Image via Complex Original
As the saying goes, a social network isn't a social network without its people—and when it comes to YouTube, those people tend to be both uninhibited and borderline psychotic, their creative juices running on overdrive to get the most subscribers and views. This year marks a decade since the race began.
YouTube was born in 2005 after co-founder Jawed Karim couldn't find clips of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction without digging through endless search pages. Then came the idea that the Web needed an easier place to share and find videos. Karim and his two other co-founders (all former PayPal employees) first thought of making a video dating site called Tune In Hook Up, scrapped that idea, and bought the domain, YouTube.com, on Feb. 14, 2005, 10 years ago today. The first video, the 19-second "Me at the zoo," was uploaded by Karim the following April. They secured a $11.5 million investment in November, then sold to Google for $1.65 billion a year later.
The site has morphed from showcasing only the funny, weird, and disturbing videos that comprised its first years, to a full-on factory that pumps out personalities, video series, and channels fueled by its users. It's the go-to spot for news, opinion, live events, and replays (while still being a magnet for the absurd.)
Here are the 10 videos from YouTube's early years that helped draw in its users and launch the juggernaut that it became today.
"Lazy Sunday"
Date: Dec. 2005
Views: N/A
Wait... the above video isn't from YouTube? Yeah, it isn't. That's because NBC had all of the "Lazy Sunday" videos pulled in the days after it aired on SNL at the end of 2005. The segment was such a hit that people ripped the footage and uploaded it to YouTube, a site that still hadn't quite taken off. The videos amassed some 7 million views, and gave YouTube some extra publicity with the young audience that followed Andy Samberg. After NBC had the videos removed, parody videos from YouTube users started popping up in their place, like this:
"Touch of Gold"
Date: Sept. 2005
Views: N/A
The ad featuring fútbol star Ronaldinho trying a pair of Nike Gold shoes was the first video to reach a million views. Nike was one of the first brands to recognize YouTube's marketing potential, and showed other companies that there was money to be made by advertising on the platform (and finding the formula to make a video go viral). Is it real? Is it fake? Sounds like another video from a few years ago.
"LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!"
Date: Sept. 10, 2007
Views: 49,145,876
The video that launched the career of YouTube personality Chris Crocker set in motion what would be a template for users for years to come—do something completely embarrassing, put your sanity on the line, and you'll for sure be mocked, but will also come out famous in the end (even if only for a short amount of time). Within a few hours of Crocker uploading his defense of Britney Spears' performance at that year's MTV Video Music Awards, it gained two million views, and sparked a wave of parody videos and memes, including this one from Perez Hilton:
"Don't tase me bro!"
Date: Sept. 17, 2007
Views: 7,353,468
When Andrew Meyer confronted Senator John Kerry during a forum at the University of Florida, he ended up being dragged away from the microphone after he pressed Kerry on his involvement in the Skull & Bones secret society at Yale. But he wasn't going out without a fight, so security guards took him out the only way they knew how: by taser. The video of him shouting, "Don't tase me, bro!" went viral, and was quickly plastered on national news programs, showing how fast an incident could spread across the country after it happened. Time picked the video as one of YouTube's 50 Best Videos in March 2010.
"Baby"
Date: Feb. 19, 2010
Views: 1,136,397,713
Justin Bieber is arguably the most successful performer to come out of YouTube, and the success around his video "Baby" helped demonstrate his star power. Scooter Braun discovered Bieber thanks to a series of videos he posted to YouTube that featured him singing, and when "Baby" blew up and propelled Bieber's career, it showed YouTube's potential to be the breeding ground for mainstream celebs, not just for ones that exist within the bounds of the Internet. The video broke records, and is the second most-viewed video of all time (behind Psy's "Gangnam Style"). It also became the second video to reach a billion views.
Asmaa Mahfouz's Vlog
Date: Jan. 18, 2011
Views: N/A
While the original video has been removed, then 26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz's 2011 YouTube vlog called on Egyptians to seek human rights and voice their objection to leader Hosni Mubarak after a number of citizens set themselves on fire in protest of the regime. Her video is credited with helping to launch the Arab Spring protests a week later, that would see the removal of Mubarak 18 days after they began.
"BED INTRUDER SONG!!!"
Date: July 31, 2010
Views: 125,274,938
If you blended all that is bizarre in the Internet age into one video, it would be "Bed Intruder Song." Here was a news interview about an attempted rape in Alabama (don't forget this) that was auto-tuned and placed on a track that reached number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 by selling 30,000 copies. It was an Internet song that went mainstream, and not a mainstream song that blew up on the Internet. You can't make this stuff up, and Beethoven is most definitely rolling over in his grave right now. "Bed Intruder Song" was YouTube's most popular video in 2010 and showed us that with a bit of editing, the Internet could laugh at the worst kind of situation and let people some money in the process.
"It Gets Better"
Date: Sept. 21, 2010
Views: 179,939
The "It Gets Better" campaign in 2010 demonstrated the power of starting a social movement through YouTube. The video above is the first in the series, which sent messages of hope to LGBTQ youth, and there were hundreds of others uploaded to the site in the following weeks. President Barack Obama even made one. This was one of those campaigns that didn't involve a brand or product, and was simply about reaching out to those who feel marginalized (and it was far more meaningful than the emotional cash grab social campaign that was KONY 2012).
"Evolution of Dance"
Date: April 6, 2006
Views: 289,623,806
The "Evolution of Dance" blew up on YouTube when it dropped in April 2006, earning more than 10 million views in just a few weeks. It shows motivational speaker Judson Laipply dancing to 32 different songs from different eras of music. It was featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, MSN, E!, and other networks, and it was one of the first videos to go viral. At its peak, it was the Most Viewed Video of All Time, the Most Favorited Video of All Time, and the third Most Discussed Video of All Time on YouTube.
"Charlie bit my finger—again!"
Date: May 22, 2007
Views: 810,744,335
"Charlie bit my finger—again!" was once YouTube's most viewed video, and has reportedly made the family more than $500,000. It was originally uploaded to YouTube because the father of the kids wanted to share the footage with their grandfather, who lived in the U.S., and he's admitted that he was just about to remove the video before it went viral. Videos like this are what got the public enamored with YouTube, and it's these random moments that resonate with us the most. This was the beginning of the Internet's version of America's Funniest Home Videos, of which there would be an endless supply of material.
Bonus: "Girl Talks Trash on Obama"
Date: May 15, 2014
Views: 71,520,000
This video recently blew up and shows all that is wrong with a generation of people who don't know a time when the Internet didn't exist. Oh, confused?
