Care for Some of Weezer's "Pork and Beans?"

Weezer's single, "Pork and Beans," has taken the music world by storm: it stayed in the #1 spot in the U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and has been the most successful song in the band's 16-year career. The secret to its wild success? YouTube. The music video features a number of YouTube stars and internet memes, which exponentially increase its searchability. Internet celebrities, such as "Afro Ninja," the Star Wars Kid and Miss South Carolina, helped to make the video ultra-searchable and launch it into viral success.

Here is a breakdown of some of the most notable YouTube celebs to appear in the video:

Gary Brolsma (The Numa Numa Guy): In late 2004 Brolsma taped himself lip-synching to the song "Dragostea din tei" by the Eastern European pop band O-Zone. The silly video quickly became an internet smash. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60og9gwKh1o)

Mark Allen Hicks ("Afro Ninja"): While auditioning for a Nike commercial Hicks attempted to do a back flip, only to fall on his face and stumble off camera. Mark Hicks, a seasoned and successful stuntman, found it harder and harder to get work after this leaked video spread over the internet. Hicks now embraces his infamy, and is releasing a film titled "Afroninja."
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/07/afroninja-mark.html

Chris Crocker (Leave Britney Alone): Crocker hit viral video gold with his tearful video defending Britney Spears and begging critics to "leave Britney alone." After only 24 hours, the video received over 2 million views and Chris Crocker became a bonafide internet star. He gained interviews on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, and the melodramadic video instigated countless references and parodies. Wired Magazine awarded it the honor of being the top video of 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc

Caitlin Upton (Miss South Carolina 2007): During the 2007 Miss Teen USA Pageant, Miss South Carolina's blundering answer to the Q&A portion of the show made her an internet celebrity overnight. When asked why such as large portion of Americans were unable to locate the USA on a world map, Caitlin Upton gave the following answer:

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our [children].

Fortunately for Caitlin, she signed a deal with Donald Trump's modeling agency (she's probably laughing all the way to the bank right now).

Adam "Tay Zonday" Nyere Bahner (Composer and Performer of "Chocolate Rain"):
Tay Zonday's annoying yet oddly compelling composition, Chocolate Rain, wone him internet fame. YouTube viewers were fascinated with Zonday's awkward mannerisms, deep voice, and odd footnotes (captions appear explaining viewers that Zonday moves his head away from the mike to breathe). This video also earned him awards from YouTube, Webby Awards, and a nomination from the People's Choice Awards. In November of 2007 Zonday cashed in on his internet popularity when he filmed a commercial ("Cherry Chocolate Rain") that promotes a cherry chocolate beverage from Dr Pepper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA

The Star Wars Kid: With over 900 million views, the Star Wars Kid (Ghyslain Raza) is arguably the most popular internet viral video of all time. The phenomenon started innocently; the 14-year old Quebecois student filmed himself using a golf ball retriever as a lightsaber in an attempt to imitate the Star Wars character, Darth Maul. His classmates found the video and, as a joke, posted it on a peer-to-peer sharing service, Kazaa. From there, the video spread wildly, leading to worldwide humiliation for the student and eventual a lawsuit against his classmates. The Star Wars Kid did not actually appear in the Weezer video, but his awkward lightsaber maneuvering was prominently featured.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU

Dramatic Prairie Dog: Taken from a Japanese TV show called "Hello! Morning" this brief clip of a menacing prairie dog was featured on CollegeHumor.com in addition to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

These are but a few examples of the wide variety of internet fads featured in "Pork and Beans." While Cullen claims that the video is a celebration of internet ingenuity and creativity, I believe that it was also part of a brilliant scheme to put the video (which is admittedly very fun) in front of as many eyeballs as possible. His plan worked. Weezer has another hit release and internet surfers can use the music video to create their own mashups even after the single fades from the pop charts.