The Value of Music Memes: How The “Meme-ing” of Songs Encourages

Resurgence, Reputation, and Reaction

By Michelle Heckert

1

Abstract Memes have taken the world by storm. They have evolved into so much more than a single

stock image with humorous text overlaid. They now span various social media platforms in

mixed media such as shorter videos, longer parodies, and extensive comment threads. And they

spread like wildfires. Among the plethora of memes available on the Internet are music memes,

in which certain songs or musical artists are parodied. Such widespread exposure of this content

has implications for the parties involved. After a brief history, this paper investigates the impact

of music memes (a few notable songs in particular) in the following areas: resurgence of older

music, effects on songs’/artists’ reputations, and reactions from those original artists. The

research will conclude that music memes play a vital role in maintaining the popularity of

certain songs and artists. Additionally, this paper argues that music memes can and will be used

for social change. The appended literature review will delve deeper into the academic

perspectives on memes and offer insights into future directions for the field of memetics.

2

Introduction Where did that picture of a grumpy cat with some sassy saying overlaid come from? (See Fig.

1). And what is that photo of Kermit the Frog sipping tea with a judgmental look on his face?

(See Fig. 2). These are memes, but they are just the beginning. The term “meme” has been used

in academia for quite some time, coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976.

Yet he meant it as a unit of information that can be imitated from person to person (Dawkins,

1976). There is even a whole field of memetics, which delves into how we as humans

communicate these succinct pieces of information. However, Dawkins’ pre-Internet insights

have evolved into a viral cultural phenomenon. For the purposes of this project, this paper will

briefly explore the history of “memes” but will focus on the current conceptual understanding,

which can be more accurately described as a piece of media that quickly spreads to the public

via the Internet (Shifman, 2014).

Through analysis of primary and secondary research, this paper will explore how memes are

an important driving part of culture that breeds creativity and engagement between artists,

creators, and fans. They are not simply a form of entertainment, but rather they represent the

exchange of ideas that capitalize and build upon each other. Memes have value beyond being

sources of humor – they are iconic to today’s generations. The examination of meme trends

will also reveal recurring qualities/traits embodied by popular memes. Finally, there is an

economic exchange in the world of memes. This paper will explore the idea of memes as social

currency that can also be commodified. Fig. 1 Grumpy Cat Meme example (knowyourmeme.com).

3

Fig. 2 Kermit Sipping Tea (But That’s None of My Business) example (knowyourmeme.com).

Methodology The approach for this essay initially involved online and database-driven research for

secondary sources, such as relevant academic journals and books, as well as pop-culture articles

and videos/documentaries in magazines, blogs, and other media sites. These sources provided

insight into the history of memes (in both an academic and social context), as well as a window

into the artists’ responses and any documented impact on each artist’s reputation or future

online presence.

Additionally, an examination of the primary source material of music memes themselves was

necessary, especially in conjunction with the research mentioned above, so as to reference the

content mentioned. The research also involved acting as a consumer of memes first hand, like

the public who enjoy them from various social media sites (ie. Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram,

Vine, YouTube). These methods allowed for a deeper understanding of the breadth of “music

meme content.”

The researcher intended to engage in primary research. To gauge awareness of “memed music,”

a survey was created with questions that explored how participants became familiar with

certain artists/songs, as well as to discover the perceptions of those artists/songs. Additionally,

interviews of meme creators were quite useful. Not only did they provide insight into the

hierarchical nature of memes, but they also revealed the complex creative processes that

involves competition, creativity and legal issues. These creators were first chosen by gauging

the popularity of certain memes via the amount of views, likes and reposts attached to them.

The comment sections of various posts revealed additional public responses to the content. The

4

researcher contacted the creators of popular memes through their social media accounts. (It

proved difficult to interview the original musical artists; however, their responses have often

already been documented by others.) Finally, contact with scholars of meme culture in general,

such as university professors who have researched this specific social media trend, was

considered. These interviews were not completed due to the sufficient sources of these

scholars’ works being readily accessible on the Internet.

Furthermore, the researcher proposed to fully immerse herself in music meme culture by

creating her own content and assessing it, had the individual memes gained any traction.

Because the researcher had previously created memes with colleagues, this step was forgone

(yet can be implemented in the future).

History What is a meme?

According to the Oxford University Press, a meme is “an image, video, piece of text, etc.,

typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with

slight variations” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2019). However, this is the second definition of the

term. The primary meaning of the word is “an element of a culture or system of behaviour

passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means” (Oxford

Dictionaries, 2019). The term was coined in 1976 by acclaimed evolutionary biologist Richard

Dawkins. Enthralled by the notion of culture developing like genetics, he wrote The Selfish

Gene. He proposed that little “bits” of culture are copied and imitated from person to person in

the same way as genes. The “bits” that survive are carried on and allow culture to evolve.

Looking for a word that had a similar ring to it as “gene,” Dawkins settled on the term “meme,”

as it stemmed from the Greek word mimeme, meaning “to imitate” (Encyclopedia Britannica,

2019). Many scholars have adopted this theory and elaborated upon it, leading to the rise of

memetics.

Memetics

Memetics, simply, is “the study of memes” (Merriam Webster, 2019). According to

memologists, memes are studied because they have value to us. They “compete for space in

our memories and for the chance to be copied again” (Blackmore, 2003). Leading expert in the

field of memetics, Dr. Susan Blackmore, explains that memes take on the process of natural

5

selection: those that survive, reproduce (just like genes). She argues, “a central question for

memetics is...‘why has this meme survived?’” (Blackmore, 2003). Memes, surprisingly, are

said to have their own “interests” in being copied. Hence, Dawkins’s book title The Selfish

Gene.

The Internet What is meme culture?

The “memes” Dawkins, Blackmore and other scholars have written so consciously about,

however, appear more conceptual than the “memes” most people know of today. In fact, even

meme creators, who dedicate hours each day to their craft, are unfamiliar with the field of

memetics (@whatifimthemonster._, 2019; @succulentbeans, 2019). The evolution of memes

has made the initial definition of the term almost unrecognizable, as today’s memes are more

concrete than theoretical. It is true that most of the memetics sources mentioned above were

published before the Internet existed – or at least before it expanded so immensely. However,

scholars had made predictions about the impact of the Internet, as well as commented more

recently on its influence on the concept of memes. In 1999, Blackmore had argued that free use

of the World Wide Web since its humble beginnings in 1989 has made meme copying more

accessible than ever (Blackmore, 1999).

Even then, however, Blackmore had some knowledge of Internet memes with the appearance

of “Dancing Baby” (See Fig. 3). According to oldest.org, this animation of a baby dancing is

one of the earliest Internet memes, having entered the scene in 1996.

Fig. 3 Dancing Baby (still progression of animation) (knowyourmeme.com).

6

Since then, numerous other memes took form as photos with text at the top or bottom. Other

notable early meme images include “Hamster Dance” (See Fig. 4), “All Your Base Are Belong

To Us” in the late 1990s, and “It’s A Trap” in the early 2000s (oldest.org).

Fig. 4 Hamster Dance (still of animation) (knowyourmeme.com).

Around 2007, video memes began appearing. According to American sports, music, and pop

culture writer Perry Kostidakis, “the concept of Rick Rolling became a recognized

phenomenon, and was one of the first video-based instances of humor being passed around the

internet.” “Rick Rolling” or “Rickrolling” is the process of sending someone a link that

redirects him/her to the music video for Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”

(See Fig.5) (Kostidakis, 2019).

Fig. 5 Still from the “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video used in “Rickrolling” (knowyourmeme.com).

7

Memes Today

Social Media

Though Internet memes initially spread via email or other niche social websites, the

introduction of more mainstream social media sites caused the meme industry to boom.

Today’s memes span a variety of mixed media and social media platforms. They have taken

on new life beyond a simple image with text overlaid. Memes now exist as videos, gifs (a short

series of animated pictures), audio files, particular people or user accounts, etc. The public has

access to them via sites such as Tumblr, Vine, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit

– the list goes on. The memes that have made it to the mainstream sites of Facebook, Twitter,

and Instagram, are often referred to as “normie memes,” as a wide audience is aware of them

and finds them funny. Examples of these include Grumpy Cat, Bad Luck Brian (See Fig. 6),

Success Kid, Side-Eye Chloe, Evil Kermit, Doge (See Fig. 7), Pepe the frog, the dress, Arthur’s

fist, Nut Button, Unhelpful Teacher, and Boromir (Lord of the Rings) (knowyourmeme.com).

Fig. 6 Bad Luck Brian meme (knowyourmeme.com).

8

Fig. 7 Doge meme (knowyourmeme.com).

‘Dank’ Memes

Another notable classification of memes is “dank memes,” which knowyourmeme.com defines

as “an ironic expression used to describe on-line viral media and in-jokes that are intentionally

bizarre or have exhausted their comedic value to the point of being trite or cliché” (Don and Y

F, 2015). However, the common expression of “dank memes” has also come to signify a level

of uniqueness, cleverness, or even “coolness” (Dictionary.com, 2019).

Music Memes Why and how do music memes originate?

The main focus of this paper is music memes. However, there are a range of ways in which

music has been memed. Creators have edited official music videos, filmed their own videos to

tracks, written/sung different lyrics to songs, created mashups of multiple songs – among other

creations. Some notable edits have included making a line repeat over and over again, pitching

the song ever so slightly out of tune, and moving the music ever so slightly off-beat. Because

music is such an integral part of pop culture, the realm of music memes is expansive and

pervasive.

Distinctions & Notable Examples

It is important to explain the distinctions among today’s various music memes. To quote

communications professional Jim Murray, “All memes are not created equal” (Murray, 2016).

