known as Weeble.
05:39His Weeble Stuff animations achieved major viral success
05:43and spawned plenty of memes in the early internet.
05:45While all of them feature hilarious, offbeat humor,
05:48the ones that truly blew up were those that featured songs.
05:50Look at him there with his leathery, leathery whip.
05:54It's made of magic, come with a little flip.
05:57Yeah, yeah.
05:58The brightly colored animations were accompanied by silly, catchy lyrics
06:01and would loop after finishing,
06:03ensuring that the already earworm-worthy tunes got stuck in our heads for years.
06:07Weeble, won't you let me
06:11touch your magical horn.
06:15It's basically become impossible for us to think about animals like badgers or narwhals
06:19without singing one of Weeble's songs.
06:30Number 3, MySpace.
06:32From a time in the mid-2000s,
06:34MySpace was the biggest social media site in the world
06:36and it was honestly kind of great.
06:37Dude, these things are actually pretty awesome.
06:39You create a profile and then you put your picture on there
06:41and then other people send you pictures themselves
06:42and they want to be your friend.
06:43Fully customizable homepages with whatever background and song you wanted,
06:47the ability to embed YouTube videos,
06:49MySpace had all the options of a website builder,
06:51but with the connective tissue of social networking.
06:53I think I mostly posted some photos
06:56and looked at some of my friends' photos,
06:58a very early version of photo sharing.
07:00The site's popularity and accessibility helped give rise
07:03to plenty of influencers and a ton of bands.
07:05The topic of MySpace was so important
07:08and it felt like such a big deal to be in someone's top eight.
07:11You always felt like you had to reciprocate the feeling.
07:14MySpace may technically still be around,
07:16but it's barely recognizable
07:17and it's been far surpassed by other social media sites
07:20like Facebook and Twitter.
07:21We'll never forget the good old days though
07:23or everyone's mutual friend, Tom.
07:25That's amazing.
07:25Thanks for coming in, man.
07:26Hey, thank you.
07:27It's really good to see you, Tom, everybody.
07:29Number 2, MSN Messenger.
07:31It may not have been the first instant messaging service,
07:33but MSN was arguably the most popular.
07:36MSN Messenger started its life in the summer of 1999
07:39as a free download on Microsoft's website
07:41called the MSN Messenger Service.
07:44MSN offered trend-setting features
07:46like cross-platform compatibility,
07:47video calls, simple games, and emoticons.
07:50So much about MSN influenced
07:51later messaging and communication platforms,
07:54as well as a lot of the texting slang
07:55most of us use today.
07:57Introducing MSN Messenger Service,
07:59free instant messaging.
08:01Microsoft may have rebranded it
08:02and other services have many of the same features now,
08:05but we still remember MSN fondly
08:07for introducing so many of them to us
08:09and for all the conversations we had on it.
08:11With MSN Messenger Service,
08:12you can send messages and even talk to your online buddies
08:14right from your homepage.
08:17Before we continue,
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08:29and switch on notifications.
08:32Number one, Flash games.
08:34Adobe Flash may have been kind of a hot mess,
08:36but the software platform gave rise
08:38to thousands, if not millions, of games.
08:44Endless runners, simple platformers,
08:46tower defense, puzzle games, shooters,
08:47if you name a genre,
08:49there were probably plenty of Flash games to choose from
08:51and all for free.
08:52Freedom!
08:53Sites like Addicting Games and Newgrounds
08:55were havens for an entire generation of players
08:58and game developers alike.
08:59The indie game scene would not be what it is today
09:02without Flash games.
09:03Mobile gaming may have taken over their niche,
09:05but many titles are still playable on browsers today
09:07in some form or another.
09:09Always on a game.
09:12Is there a piece of internet nostalgia we forgot?
09:15Take off your boxing gloves
09:16and type up your favorites in the comments.
09:18Dear Strongman,
09:19how do you type with boxing gloves on?
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