Hampton the Hampster

Back in the early, more innocent days of the Internet, this meme was considered one of the worst things on it. Now? It's practically quaint in its wholesomeness cuteness.

Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte created it in 1998.

Originally nothing more than an animated gif of crudely dancing hamsters plus a music loop (a sped-up, Chipmunked version of "Whistle Stop" by Roger Miller), it went viral, racked up hits and eventually spun off an entire CD The Hampsterdance Album (2000) by Hampton Hampster and his pals: Dixie, Hado, and Fuzzy.

Now if only they could have spelled "hamster" correctly. Sigh.

External Links

• 1999 archived version from The Internet Archive