A first classification of music memes is that of resurgence: “songs that became popular in their

own right, absent of any meme involvement, but then later became memes or associated with

9

memes” (Saba, 2018). This criteria appears to fit mainly because Internet memes did not exist

when many of these songs were released. Examples of songs used in resurgent music memes:

“Africa” by Toto; “Take on Me” by A-Ha; “All Star” by Smash Mouth; “Wonderwall”

by Oasis; “Careless Whisper” by George Michael; “Sounds of Silence” by Simon and

Garfunkel; “Mad World” by Michael Andrews; “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine

Dion; “Sandstorm” by Darude; “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley; “Hey

Ya” by Outkast; “Lose Yourself” by Eminem; “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence;

“September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire; “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The

Proclaimers; “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton; “Hide and Seek” by Imogen

Heap; “YMCA” by Village People.

Music memes of nostalgia are “songs that were popular or at least well-known in their own

right, and later became memes based on people’s shared memory of a childhood or other

specific time in life spent listening to that song” (Saba, 2018). Examples of tracks in nostalgic

music memes:

“Fireflies” by Owl City; Mii Channel Plaza Theme; “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” by Will

Smith; “Sweet Victory” from Spongebob Squarepants; Bill Nye Theme Song.

Pure music memes are defined as “songs that never experienced a popularity absent from being

a meme.” These songs are popular because they possess “meme nature, and thus have an

identity that cannot be examined without understanding them in a meme context” (Saba, 2018).

Examples of pure meme music:

“Gangnam Style” by Psy; “Friday” by Rebecca Black; “Dragostea Din Tei” (ie. Numa

Numa) by O-Zone; “Harlem Shake” by Baauer (dance example); “Man’s Not Hot” by

Big Shaq.

Memes of popular music involve “songs that simultaneously experienced natural popularity as

well as a meme understanding.” Many of these songs are released by artists that are already

popular, but “they experience a meme identity alongside a standard popular identity” (Saba,

2018). Examples of popular music meme tracks:

10

“Hotline Bling” by Drake; “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO; “Uptown Funk” by

Bruno Mars; “Redbone” by Childish Gambino; “Anaconda” by Nicki Minaj;

“Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus.

In addition to the above-listed categories: there are also sub-categories like mashups and

remixes, which “are known even outside of meme culture as when two or more songs are

merged together into one new song.” Examples include “My Slam Will Jam On,” “4 Chords,”

and Van Halen mashed up with ABBA (Saba, 2018).

Meme Creation & Creators

It is clear that music memes are an expansive realm in and of themselves. Some videos of song

parodies even have a comparable amount of views to the artists’ original music videos. But

who creates these memes, and why?

According to meme creator @whatifimthemonster._(who continues to rise in follower count

daily), there exists a meme hierarchy. It is often the case that “jokes sorta start out in niche

places like Reddit or Youtube, and then sort of branch out to bigger platforms [ie. Facebook,

Instagram, and Twitter].” @whatifimthemonster._ is currently a film student at Chapman

University, who started out making films but became interested in social media behavior

toward memes. He confesses that making memes does not require “a lot of skill,” as someone

can spend “5 minutes on a vid that gets 180k views” (@whatifimthemonster._, 2019).

Some meme creators, like @succulentbeans (with over fifty-five thousand followers and

counting), usually get random inspiration from “videos that could be edited to be funnier,” and

then he simply “caters to [his] audience, who usually has the same sense of humor.” Such a

technique has led to his “unexpected fame” (@succulentbeans, 2019).

Yet, @whatifimthemonster._ points out that some meme makers “really want their 15 minutes

of fame” and comments that there is a lot of competition, as people can be very “cut-throat”

and “possessive.” Memes can get stolen and re-posted on other accounts, as there is not much

protection. Recently, meme creators have begun placing watermarks on their visual media to

ensure credit, but it consistently raises an issue of intellectual property

(@whatifimthemonster._, 2019).

11

It is intriguing that neither source was aware of the field of memetics prior to their interviews.

Although both users are active in the meme community, they lack knowledge of early meme

history. This, however, does not appear to have an impact on their follower, like or comment

counts.

(It should be noted that the researcher attempted to contact more “famous” meme

creators/characters; however, the accounts with a larger number of followers/subscribers did

not respond or did not even provide the option to contact them due to the high volume of

nonsense or hate messages they receive. One of the sources interviewed even provided the

disclaimer that he/she does not normally respond to direct messages but made an exception in

the case of this research.)

Outlining the Process Gabbie Hanna “Monster” Meme

In order to best explain the “process” of music memes, the following section will explore the

recent meme of “Monster” by YouTuber Gabbie Hanna. In October 2018, Hanna released the

official music video of her track “Monster.” In late November 2018, Genius released her

interview with them, breaking down the lyrics to her song. In this video, her singing blew out

her lapel mic, so the final cut audio switched to the boom mic during those louder sections.

Fans quickly noticed that there was “something off” about the video, and by early December

2018, video clip memes mocking her high notes flooded Instagram. Meme creators saw an

opportunity to edit short sections of her video in “funnier” ways, such as inserting the Windows

XP startup sound, the iPhone ringtone/alarm, and a past meme of an ethereal screaming cowboy

in the clouds (See Fig. 8). One Gabbie Hanna meme creator, @whatifimthemonster._, gained

thousands of fans overnight by simply creating an Instagram account dedicated to “Monster”

memes, encountering “unexpected fame” (@succulentbeans, 2019).

12

Fig. 8 Gabbie Hanna “Monster” meme variation still from fan compilation (YouTube).

A few days after the memes surfaced, Hanna took notice and quickly posted a “react” video of

her responding to the memes of her interview. She filmed herself watching various memes and

embracing the humor that had somewhat enveloped her career. Hanna even created

merchandise (ie. shirts, buttons, etc.) with her “memed” caricature on it to fully take advantage

of the publicity surrounding her. There are now “Monster” meme-specific compilation videos

on YouTube, and the spin-off meme accounts still grow in followers, albeit not as rapidly as in

the initial viral days following the “Monster” meme outbreak (@whatifimthemonster._, 2019).

Hanna has received some criticism for over-embracing the meme, but in 2015 she had asked

fans to make her into a meme, and her enthusiasm proves that they delivered (Townsend, 2018).

The “Monster” meme scenario demonstrates not only a sample timetable for meme popularity,

but also the complicated responses both by the original musical artist and by fans.

Case Studies In the world of music memes, there are a few notable tracks that are necessary to mention due

to their immense popularity among mainstream social media users.

The following sections of this paper will specifically investigate the value and impact of memes

based on the following tracks: “Take On Me” by A-ha, “All Star” by Smash Mouth, “Never

Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, “Africa” by Toto, and “Wonderwall” by Oasis. Not only

were a majority of these songs released pre-Internet boom, but they have also shown incredible

success among fans today.

13

Music Memes for Resurgence How do memes make older music relevant now?

A main argument of this paper centers on memes’ abilities to revive older songs. With social

media users as young as pre-teens, knowledge by newer generations that would not otherwise

know particular tracks/artists is possible, despite the fact that they may not have been alive

when the music was first released. The songs mentioned above have re-emerged through

memes through individual means, yet all have seen an influx of popularity due to meme culture.

As mentioned above, Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” gained new-found popularity

through the phenomenon of “Rick Rolling” in 2007. The deceptive links revived the 1987 hit

for even those who were not originally fans of the track. Astley himself has commented on that

fact that “Rick Rolling” has “done [him] a lot of good.” Not only has it “helped introduce [him]

to a new generation,” but it also “reminded another generation [about him]” (Newman, 2016).

Smash Mouth’s “All Star” is one of the most memed songs of all time. Released in 1999, the

track gained popularity when it was placed in the opening credits for the film Shrek (2001) but

quickly became an internet obsession. This song is often mashed up with other meme-able

songs, and there is even a YouTuber dedicated to singing the “All Star” lyrics over instrumental

versions of other songs. Some notable meme videos of “All Star” include “All Star but it’s a

Bach chorale following the conventions of the Common Practice Period,” “(All Star) AND

THEY DON’T STOP COMING,” and “All Star by Smashmouth but every word is

someBODY” (Heckert, 2018).

A-ha’s “Take On Me” was originally released in 1984. “Take On Me” has been used in various

TV shows and advertisements, but it hit peak popularity through the platform of Vine as “Chloe

Lmao, Take On Me Vine” (she turns around with tiny glasses on her face) (See Fig. 9). Other

examples of “Take On Me” memes include “Jogging in tune with Take On Me,” and “Order

66 but it’s synced to A-ha’s Take On Me” (Heckert, 2018c).

14

Fig. 9 Still of Chloe Lmao’s “Who is she?” Vine video re-posted on YouTube (YouTube).

Toto’s “Africa” was first released in 1982, but has since been memed in videos such as “Toto

- Africa (Vocals 1 Step Out of Key & Off Beat,” “Toto- Africa (playing in an empty shopping

centre),” and “Africa - Toto but it never starts” (Heckert, 2018a). Rock band Weezer has also

covered Toto’s “Africa” to great success, gaining not only a great deal of radio airplay, but also

acclaim from fans. The fact that they finally released a cover version of the song has become a

meme itself. In 2017, 14-year old Twitter user Mary created an account dedicated solely to her

desire to have Weezer cover “Africa.” After constantly tweeting at the band to cover the song,

members of the band both replied on Twitter and delivered with a release of the re-make in

May 2018 (Powers, 2018). The 1982 track is “quadruple platinum, and was one of the most

streamed songs in 2017, with over 440m YouTube views” (BBC News, 2019).

