【sensuality and eroticism in a parklike setting.】

I remember cringing when the video for Weezer's song "Pork and sensuality and eroticism in a parklike setting.Beans" came out in 2008. Now, I look back on it with nostalgia for a simpler time on the internet.

Lead singer Rivers Cuomo wrote the tune after meeting with the band's label, Geffen. According to Rolling Stone, the band was asked during the meeting to produce more "commercial-sounding tunes," and as a result they created "Pork and Beans" as a defiant middle finger.

Weezer may have been trying not to conform to conventional stereotypes ("I'mma do the things that I wanna do, I ain't got a thing to prove to you"), but the song actually turned out to be an extremely catchy commercial success.

SEE ALSO: 5 years ago, Rihanna invited press and fans on a plane around the world with her. Here's what went down.

If the song's origins were any indication of the label's need for a commercial success, the video for "Pork and Beans" seems to try equally as hard, tapping into the then-new concept of viral internet fame.

Back in 2008, YouTube was still in its infancy, and its viral video stars were among the first. The video features a slew of early internet icons, many of which are now long forgotten.

Chris Crocker, famous for "Leave Brittany Alone," sings along to the chorus with mascara running down his cheeks. Gary Brolsma helps usher us through the song in the same seat where he lip-synced "Numa Numa" in 2006.

Via Giphy

Tay Zonday, of "Chocolate Rain" fame, makes a cameo in front of the same yellow curtain that rocketed him to fame in 2007.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

The video's slew of memes-turned-props was a great attempt at appealing to a mass audience. Remember, this was long before internet celebrities like Damn Daniel would appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. But, for me, the video felt forced in 2008. Weezer was mainstreaming memes, and it just didn't feel right, as a young person on the internet.

Via Giphy

But in January the video made a reappearance on Reddit. "The Original YouTube Rewind," the incredibly accurate title reads. I had forgotten about the song entirely when I clicked, and was overcome with internet nostalgia for a better time.

I wasn't alone.

'This has aged surprisingly well.'

"Damn. In the long past I considered this video kind of lame but now I have a great respect for them for cooperating with all those meme stars of nearly ten years ago," Redditor YachiyoTodoroki wrote. "And shit, I won't lie I felt some nostalgia."

"This has aged surprisingly well," another Redditor commented.

In a 2008 interview with People, Mathew Cullen, who directed the video, said something interesting about his hopes and dreams for the video, which couldn't be farther from the truth today:

"It’s Weezer’s mash-up of their favorite stuff, but I don’t see the video as done. It can be mashed up and changed and evolved. We want video to be a living thing on the Internet.”

But the video isn't a living thing at all. It's a time capsule. A slice of internet history we will never be able to recreate. And that's OK. The "Pork and Beans" video should live in a museum of internet history, and it's probably far more powerful and revered today than the band ever could have hoped.

Maybe it's because memes today have so little staying power, and internet culture has become so intertwined in our everyday lives. Or maybe it's because Weezer, a band that has been around for decades, invokes nostalgia on its own.

But watching the band perform in the midst of a Diet Coke Mentos experiment will forever deliver sentimental memories of a better time on the internet.

---

Featured Video For You

---

---

• Entertainment
• Digital Culture
• Deals
• Tech
• Shopping
• Games
• Science
• Life

• A Decade Later: Does the Q6600 Still Have Game in 2017?
• 'Starfield' gathers 1 million concurrent players on launch day
• How to Build a Better Time Capsule
• ‘Top Boy’ Season 5 confirms women have always been the stars
• Shop the iPad Air and iPad 11th generation for their lowest
• Love in a Cold Climate by Sadie Stein
• How to share a video clip in Slack
• Best Apple AirPods Max deal: Save $99 on AirPods Max at Amazon
• Best roborock deal: Save $400 on Q5 Pro+ Robot Vacuum and Mop
• The Missing Borges

• Hillary Clinton walks world’s thinnest tightrope in debate with Donald Trump
• Trump campaign unveils 'Crooked Hillary' Snapchat filter before debate
• Trump on cybersecurity: 'I have a son. He's 10 years old. He has computers.'
• Shark gives teenager gnarly wounds, teenager remains inexplicably chill
• Elon Musk is about to reveal SpaceX's big plan for settling Mars: Watch it live
• Restaurant knows just how to advertise to terrible children
• Massive Typhoon Megi engulfs Taiwan, aims at Chinese mainland next
• Justin Theroux responds to Jennifer Aniston getting yanked into the Brangelina divorce
• Colossal wasps' nest found in attic is the stuff of nightmares
• DarkSky, your favorite iPhone weather app, is now a website

• Elon Musk makes request to Reddit CEO to take down posts he didn't like
• Which dog tracker should I get? The Fi Series 2 vs. the Apple AirTag
• 10 ways you can support teachers this school year
• The Morning News Roundup for December 15, 2014
• AMD Radeon RX 550 + Intel Pentium G4560
• 'Quordle' today: See each 'Quordle' answer and hints for September 8, 2023
• Jane Freilicher, 1924–2014
• MoMA Library’s Collection of Art Ephemera
• Scientists find supercolony of penguins on the remote Danger Islands
• Staff Picks: James Hoff, Blanche McCrary Boyd, and More

• Trump's new tariff plan spares some smartphones, laptops
• What Does “Dickensian“ Really Mean, Anyway?
• A History of Pieing from a Veteran Mischief
• The Morning News Roundup for December 15, 2014
• Fyre Festival and Trump’s Language
• 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' review: The gang's back and Greeker than ever!
• Twitter aka X rolls out Community Notes 'fact checks' for videos
• Threads search is now widely available
• Best Beats deal: Save $50 on Studio Buds at Best Buy
• New York’s First Daily Newspaper