The Hampster Dance is one of the earliest Internet memes. Created in 1997 by Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte as a GeoCities page, the dance features rows of animated GIFs of hamsters and other rodents dancing in various ways to a sped-up sample from the song “Whistle-Stop”, written and performed by Roger Miller for the 1973 Walt Disney Productions film Robin Hood. (source)
Here’s a article about the history of this song. https://www.cbc.ca/arts/the-oral-history-of-the-hampsterdance-the-twisted-true-story-of-one-of-the-world-s-first-memes-1.4958325
Controversies
It is very controversial, because Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte was first to make the little animation (Hampton Hampster being based on her own pet hamster) using basic HTML, but because she did not patent it, it was taken by Nutty Sites to be used as a business. Now they sell many albums and even a DVD “How the Hampsters Saved Christmas”. Another slight controversy is that (like with many famous music videos) there are several unofficial parodies. (source)
See the Original Hamster Dance Site
Video Form: https://youtu.be/6WpMlwVwydo?si=VYEy6MBy7rs8rlnF
Other Versions of Hamster Dance
Jamster Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWIuWoefS-c