Oasis’ “Wonderwall,” officially released in 1995, gained official meme status through videos

parodying how easy the song was to play (for beginner guitarists) and how it could help men

“score” women. Consequently, meme creators edited the phrase “anyway, here’s Wonderwall”

onto traditional text-over-image memes, which then flooded the Internet. Additionally,

YouTube memes include “oasis wonderwall but maybeeeeeeeeeeeee,” “Wonderwall but today

is gonna be the day that is gonna be the day (those notes) (Oasis),” and “Wonderwall but every

time he says ‘Wonderwall’ or ‘You’ it speeds up” (Heckert, 2018d).

The Internet also appears to have some fascination with a sort of “meme-ception.” Many of

these popular meme songs have recently been combined into ridiculous mashups such as “All

15

Star but it’s Take On Me,” “AFRICA BUT IT’S ALL STAR,” and even “All Star but it’s in

Wonderwall but it’s in Africa” (Youtube, 2018).

(The following subsections will not include all the aforementioned bands, but will selectively

explore the memes with the most relevant and complete content.)

Artist Responses How do artists respond to their music being “memed”?

Bands react in different ways to their songs being “memed.” Many interviewers have asked

musicians directly whether or not they have even seen or like the parodies. Oasis, for instance,

have been known to be rather unenthused by the existing “Wonderwall” memes. According to

The Daily Dot, “the brothers have never commented publicly on the ‘Anyway, Here’s

Wonderwall’ meme…[but] they’re not exactly fans of actual artists ripping off the song” (ie.

Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”) “which boasts almost identical chord

progressions.” In 2006, Noel Gallagher stated that “They should have the decency to wait until

I am dead [before stealing my songs]. I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy”

(Illuminati, 2017).

Toto, on the other hand, has been mystified by “Africa’s” re-popularity. Co-songwriter and

keyboardist David Paich told The New York Post, “It boggles my mind that it has these social

media legs...It makes me laugh, smile and cry from happiness” (Phull, 2018). Lead guitarist

and vocalist Steve Lukather has also commented that “It’s hilarious...I mean listen, we recorded

the song in 1981. It was a throwaway tune, like on our fourth album and I always loved the

track, but I thought the lyrics were silly.” Still, he continued, “I think it’s a great honor. I’m

tickled. It just makes me smile. I mean wow, that’s forever. When someone looks back at 2018,

we’re going to be a part of that story. That’s pretty cool” (Bitsky, 2018).

The band have also commented on the Weezer rendition of “Africa.” They “were flattered”

and “surprised to see [Weezer] kept to the original arrangement with just some harder-edged

guitars in the chorus” (Trakin, 2018). Lukather also explained that the band had given Weezer

their blessing to record the song and hinted at reversing the scenario;

16

“Now, wait until they hear our Weezer cover we just started recording, and will be out

in the next couple of months. I dig them. I was never really aware of them outside their

hits, but my kids hipped me to them. They are really good, inventive and quirky, hooks

for days. Thanks to Weezer for doing this. We’re thankful for the gift” (Trakin, 2018).

Occasionally, artists send mixed messages about their feelings toward their music being

“memed.” In a 2018 interview, lead singer of Smash Mouth Steve Harwell, having seen quite

a few of these memes, revealed that they (the band) can laugh at and occasionally embrace the

parodies of their songs (Garcia-Navarro, 2018). However, in 2017 Harwell had commented (in

regards to the meme-ing of “All Star”) that “it’s entertaining, I get it. It doesn’t bother me, but

at the same time, I don’t love it” (Weiss, 2017). Thus, there is no overarching theme for how

artists feel in regards to their music being “memed.”

Meme Impact on Reputation How do music memes change artists’ reputations amongst their fans?

To engage the question “Does meme music humor encourage a negative or positive view of

the original artists?,” a survey of Facebook users ages 18-31 years asked participants how

aware they were of various artists and what their perceptions of them are after having been

exposed to memes of their songs. (The survey only included the meme bands Smash Mouth,

Oasis, and A-ha. Other filler bands were included, but Rick Astley and Toto were not.)

Although a small sample (n=20), a lot of respondents had similar impressions of these bands,

with an overarching theme that the musical groups are mainly “one-hit-wonders.” More

specifically, participants responded to Oasis as “they’re ok,” “overrated,” and an “average rock

band.” Participants demonstrated a high awareness of the meme status of Smash Mouth; and

participants reacted to A-ha as “so cool!,” “underrated,” and “AWESOME” (Heckert, 2019).

With some groups, it would appear as though memes have not harmed their careers, but have

instead allowed them to make a comeback. A-ha, for one, is still selling out tours and have

been re-doing music in different settings (ie. MTV Unplugged). If nothing else, they have at

least gained a huge amount of exposure (a-ha.com, 2019). Even Smash Mouth has “gained a

large social media following based solely on the song [“All Star”] as a meme” (Saba, 2018).

17

However, there is a complexity with this pattern. Valence of reputation can actually depend on

artists’ responses to their music being “memed.” According to meme creator

@whatifimthemonster._, “if a [musician] rejects the meme it’s looked down upon”

(@whatifimthemonster._, 2019). Creators are apparently subject to more backlash if they reject

the meme. This may be linked to why bands like A-ha can still have enough staying power to

sell out tours, while others do not (Creative, 2019). Bands who do think negatively of memes

may need to understand that “oftentimes people who make memes are not trying to offend the

person directly because they believe the creator doesn’t care/is too cool to see it”

(@whatifimthemonster._, 2019).

Additionally, it is possible for artists to take this sense of entitlement and the promotion of their

memes too far. YouTube artist Gabbie Hanna has received backlash for selling merchandise

related to her meme on Amazon.com (See Fig. 10) (Townsend, 2018).

Fig. 10 An example of Gabbie Hanna’s “Monster” meme merchandise (Amazon.com).

Value of Memes What does the existence of a music meme say about a particular song and society, and what

good do music memes do? There are a variety of relevant implications offered by music memes

including ingenuity, social currency, publicity, creativity, capitalization, and changemaking.

The following subsections will explore examples from each of those categories.

18

Ingenuity

With millions of views on YouTube, there is no question that certain music memes are

incredibly popular. It can be argued that there must be something about a certain song that 1)

makes it meme-able and 2) makes people listen to it beyond meme context. Looking back at

the Artist Awareness survey administered in reference to this paper, tracks like “Wonderwall,”

“All Star,” and “Take On Me” have been coined as “catchy,” “a classic,” and “bangers”

(Heckert, 2019). Arguably, there is something about them that really resonates with the public.

Memes exaggerate certain facets of those songs, but the songs have an “earworm” without

being memed. Thus, quite possibly certain songs become memes due to the ingenuity of their

songwriters.

Social Currency

Meme culture reveals an element of social standing within web communities. There is a certain

status that comes with knowing about and understanding certain memes. This knowledge is

treated as social currency. Those who know certain memes may be more accepted by certain

social groups (ie. Internet communities). Again, memes typically start out in fringe web

communities, and only some branch off to more widespread social media sites

(@whatifimthemonster._, 2019). But this dichotomy extends to people uninvolved with social

media entirely, or perhaps a certain user who has missed a meme even though they have an

active social media account or presence.

Buzzfeed’s Jonah Peretti, BBC’s Bill Thompson, and B3ta’s Rob Manuel have all voiced

opinions on the communal element of memes. In a podcast mediated by memes scholar Dr.

Susan Blackmore, all three technology giants describe meme culture as a means of inclusion

for those who are aware of or understand a particular meme or set of memes (see Literature

Review). However, meme culture also promotes a level of exclusivity amongst the “ignorant”

(“What’s in a Meme?,” 2016). Upon further reflection, meme creators also “believe meme

culture is a medium for people to feel original, funny, and a part of a community. It’s a way to

make people feel different, and sometimes it’s even social commentary”

(@whatifimthemonster._, 2019).

Any Publicity is Good Publicity?

19

An added value of music being “memed” lies in the literal monetary value of such digital

attention. Not only can meme videos link back to the original music videos artists release, but

there are a range of meme-specific playlists on platforms such as YouTube and Spotify

(Ingemansen, 2018). Such collections allow artists to get views and streams on their content

even decades after their original release, which all rolls back to them in royalties.

An additional example of resurgent publicity involves Fleetwood Mac’s track “Dreams.” In

March 2018, Twitter user @bottledfeet tweeted “Fleetwood Mac’s music is so boring, you

can’t even dance to it” followed by a video of a university marching band dancing to the single

“Dreams” (@bottledfeet, 2018). This single tweet served as the catalyst to reviving the 1977

Mac song. According to The Guardian;

“It was retweeted more than 130,000 times, prompting 2,000 downloads of Dreams and

1.9m streams, a 24% rise. Rumours, which topped Billboard’s Top Rock Albums for a

record 31 consecutive weeks on its release, jumped to No 13 in that chart. In the UK

album chart, meanwhile, Rumours went from No 49 to 31 in its 725th week in the Top

100, while The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac went from No 27 to 17, chalking up its

328th week” (Beaumont-Thomas, 2018).

Pushing Creativity

Speaking of dancing, the spread of dance challenges has become another technique for

“meme”-ing music back onto the charts. One notable example is the “Harlem Shake,” where

(typically) a large crowd of people begin dancing once the beat drops. According to The

Guardian, “US producer Baauer reached No 1 in the US in 2012 with his track Harlem Shake

after it became the backing for [the] web video dance craze” (Beaumont-Thomas, 2018). More

recent examples include the “Mannequin Challenge” of 2016, where a camera observes (up

close and personal) humans posing as still as mannequins to the song "Black Beatles" by Rae

Sremmurd; and the “In My Feelings” challenge of 2018, where drivers put their car into neutral,

step out of the car and dance alongside their cars to the Drake hit. Not only do these challenges

create a viral craze, but they also “meme” the songs into popularity and challenge creators to

think outside of the box to post videos that are unique.

