Internet archive / 2002

Internet moments from 2002

Backdrop

The Internet in 2002

Friendster logo.

Year reference

Friendster

The social graph became a familiar web idea.

Source: Friendster mark via Wikimedia Commons
  • Blogs and message boards were becoming the public diary and group-chat layer of the web.
  • Friendster’s launch helped normalize the idea that your relationships could be organized into an online profile.
Read the IndieWeb social-web history

Archive order

Archive picks

01

Star Wars Kid video preview

Video · Pre-YouTube viral video

Star Wars Kid

One of the first videos to prove that the internet could make a private moment global overnight.

pre youtubep2pviral video
Archive score98

02

Peanut Butter Jelly Time video preview

Video · Flash animation and earworm

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

A dancing banana and a four-word refrain became an enduring online catchphrase.

flashanimationearworm
Archive score96

03

Tribute video preview

Video · Mock-epic comedy rock

Tribute

Tenacious D promises the greatest song in the world, then explains why this is not it.

tenacious dcomedy rockmusic video
Archive score94

04

Weebl & Bob video preview

Video · Flash web comedy series

Weebl & Bob

Two egg-shaped weirdos wanted pie, argued in nonsense, and made dial-up constraints feel like a comedy style.

flashanimationweb series
Archive score93

05

We Like The Moon video preview

Video · Surreal Flash-animation earworm

We Like The Moon

Two huge-eyed Spongmonkies sang badly about the moon, cheese, and whatever else they could remember.

flashanimationearworm
Archive score93

06

The Cheat Theme Song video preview

Video · Flash music-video parody

The Cheat Theme Song

A yellow blob got a theme song, learned Flash, and accidentally launched Homestar Runner’s fakely homemade-animation wing.

flashanimationmusic video
Archive score91

07

ZLAD! – Elektronik Supersonik video preview

Video · Early-web music-video parody

ZLAD! – Elektronik Supersonik

A dead-serious fake Eurovision space-disco anthem turns every broken-English boast into a quotable launch sequence.

pre youtubemusic videoparody
Archive score91

09

Move Your Feet video preview

Video · Pixel-animation dance earworm

Move Your Feet

Two pixel characters dance through low-resolution visual gags.

junior seniorpixel artdance
Archive score89

010

The official Newgrounds card art for Trapezoid’s Earth vs Funk.

Video · Animutation short

Earth vs Funk

A bizarre Flash short made the case that, in a cosmic showdown, funk should obviously win.

newgroundsflashanimutation
Archive score77