Meme culture has pushed creativity in other artistic, yet unconventional ways. A YouTuber by

the name of Pupsi recently posted a cover of Toto’s “Africa,” having made the instruments

20

from sweet potatoes and squash (Pupsi, 2018). DJ Michael Savage also gave new life to the

song by playing “Africa” on repeat for 12 hours at Bristol club, The Exchange, raising money

for a community-building charity in Malawi (Hesson, 2018). Currently, Toto’s legacy remains

in the “world’s oldest desert” in Namibia as an art installation with speakers playing “Africa”

for what artist Max Siedentopf hopes “will play for another 55 million years” (BBC News,

2019). These artistic interpretations will allow for the song to live on beyond the original artists’

lives.

Capitalization

The above examples are just the beginning of the commodification of music memes. Memes

are not only beneficial or popularity-inducing for their original artists, but other or lesser known

artists may take opportunities to capitalize on popular meme music. Some typical methods

employed by such artists include alluding to meme songs in their music or even creating their

own parodies of those songs. This usage of those memes can elevate their status and gain them

new fans.

As mentioned above, rock band Weezer capitalized on the “meme”-ing of Toto’s “Africa” by

releasing their own version, which was a wild success among Weezer and Toto fans alike. Not

only this, but the entire scenario demonstrated the power of social media and the dialectic

nature of meme culture (Townsend, 2018). Additionally, “Monster” singer Gabbie Hanna

began selling merchandise with a character of her meme on Amazon.com. Furthermore, since

viral videos are pushing songs such as “Harlem Shake” and “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” into

the charts, record labels have caught on and are looking to commodify trending tracks and the

artists behind them (Pollard, 2016). According to Forbes, even non-media businesses are

looking to memes as marketing channels for their products and services (Cole, 2018). The

usage of memes has become a way to reach Millenials, Generation X and Z, and beyond. An

early example of this is Old Spice’s 2010 “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign

(see Fig. 11) (ImproperUsername and Don Caldwell, 2011).

21

Fig. 11 Still from Old Spice’s 2010 “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” Campaign (knowyourmeme.com)

Social media influencers also profit from copying other memes and making challenges to gain

fame. Instagram stars Brent Rivera and sister Lexi often post series of videos re-enacting

famous memes such as Chloe Lmao’s “Who is she?,” in which one sibling passes the other a

pair of small glasses, starts playing “Take On Me,” and films the other sibling dancing. With

this copying, however, comes controversy. Chloe Lmao has spoken up about social media users

like influencer Logan Paul imitating her meme without giving credit (Shamsian, 2018). After

Paul’s “rip-off” video post in June, she tweeted “Hey Jake! That's my vine! I would say ‘in the

future, tag me!’ but there is no future, stop using my content, and do not associate with me in

any way thanks :)” (@contrachloe, 2018). Other issues of infringement of intellectual property

rights have arisen, causing meme creators to claim ownership through tags and watermarks on

their posts.

Creating Change Despite apparent controversy in the meme world, there are “deeper” uses for memes than

financial exploitation. The Guardian’s “Chips with everything” podcast has explored how

memes can be channels for social and political change. Discussion leader Leigh Alexander

explains how memes can serve as “simplified forms of political communication,” while the

accessibility component paves the way for “citizen journalism.” Montclair State University

22

Professor Joel Penney encourages the use of memes for political expression, including

persuasion and satire. King’s College London digital lecturer Paolo Gerbaudo asserts that

memes should be used as “a form of raising awareness...as a means to reach people” ordinary

people to comment on issues like the Trump presidency, as they can “condense very complex

content in simple messages...in clever ways.” He points to digital technology’s being an

instrumental part of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. However, Gerbado

warns about memes as being potentially dangerous, saying that they may be “weapons that can

be used for...bad purposes” like supporting conspiracy theories and promoting the spread of

false information. He brings up the Donald Trump-supported meme of a 6-pointed star

featuring Hillary Clinton with pile of cash that more than hinted at her being a corrupt leader

(Cresci and Shore, 2016).

There are an additional number of recent books that have investigated exactly this, including

yet-to-be-released texts for lecture-based university courses:

The Discursive Power of Memes in Digital Culture: Semiotics, Intertextuality, and Ideology by

Bradley E. Wiggins (to be released later in 2019), Memes to Movements: How the World's Most

Viral Media Is Changing Social Protest and Power by An Xiao Mina (2019), The World Made

Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media (Information Society Series) by Ryan

M. Milner (2016), Meme Magic: How stupid pictures of badly drawn frogs influenced the 2016

election by John Gregoire (2017).

Conclusion

This research demonstrates the complexity of meme culture, specifically focusing on music-

related content. Though the origins of memes are founded in academia, the current concept of

Internet memes has evolved into a high-tech obsession for current generations. Memes are no

longer “bits of information” or even simple images with text; they now span mixed media and

can be replicated, imitated, or reposted within seconds. Meme culture has even “memed” itself

with the existence of meta memes. An “Expanding Brain” (see Fig.12) variant comments on

the act of writing papers about memes and how that is a meme in and of itself (Zannettou et al.,

2018).

23

Fig. 12 “Expanding Brain” meme variant created by meme researchers (Zannettou et al., 2018).

Nevertheless, this paper highlights the impact of music memes on artists and their music. Not

only do these memes promote the resurgence of older music, but they also prompt reactions

from those original artists and impact the songs’/artists’ reputations. Existing music memes

reveal the value of not only the original artists but also of meme culture itself. Various social

media examples have been used to explain the power of memes to expose songwriters’

ingenuity, comment on social ties, utilize publicity, foster creativity, promote capitalization,

and encourage socio-political change. Through the continued expansion of memes, society may

see more important issues highlighted through these memes and, in accordance with Dawkins

and other memeologists, memes will continue to act as building blocks that propel the evolution

of culture.

Literature Review

This literature review delves further into the academic background of memes, with an

exploration of specific distintinctions that are crucial to understanding the meme-evolution

24

analogy. The review also draws upon perspectives from critics of the memetics field and

accounts additional opinions on their value from a scholarly and expert standpoint. The review

culminates in an examination of the future of memetics and how technology will continue to

shape the field.

First and foremost, Richard Dawkins, acclaimed evolutionary biologist, is a pioneer in the field,

having proposed the concept of “memes,” coining the term and associating it with the evolution

analogy in the 1970s. In his text The Selfish Gene, he investigates the idea of replicators and

their selfish tendencies, first applying them to biological genes. He argues that genes compete

for survival to be reproduced in human offspring. However, Dawkins explains that there are

three essential characteristics replicators must possess in order to spread: fecundity, fidelity,

and longevity. Fecundity is the ability to reproduce, fidelity is the accuracy of reproduction,

and longevity is the ability to last until a reproductive age. He then applies these traits to memes

as a means to describe the process of cultural evolution. Equating memes to genes, he parallels

the selfishness of ideas, phrases, etc. in the machine of culture (Dawkins, 1976).

Blackmore, following up on the theory proposed by Dawkins, has explored the Darwinian

nature of memes and how certain pieces of information (“memes”) adapt through the process

of natural selection. Memes compete for our brains’ resources (ie. attention). Like Dawkins,

she also expresses how memes “are replicators and if they can get themselves copied they will.”

The ideas, or memes, that have survived are the ones that have spread through the minds of as

many humans as possible (Blackmore, 1999, p.55).

However, Blackmore asserts that the evolution of memes is actually more aligned with

Lamarckian evolution as opposed to Darwin’s ideas. Lamarckism is “a theory of evolution

based on the principle that physical changes in organisms during their lifetime...could be

transmitted to their offspring.” The concept was proposed in 1809 by French naturalist Jean-

Baptiste Lamarck (Ray, 2017). He believed that there exists an “inheritance of acquired

characteristics” and that changes during one’s lifetime can be passed down to offspring via

reproduction (Blackmore, 1999, p.59). Blackmore argues that memes fit this philosophy rather

well. A meme, unlike a gene, can be passed down in its changed state. Following this logic,

biological evolution works in a “copy-the-instructions” type of way, while memetic evolution

can work in a “copy-the-product” type of way (Blackmore, 1999, p.62).

25

Some scholars, such as biological anthropologist Robert Aunger, take issue with the abstract

definition of memes, saying that “if memes explain everything, then they explain nothing,”

making them “too broad to be scientifically useful” (Aunger, 2006). Yet, Blackmore has made

two essential points with regard to understanding memes: not everything is a meme, and memes

do not work completely in the same way as genes. There is a lot of confusion as to what

“counts” as a meme in terms of content. But Blackmore maintains that they are not just “ideas,

or thoughts, or beliefs, or the contents of consciousness, or anything [one] can think of.” One

must make sure a meme is passed on via imitation. Some “things” cannot be passed on in this

sense. Such examples include items of perceptual experience (Blackmore, 1999, p.42-43).

To complicate things further, one must understand that imitation is a specific type of learning,

not akin to other psychological phenomena. Blackmore discusses the differences among

different types of learning – operant and classical conditioning in particular – while claiming

that information passed on in these ways does not follow proper memetic transmission. Even

the process of social learning, which appears as one organism copying another, occurs slightly

differently because the copier does not necessarily replicate the behavior on its own. Thus, this

is not “true imitation” (Blackmore, 1999, p.48). But Aunger also contests such restrictions of

replication, questioning “whether imitation is behavior copying or mental state inferencing”

(Aunger, 1999). He also suspects that imitation does not necessarily require a complex brain

like a human’s, while Blackmore insists memetic imitation is uniquely human – too

complicated for other organisms (Blackmore,1999, p.51).

The complexity of “qualifying” as a meme has been approached from other perspectives, as

well. Some memeologists have come to the conclusion that not all digital content actually

“evolves.” Limor Shifman, a notable memes scholar, argues that there is a distinction between

“memes” and “virals.” She clarifies the confusion by saying that memes that are imitated and

copied, change and take on lives of their own. Virals, on the other hand, are simply “re-posted”

and gain popularity in their original format – they are not altered. Shiffman proposes that

society “turn Dawkins’s definition on its head by looking at memes not as single ideas or

formulas that propagate well, but as groups of content items” (Shifman, 2014, p.4). She also

offers a new definition of Internet memes;

“(a) a group of digital items sharing common characteristics of content, form, and/or

stance, which (b) were created with awareness of each other, and (c) were circulated,

imitated, and/or transformed via the Internet by many users” (Shifman, 2014, p.41).

26

Thus, an important quality of memes involves some transformation of the original content.

Later in her text Memes in Digital Culture, Shifman also provides a clearer definition of a viral

as “a single cultural unit (formulated in words, image or video) that is spread by multiple agents

and is viewed by many millions” (Shifman, 2014, p.58). The key differences then, are memes

as groups versus virals as singles, and memes as changing and virals as unchanging.

Nevertheless, Shiffman confesses that memes and virals are not totally separate, as “a meme

oftentimes starts as a viral” (Shifman, 2014, p.58). Memes take on a new identity via the

engagement of content manipulation, whereas virals are more passive “because we simply pass

them along to the next viewer” (Shifman, 2014, p.60). This distinction is important to

understand, as the term “meme” is consistently technically misused, although for the average

social media consumer, such semantics hardly matter for their behavior.

Moreover, there has been debate over what the “unit of a meme” is or would be. In 1995,

philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett (one of the 3 Memeteers, alongside

Dawkins and Blackmore) attempted to define meme units as “the smallest elements that

replicate themselves with reliability and fecundity,” but even this was incredibly abstract

(Dennett, 1995, p. 344). Even before memetics existed as a field, mathematician and historian

Jacob Bronowski postulated that understanding social change would rely on relevant units

(Hull, 1982). However, Blackmore has struggled to define the unit of a meme, which she admits

is problematic for the field of memetics (Blackmore, 1999, p.53).

Although many memeologists have embraced the meme/gene analogy, a lot of criticism

surrounds the concept of memetic evolution. Geneticists Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb reject

“those dreaded memes” saying, “we...think that although memetics rightly stresses the

autonomy of cultural evolution and the complexity of interrelations between memes, it is

inadequate as an evolutionary theory of culture because of the false dichotomy that it has

created between cultural memes and cultural phenotypes” (Jablonka & Lamb, 2007). Author

William Benzon agrees to use the term “meme” in his research but argues, “the notion that

culture consists of homuncular memebots hopping about from brain to brain is uninformative

and thus a useless time sink” (Benzon, 2002). Even Mark Jordan of the Richard Dawkins

Foundation for Reason & Science admits that memetics “is often accused of trespassing in

fields such as psychology or sociology, attempting to replace well established and coherent

27

analytical tools and models with half-baked and insufficiently scientific notions” (Jordan,

2014).

Additionally, Daniel Dennett criticizes Dawkins’ theory of memetic cultural evolution for

offering “no formal development, no mathematical models, no quantitative predictions, no

systematic survey of relevant empirical findings.” Yet, he does acknowledge that Dawkins

presents “an idea that is overlooked by all the others, and it is...a most important idea. It is the

key to understanding how we can be not just guardians and transmitters of culture, but cultural

entities ourselves–all the way in” (Dennett, 1998).

Author Lynne McNeill takes a slightly different approach that humanizes the theory of memetic

cultural evolution, focusing on language and storytelling. In her article “LOL AND THE

WORLD LOLS WITH YOU: MEMES AS MODERN FOLKLORE,” McNeill compares

memes to proverbs – little nuggets of wisdom that are passed down from person to person.

Consequently, each time this information is transferred, the meaning changes slightly and

evolves. Memes, then, have become a significant mode of cultural expression. Researchers are

now trying to archive memes in order to preserve this cultural phenomenon (McNeill, 2017).

Beyond debates regarding the qualifications of and theoretical accuracy of “memes,” there are

a wide variety of opinions on them, ranging from obsession to hatred. A number of scholars

have voiced opinions on what memes contribute to society. A few themes arise when

considering memes as valuable pieces of culture: social ties, world destruction, and

pointlessness. In order to further understand this, it is also important to look at views on mass

technology as well (ie. the Internet as a whole). In Susan Blackmore’s 2016 podcast “What’s

in a Meme?,” she sits down with a group of notable influencers in technology to hear their

views on meme culture. Jonah Peretti, co-founder and CEO of Buzzfeed takes a communal

approach to society’s preoccupation with memes. He believes that the phenomenon of people

so obsessively spreading memes “stems from innate desires.” People are “driven to share” due

to a “desire for status.” This reasoning explains why Peretti created Buzzfeed and how the

platform has become so successful. Rob Manuel, founder of viral site B3ta, also argues that

memes can create community, and for this reason they are very powerful. Bill Thompson,

British Technology writer with the BBC further comments on memes’ ability to bind members

of a group, foster a sense of inclusion and create social ties. However, he also notes that with

this inclusion also comes a level of exclusivity. Groups who do not understand certain memes

28

or meme culture will not experience the sense of community mentioned above (“What’s in a

Meme?,” 2016).

This level of exclusion is most notably seen in regards to fringe web communities (ie. Reddit

and 4chan). These are the places where niche memes start, and there are large differences in

the content that rises to popularity on these platforms as opposed to more mainstream social

media sites. By nature of the type of social media platform, different interests come to fruition.

Researchers have discovered that many niche meme sites propagate more extreme content,

including hatred and racism. Additionally, once memes extend beyond these fringe sites, the

content becomes less useful and even pointless (Zannettou et al., 2018).

Andrew Keen, entrepreneur and author, who is known for his controversial comments about

the digital world, voices a drastically different opinion on Internet memes than the above

contributors. He even goes so far to say that they are “killing off culture,” or at least

contributing to its decline. He poses the question of why we need global awareness when there

is real news – real journalism – in the world (“What’s in a Meme?,” 2016). Memes – and the

Internet as a whole – are “not the answer” and will not simply solve all the world’s problems.

A skeptic of “free culture,” Keen has also argued adamantly about the negative impacts of

Internet technology saying;

“an unregulated network society is breaking the old centre, compounding economic and

cultural inequality, and creating a digital generation of masters of the universe. This

new power may be rooted in a borderless network, but it still translates into massive

wealth and power for a tiny handful of companies and individuals” (Keen, 2015).

Despite Keen’s hesitance to embrace the digital world, Dr. Susan Blackmore has been

fascinated with what this means for the future of memes. She argues that there is now a third

replicator:

“The first replicator was the gene – the basis of biological evolution. The second was

memes – the basis of cultural evolution. I believe that what we are now seeing, in a vast

technological explosion, is the birth of a third evolutionary process” (Blackmore, 2009).

She calls these “temes,” or ‘tremes.” The term is short for technological memes. She defines

them as “digital information stored, copied, varied and selected by machines.” Her idea is very

29

much related to what is known as artificial intelligence today. Blackmore believes that teme

machines are very different from those of genes or memes, but they still involve the processes

of copying, varying, and selecting – as replicators do. Although temes are currently still

dependent on humans, Blackmore asserts;

“there is enormous scope for teme machines to grow, evolve and create ever more

extraordinary digital worlds, some aided by humans and others independent of them.

We are still needed, not least to run the power stations, but as the temes proliferate,

using ever more energy and resources, our own role becomes ever less significant, even

though we set the whole new evolutionary process in motion in the first place”

(Blackmore, 2010b).

To some, it is a scary thought that technology can “carry out all of the three processes required

for evolution: copying, varying and selecting” (Blackmore, 2010a). But algorithms already

exist in heavy rotation, allowing technology to learn on its own. Humans act as the energy

providers, but Blackmore believes artificial intelligence may eventually become entirely self-

creating, at least in principle (Blackmore, 2018a&b).

References

‘6 Oldest Memes on the Internet’ (2017) Oldest.org, 29 October. Available at: http://www.oldest.org/entertainment/memes/.

30

Alexander, J. (2017) Smash Mouth is learning to be cool with ‘All Star’ memes on YouTube, Polygon. Available at: https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/27/16705406/all-star-meme-remix-smash-mouth.

Artificial Intelligence - What is Our Role in the Future?(2018a). (Science, Technology & the Future). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd8XFZnKZDs.

Aunger, R. (1999) ‘A Report on the Conference: “Do Memes Account for Culture?”’, University of Cambridge.

Aunger, R. (2006) ‘What’s the matter with memes?’, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Available at: http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/11082/1/AungerDawkinsMemesFinal.pdf.

Don and Matt Schimkowitz (2013) Bad Luck Brian, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bad-luck-brian.

BBC (2019) ‘Toto on eternal loop “down in Africa”’, 14 January. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46861137.

Beaumont-Thomas, B. (2015) ‘A-ha: how we made Take on Me’, The Guardian, 15 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/15/a-ha-how-we-made-take-on-me.

Beaumont-Thomas, B. (2018) ‘Meme come true: Fleetwood Mac re-enter US charts thanks to Twitter post’, The Guardian, 4 April. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/04/fleetwood-mac-re-enter-us-charts-dreams-twitter-tweet-billboard.

Benzon, W. (2002) ‘Colorless Green Homunculi’, Human Nature Review, pp. 454–462.

Bitsky, L. (2018) ‘How the band Toto actually feels about the viral “Africa” memes’, Page Six, 22 August. Available at: https://pagesix.com/2018/08/22/how-the-band-toto-actually-feels-about-the-viral-africa-memes/.

Blackmore, S.J. (1999) The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.\ Blackmore, S. (2003) ‘About Memes’, Dr Susan Blackmore. Available at: https://www.susanblackmore.uk/memetics/about-memes/.

31

Blackmore, S. (2009) Evolution’s third replicator: Genes, memes, and now what?, New Scientist. Available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327191-500-evolutions-third-replicator-genes-memes-and-now-what/.

Blackmore, S. (2010a) ‘Copy That: A Response’, Opinionator, 3 September. Available at: https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/copy-that-a-response/.

Blackmore, S. (2010b) ‘The Third Replicator’, Opinionator, 22 August. Available at: https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/the-third-replicator/.

QuesoFrogger and Y F (2015) But That’s None of My Business, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/but-thats-none-of-my-business (Accessed: 25 January 2019).

Cole, A. (2018) More Than A Trend: Meme Marketing Is Here To Stay, Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/07/19/more-than-a-trend-meme-marketing-is-here-to-stay/.

Creative, S. R. (2019) A-ha Tour | MTV Unplugged & Summer Tour 2018 | Buy Tickets, a-ha. Available at: https://a-ha.com/tickets.

Cresci, P. by L. A. with E. and Shore, produced by M. (2016) ‘How memes create social and political change – Chips with Everything tech podcast’, The Guardian, 8 July. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/audio/2016/jul/08/how-memes-create-social-and-political-change-tech-podcast.

I Awesome and Y F (2010) Dancing Baby, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dancing-baby.

‘Dank Meme - What Does dank meme Mean? | Slang by Dictionary.com’ (2019) Everything After Z by Dictionary.com. Available at: https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/dank-meme/.

Dawkins, R. (1989) The selfish gene. New ed. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.

Definition of MEMETICS(2019) Merriam Webster. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/memetics.

Dennett, D. (1998) Memes: Myths, Misunderstandings and Misgivings. Available at: https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/MEMEMYTH.FIN.htm.

a compilation of every Gabbie Hanna ‘Monster’ meme on twitter(2018). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkfdFLzyq58.

32

NovaXP and Y F (2014) Doge, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/doge.

Don and Y F (2015) Dank Memes, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dank-memes.

Farber, D. (2012) Andrew Keen: ‘Social media is killing our species’, CNET. Available at: https://www.cnet.com/news/andrew-keen-social-media-is-killing-our-species/.

Garcia-Navarro, L. (2018) Yes, Smash Mouth Has Seen The ‘All Star’ Memes, NPR.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/01/624236239/yes-smash-mouth-has-seen-the-all-star-memes.

Genes, Memes and Tremes: The Future of Artificial Intelligence | Susan Blackmore(2018b). ( Studium Generale Delft). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v5z5rjgOQY.

Brad and Y F (2013) Grumpy Cat, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/grumpy-cat (Accessed: 25 January 2019).

Medusanyc and Brad Kim (2009) Hampster Dance, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hampster-dance.

Heckert, M. (2018a) Africa Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUnwvqO0uflPawF-eb3oQrRO.

Heckert, M. (2018) All Star Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUkcRxY8vbJ0V-3pHBsVBsan.

Heckert, M. (2018c) Take On Me Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUkw00lUY-3AXrcLAlPTZDGP.

Heckert, M. (2018d) Wonderwall Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUnlPTkDPqNtRxD82HOpuzpG.

Heckert, M. (2019) Meme Music Awareness Survey Results. Google Forms.

Hesson, D. (2018) Venue plays Toto’s Africa all night, BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-bristol-46412520/bristol-venue-plays-africa-by-toto-on-loop-for-12-hours.

Horan, M. and F, Y. (2018) Wonderwall, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wonderwall.

33

Hull, D. (1982) ‘The naked meme’, Learning, Development and Culture , pp. 273–237.

Illuminati, C. (2017) 7 things you didn’t know about ‘Anyway, Here’s Wonderwall,’ the Oasis meme won’t die, The Daily Dot. Available at: https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/anyway-heres-wonderwall-meme/.

ImproperUsername and Don Caldwell (2011) Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/isaiah-mustafa-old-spice.

Jablonka, E. and Lamb, M. J. (2007) ‘Précis of Evolution in Four Dimensions’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(04). doi: 10.1017/S0140525X07002221.

Jordan, M. (2014) What’s in a Meme? | Richard Dawkins Foundation. Available at: https://www.richarddawkins.net/2014/02/whats-in-a-meme/.

Katzowitz, J. (2018) The creator of the ‘Who is she?’ vine says Jake Paul ripped her off , The Daily Dot. Available at: https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/vine-who-is-she-jake-paul/.

Keen, A. (2015) The internet is not the answer. First edition. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.

Kodiack and 3kole5 (2018) Take On Me, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/take-on-me.

Kostidakis, P. (2019) The Evolution of Memes, Complex. Available at: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2019/01/evolution-of-memes/.

Dubs, J. and Schimkowitz, M. (2009) LOLcats, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/lolcats.

McNEILL, L. (2017) LOL AND THE WORLD LOLS WITH YOU: MEMES AS MODERN FOLKLORE. Meme | cultural concept(2019) Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/meme.

meme | Definition of meme in English by Oxford Dictionaries(2019) Oxford Dictionaries | English. Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/meme.

Murray, J. (2016) All Memes Are Not Created Equal: Some Are More Useless Than Others, linkedin.com. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/all-memes-created-equalsome-more-useless-than-others-jim-murray.

34

Newman, M. (2016) ‘Rick Astley on Benefits of Rickrolling, Taking Cues From Adele’, Rolling Stone, 24 August. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/rick-astley-on-benefits-of-rickrolling-taking-cues-from-adele-252023/.

O’Neil, L. (2017) ‘Meet the Hero Teen Determined to Convince Weezer to Cover Toto’s “Africa”’, Noisey, 8 December. Available at: https://noisey.vice.com/en_au/article/pazg3g/meet-the-hero-teen-determined-to-convince-weezer-to-cover-totos-africa.

Plaugic, L. (2017) Smash Mouth: We ‘fully embrace the meme’, The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/5/14176992/smash-mouth-meme-interview-all-star.

Pollard, A. (2016) ‘Juju on that Beat: the power of music memes’, The Guardian, 18 November. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/nov/18/juju-on-that-beat-the-power-of-music-memes.

Powell, A. (2017) Smash Mouth finally responds to all those weird ‘All Star’ memes, The Daily Dot. Available at: https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/smash-mouth-memes/.

Powers, A. (2018) Weezer Covers Toto’s ‘Africa,’ Taking Us Deep Into The Internet’s Heart Of Beigeness, NPR.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/05/29/615204047/cracking-open-totos-beige-classic-africa-weezer-grants-the-internet-s-wish.

Ray, M. (2017) Lamarckism | Facts, Theory, & Contrast with Darwinism, Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/Lamarckism.

Richard Dawkins | Biography, Books, & Facts (2019) Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Dawkins.

Richard Dawkins | Memes | Oxford Union (2014). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BVpEoQ4T2M.

Dubs, J. and Caldwell, D. (2009) Rickroll, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rickroll.

Rutherford, K. (2018) 'A Meme Pushes Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams' Onto Hot Rock Songs Chart'. Ryan, G. (2018) Rick Astley talks Foo Fighters, Rickrolling Obama and being an emotional support poster in ‘Hollyoaks’, NME. Available at: https://www.nme.com/blogs/rick-astley-interview-rickroll-foo-fighters-never-gonna-give-you-up-2353413.

35

Saba, J. (2018) ‘Meme Music: Types, Examples, and Case Studies’. Available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VvoOF8HxS_-_MHg6fUio-jV9TV8j1JljTpCtyuf_2y4/edit.

Shamsian, J. (2018) YouTuber Jake Paul is feuding with the woman who made one of the greatest vines of all time” and it’s getting ugly, Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/jake-paul-feud-with-chloe-woodard-who-is-she-vine-2018-6.

Shifman, L. (2014) Memes in digital culture, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ‘@succulentbeans Interview: Meme Creator Insights via Instagram’ (2018).

Toto - Africa (Sweet Potato & Squash Cover)(2018). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRLfGwQ7Nsw.

Townsend, B. (2018) Gabbie Hanna is getting backlash for making merch out of her meme, We The Unicorns. Available at: https://www.wetheunicorns.com/youtubers/gabbie-show/monster-meme-merch/.

Trakin, R. (2018) ‘Toto Founder on Weezer’s Hit Cover of “Africa”: “No One”s Laughing Harder Than Us’’, Variety, 22 June. Available at: https://variety.com/2018/music/news/totos-steve-lukather-on-weezers-hit-cover-of-africa-no-ones-laughing-harder-than-us-1202855413/.

Weiss, D. (2017) ‘Q&A: Steve Harwell On 20 Years Of Smash Mouth And Coming To Terms With All Those “All Star” Memes’, Stereogum, 7 July. Available at: https://www.stereogum.com/1950450/qa-steve-harwell-on-20-years-of-smash-mouth-and-coming-to-terms-with-all-those-all-star-memes/franchises/the-anniversary/.

‘@whatifimthemonster._ Interview: Meme Creator Insights via Instagram’ (2018).

‘What’s in a Meme?’ (2016). Available at: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01AF2AA8?bcast=122824524.

Zannettou, S. et al.(2018) ‘On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities’.

36

Bibliography ‘6 Oldest Memes on the Internet’ (2017) Oldest.org, 29 October. Available at: http://www.oldest.org/entertainment/memes/.

27 classical music memes that will completely define your life(no date) Classic FM. Available at: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/humour/classical-music-nerd-memes/.

About BuzzFeed (no date) About BuzzFeed. Available at: https://www.buzzfeed.com/about.

Adam and 3kole5 (2018) Mr. Brightside, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mr-brightside.

a-ha - Take On Me (Official Music Video)(2010). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914.

Alexander, J. (2017) Smash Mouth is learning to be cool with ‘All Star’ memes on YouTube, Polygon. Available at: https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/27/16705406/all-star-meme-remix-smash-mouth.

Anderson, B. and Furseth, J. (2017) ‘How “Africa” by Toto Became the Internet’s Favorite Song’, Motherboard, 21 November. Available at: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a37pq5/africa-toto-song-internet-meme.

Artificial Intelligence - What is Our Role in the Future?(2018a). (Science, Technology & the Future). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd8XFZnKZDs.

Aslan, E. (2018) The surprising academic origins of memes, The Conversation. Available at: http://theconversation.com/the-surprising-academic-origins-of-memes-90607.

37

Aunger, R. (1999) ‘A Report on the Conference: “Do Memes Account for Culture?”’, University of Cambridge.

Aunger, R. (2006) ‘What’s the matter with memes?’, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Available at: http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/11082/1/AungerDawkinsMemesFinal.pdf.

B3TA : WE LOVE THE WEB(2018). Available at: https://www.b3ta.com/.

b3ta.com user rob (no date). Available at: https://www.b3ta.com/~rob/.

Don and Matt Schimkowitz (2013) Bad Luck Brian, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bad-luck-brian.

BBC (2019) ‘Toto on eternal loop “down in Africa”’, 14 January. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-46861137.

Beaumont-Thomas, B. (2015) ‘A-ha: how we made Take on Me’, The Guardian, 15 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/15/a-ha-how-we-made-take-on-me.

Beaumont-Thomas, B. (2018) ‘Meme come true: Fleetwood Mac re-enter US charts thanks to Twitter post’, The Guardian, 4 April. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/04/fleetwood-mac-re-enter-us-charts-dreams-twitter-tweet-billboard.

Benzon, W. (2002) ‘Colorless Green Homunculi’, Human Nature Review, pp. 454–462.

Bill Thompson - BBC R&D(2019). Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/people/bill-thompson (Accessed: 17 January 2019).

Bitsky, L. (2018) ‘How the band Toto actually feels about the viral “Africa” memes’, Page Six, 22 August. Available at: https://pagesix.com/2018/08/22/how-the-band-toto-actually-feels-about-the-viral-africa-memes/.

Blackmore, S.J. (1999) The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Blackmore, S. (2002) ‘The Power of Memes’, Dr Susan Blackmore, 25 March. Available at: https://www.susanblackmore.uk/articles/the-power-of-memes/.

Blackmore, S. (2003) ‘About Memes’, Dr Susan Blackmore. Available at: https://www.susanblackmore.uk/memetics/about-memes/.

38

Blackmore, S. (2009) Evolution’s third replicator: Genes, memes, and now what?, New Scientist. Available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327191-500-evolutions-third-replicator-genes-memes-and-now-what/.

Blackmore, S. (2010a) ‘Copy That: A Response’, Opinionator, 3 September. Available at: https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/copy-that-a-response/.

Blackmore, S. (2010b) ‘The Third Replicator’, Opinionator, 22 August. Available at: https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/the-third-replicator/.

Blackmore, S. (2011) ‘Memes and Tremes’, Dr Susan Blackmore. Available at: https://www.susanblackmore.uk/memes-and-tremes/.

QuesoFrogger and Y F (2015) But That’s None of My Business, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/but-thats-none-of-my-business (Accessed: 25 January 2019).

Castaño Díaz, C. M. (2013) ‘Defining and characterizing the concept of Internet Meme’, Revista CES Psicología. Available at: http://www.scielo.org.co/pdf/cesp/v6n2/v6n2a07.pdf.

Cole, A. (2018) More Than A Trend: Meme Marketing Is Here To Stay, Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/07/19/more-than-a-trend-meme-marketing-is-here-to-stay/.

Cragg, M. (2018) ‘Meme, myself and I: how pop’s new gen deal with social media anxiety’, The Guardian, 7 April. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/07/meme-myself-and-i-how-pops-new-gen-deal-with-social-media-anxiety.

Creative, S. R. (2019) A-ha Tour | MTV Unplugged & Summer Tour 2018 | Buy Tickets, a-ha. Available at: https://a-ha.com/tickets.

Cresci, P. by L. A. with E. and Shore, produced by M. (2016) ‘How memes create social and political change – Chips with Everything tech podcast’, The Guardian, 8 July. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/audio/2016/jul/08/how-memes-create-social-and-political-change-tech-podcast.

I Awesome and Y F (2010) Dancing Baby, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dancing-baby.

‘Dank Meme - What Does dank meme Mean? | Slang by Dictionary.com’ (2019) Everything After Z by Dictionary.com. Available at: https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/dank-meme/.

39

Davies, H. J. (2018) ‘Reverb remixes: the musical meme that’s celebrating loneliness’, The Guardian, 24 April. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/24/reverb-remixes-the-musical-meme-thats-celebrating-loneliness.

Dawkins, R. (1989) The selfish gene. New ed. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.

Dawkins, R. et al. (2010) 이기적 유전자: 진화론 의 새로윤 패러다임. 서울: 을유

문화사.

Definition of MEMETICS (2019) Merriam Webster. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/memetics.

Dennett, D. (1998) Memes: Myths, Misunderstandings and Misgivings. Available at: https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/MEMEMYTH.FIN.htm.

a compilation of every Gabbie Hanna ‘Monster’ meme on twitter (2018). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkfdFLzyq58.

NovaXP and Y F (2014) Doge, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/doge.

Don and Y F (2015) Dank Memes, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dank-memes.

Fandom Community (no date) Take On Me, Pop Culture Wiki. Available at: http://pop-culture.wikia.com/wiki/Take_On_Me.

Farber, D. (2012) Andrew Keen: ‘Social media is killing our species’, CNET. Available at: https://www.cnet.com/news/andrew-keen-social-media-is-killing-our-species/.

Gabbie Hanna (2018) Amazon.com. Available at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/1A3C268B-4B77-4BA3-82C8-636FA208A540.

Gabbie Hanna ‘Monster’ Official Lyrics & Meaning | Verified (2018). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si2Nh6hS6j8.

Gabbie Hanna Reacts to the ‘Monster’ Meme (2018). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLwyVgab1Oc.

Garcia-Navarro, L. (2018) Yes, Smash Mouth Has Seen The ‘All Star’ Memes, NPR.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/01/624236239/yes-smash-mouth-has-seen-the-all-star-memes.

40

Gehring, M. (2018) Gabbie Hanna Fully Embraces Her ‘What If I’m A Monster’ Meme Status, MTV News. Available at: http://www.mtv.com/news/3106450/gabbie-hanna-what-if-im-a-monster-meme/.

Genes, Memes and Tremes: The Future of Artificial Intelligence | Susan Blackmore (2018b). ( Studium Generale Delft). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v5z5rjgOQY.

Brad and Y F (2013) Grumpy Cat, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/grumpy-cat (Accessed: 25 January 2019).

Medusanyc and Brad Kim (2009) Hampster Dance, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hampster-dance.

Heckert, M. (2018a) Africa Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUnwvqO0uflPawF-eb3oQrRO.

Heckert, M. (2018) All Star Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUkcRxY8vbJ0V-3pHBsVBsan.

Heckert, M. (2018b) Mr. Brightside Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUn_2hxc1EbBt2ePP9OH6W82.

Heckert, M. (2018c) Take On Me Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUkw00lUY-3AXrcLAlPTZDGP.

Heckert, M. (2018d) Wonderwall Memes, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4x75NkBOUnlPTkDPqNtRxD82HOpuzpG.

Heckert, M. (2019) Meme Music Awareness Survey Results. Google Forms.

Hesson, D. (2018) Venue plays Toto’s Africa all night, BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-bristol-46412520/bristol-venue-plays-africa-by-toto-on-loop-for-12-hours.

Horan, M. and F, Y. (2018) Wonderwall, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wonderwall.

Hull, D. (1982) ‘The naked meme’, Learning, Development and Culture , pp. 273–237.

I don’t particularly like my hit Wonderwall, says Oasis’s Noel Gallagher(2017) irishexaminer.com. Irish Examiner. Available at: https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/entertainment/i-dont-particularly-like-my-hit-wonderwall-says-oasiss-noel-gallagher-791199.html.

41

Illuminati, C. (2017) 7 things you didn’t know about ‘Anyway, Here’s Wonderwall,’ the Oasis meme won’t die, The Daily Dot. Available at: https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/anyway-heres-wonderwall-meme/.

ImproperUsername and Don Caldwell (2011) Isaiah Mustafa: Old Spice, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/isaiah-mustafa-old-spice.

Ingemansen, E. B. (2018) Music of Memes - through the years, a playlist on Spotify, Spotify. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6sEiSF1p1lN0GrIumD1Pdy.

Jablonka, E. and Lamb, M. J. (2007) ‘Précis of Evolution in Four Dimensions’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(04). doi: 10.1017/S0140525X07002221.

Jordan, M. (2014) What’s in a Meme? | Richard Dawkins Foundation. Available at: https://www.richarddawkins.net/2014/02/whats-in-a-meme/.

Katzowitz, J. (2018) The creator of the ‘Who is she?’ vine says Jake Paul ripped her off , The Daily Dot. Available at: https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/vine-who-is-she-jake-paul/.

Keen, A. (2015) The internet is not the answer. First edition. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.

Keen, A. (2017) BIO, Andrew Keen. Available at: http://www.ajkeen.com/bio/.

Klee, M. (2017) Why We Will Never Get Over Wonderwall, MEL Magazine. Available at: https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/why-we-will-never-get-over-wonderwall.

Kodiack and 3kole5 (2018) Take On Me, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/take-on-me.

Kostidakis, P. (2019) The Evolution of Memes, Complex. Available at: https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2019/01/evolution-of-memes/.

Kreps, D. (2010) ‘The Secret History of a-ha’s Smash “Take on Me”’, Rolling Stone, 14 May. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-secret-history-of-a-has-smash-take-on-me-95480/.

Lewis, K. (2016) ‘A Review of Memes in Digital Culture’, Digital Humanities Quarterly, 010(2).

Dubs, J. and Schimkowitz, M. (2009) LOLcats, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/lolcats.

42

Loughrey, C. (2016) The Killers praise ‘Mr Brightside’ pub sing-a-long at Irish funeral, The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/the-killers-praise-brilliant-mr-brightside-pub-sing-a-long-at-irish-funeral-a6957726.html.

McNEILL, L. (2017) LOL AND THE WORLD LOLS WITH YOU: MEMES AS MODERN FOLKLORE. Meme | cultural concept (2019) Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/meme.

meme | Definition of meme in English by Oxford Dictionaries (2019) Oxford Dictionaries | English. Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/meme.

‘Meme Creator Insights’ (2018).

Miller, I. and Cupchik, G. (2014) ‘Meme creation and sharing processes: individuals shaping the masses’, University of Toronto .

Monster / Monster (Reborn) - Official Music Video - Gabbie Hanna (2018). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG4dGZTMDU4.

Murray, J. (2016) All Memes Are Not Created Equal: Some Are More Useless Than Others, linkedin.com. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/all-memes-created-equalsome-more-useless-than-others-jim-murray.

Neilan, D. (2018) ‘Mr. Brightside’ refuses to leave the charts and we demand to know why, News. Available at: https://news.avclub.com/mr-brightside-refuses-to-leave-the-charts-and-we-dem-1829062312.

Newman, M. (2016) ‘Rick Astley on Benefits of Rickrolling, Taking Cues From Adele’, Rolling Stone, 24 August. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/rick-astley-on-benefits-of-rickrolling-taking-cues-from-adele-252023/.

O’Neil, L. (2017) ‘Meet the Hero Teen Determined to Convince Weezer to Cover Toto’s “Africa”’, Noisey, 8 December. Available at: https://noisey.vice.com/en_au/article/pazg3g/meet-the-hero-teen-determined-to-convince-weezer-to-cover-totos-africa.

Phull, H. (2018) ‘Toto’s “Africa” is somehow a millennial frat anthem — and the band is “boggled”’, New York Post, 1 February. Available at: https://nypost.com/2018/02/01/totos-africa-is-somehow-a-millennial-frat-anthem-and-the-band-is-boggled/.

43

Plaugic, L. (2017) Smash Mouth: We ‘fully embrace the meme’, The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/5/14176992/smash-mouth-meme-interview-all-star.

Pollard, A. (2016) ‘Juju on that Beat: the power of music memes’, The Guardian, 18 November. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/nov/18/juju-on-that-beat-the-power-of-music-memes.

Powell, A. (2017) Smash Mouth finally responds to all those weird ‘All Star’ memes, The Daily Dot. Available at: https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/smash-mouth-memes/.

Powers, A. (2018) Weezer Covers Toto’s ‘Africa,’ Taking Us Deep Into The Internet’s Heart Of Beigeness, NPR.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/05/29/615204047/cracking-open-totos-beige-classic-africa-weezer-grants-the-internet-s-wish.

Ray, M. (2017) Lamarckism | Facts, Theory, & Contrast with Darwinism, Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/Lamarckism.

Reden, C. (2018) Why Did ‘Wonderwall’ Become the Annoying Anthem of Backpackers?, Perceptive Travel Blog. Available at: https://perceptivetravel.com/blog/2018/04/28/why-did-wonderwall-become-the-annoying-anthem-of-backpackers/.

Richard Dawkins | Biography, Books, & Facts (2019) Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Dawkins.

Richard Dawkins | Memes | Oxford Union (2014). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BVpEoQ4T2M.

Dubs, J. and Caldwell, D. (2009) Rickroll, Know Your Meme. Available at: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rickroll.

Romano, A. (2017) Mr. Brightside in 2017: It started out so mainstream, how did it end up a meme?, Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/2017/12/29/16826084/mr-brightside-memes-2017.

r/OutOfTheLoop - When did Toto - Africa become a meme? (no date) reddit. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/8zx318/when_did_toto_africa_become_a_meme/.

Rutherford, K. (2018) 'A Meme Pushes Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams' Onto Hot Rock Songs Chart'.

44

Ryan, G. (2018) Rick Astley talks Foo Fighters, Rickrolling Obama and being an emotional support poster in ‘Hollyoaks’, NME. Available at: https://www.nme.com/blogs/rick-astley-interview-rickroll-foo-fighters-never-gonna-give-you-up-2353413.

Saba, J. (2018) ‘Meme Music: Types, Examples, and Case Studies’. Available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VvoOF8HxS_-_MHg6fUio-jV9TV8j1JljTpCtyuf_2y4/edit.

Saxena, J. (2017) The Internet’s Endless Obsession with Smash Mouth’s ‘All Star’, GQ. Available at: https://www.gq.com/story/the-endless-obsession-with-smash-mouth-all-star.

Sayej, N. (2019) ‘Memes, technology and sci-fi: what to expect from art in the US in 2019’, The Guardian, 3 January. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jan/03/memes-technology-sci-fi-us-art-2019.

Shamsian, J. (2018) YouTuber Jake Paul is feuding with the woman who made one of the greatest vines of all time” and it’s getting ugly, Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/jake-paul-feud-with-chloe-woodard-who-is-she-vine-2018-6.

Shifman, L. (2014) Memes in digital culture, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Shontell, A. (2017) How BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti took an instant messaging bot and turned it into a $1.5 billion media empire, Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/buzzfeed-jonah-peretti-startup-success-how-i-did-it-interview-podcast-2017-5.

Smash Mouth - All Star (Official Music Video) (2009). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_jWHffIx5E.

‘@succulentbeans Interview: Meme Creator Insights via Instagram’ (2018).

The Killers - Mr. Brightside (Official Music Video) (2009). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdGFtwCNBE.

The Story of... ‘Africa’ by Toto (2018) Smooth. Available at: https://www.smoothradio.com/features/toto-africa-meaning-lyrics-meme/.

Thierer, A. (2011) The Internet Isn’t Killing Our Culture Or Democracy, Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamthierer/2011/06/05/the-internet-isnt-killing-our-culture-of-democracy/.

45

Toto - Africa (Official Music Video) (2013). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQbiNvZqaY.

Toto - Africa (Sweet Potato & Squash Cover) (2018). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRLfGwQ7Nsw.

Townsend, B. (2018) Gabbie Hanna is getting backlash for making merch out of her meme, We The Unicorns. Available at: https://www.wetheunicorns.com/youtubers/gabbie-show/monster-meme-merch/.

Trakin, R. (2018) ‘Toto Founder on Weezer’s Hit Cover of “Africa”: “No One”s Laughing Harder Than Us’’, Variety, 22 June. Available at: https://variety.com/2018/music/news/totos-steve-lukather-on-weezers-hit-cover-of-africa-no-ones-laughing-harder-than-us-1202855413/.

Weiss, D. (2017) ‘Q&A: Steve Harwell On 20 Years Of Smash Mouth And Coming To Terms With All Those “All Star” Memes’, Stereogum, 7 July. Available at: https://www.stereogum.com/1950450/qa-steve-harwell-on-20-years-of-smash-mouth-and-coming-to-terms-with-all-those-all-star-memes/franchises/the-anniversary/.

‘@whatifimthemonster._ Interview: Meme Creator Insights via Instagram’ (2018).

‘What’s in a Meme?’ (2016). Available at: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/01AF2AA8?bcast=122824524.

Zannettou, S. et al.(2018) ‘On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities’.

Zhou, N. (2018) ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we got him: the evolution of one of 2018’s best memes’, The Guardian, 20 December. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/dec/20/ladies-and-gentlemen-we-got-him-the-evolution-of-one-of-2018s-best-memes.

46

Appendix

Interviews

Interview questions were as follows:

Disclaimer: First, I apologize if any of my questions sound ignorant. I really don’t know

much about meme creators, so I’m just looking to learn what I can! And I don’t mean to

bombard you with questions, so really grateful for any input/time you can spare on these :)

1. How/when did you start creating memes?

2. What is the process like? (ie. Do you see something on the internet & instantly know

it’ll go over well with an audience? What is the turnaround time?)

3. Do you see a lot of competition between creators (for likes/followers/credit, or other

things like copyrighting issues?

4. What have you perceived musical artist responses to be when when they/their music

gets memes? (I have seen the Gabbie Hanna reaction video, but anything else you’ve

noticed in general? ie. Do people like being memed?)

5. Are you familiar with the academic field of memetics?

Transcriptions of interview responses are available upon request via

michelle.heckert18@bathspa.ac.uk.

Survey Results

Survey questions are as follows:

Demographics:

What is your age?

In what country did you grow up?

47

The following questions were repeated for each of the bands listed, separated into sections

based on the band – The Killers, Oasis, *X Ambassadors, *Blondie, Smash Mouth, *No

Doubt, and A-ha.

Band-specific questions:

Are you familiar with [insert band name here]?

How did you first hear about them?

How many songs of theirs do you know?

What would you say is their most popular song?

What is your perception the them?

The results of the Artist Awareness survey conducted by the researcher are available at the

following link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/184UFqcbz60G1915Wb8g5KmNIPrtcmR0YgID58q

QqxRc/edit?usp=sharing

*These bands were intermixed in the survey to act as controls to compare against the main

meme bands being researched.