Get Outta My Head!

Its appeal is utterly inexplicable, and utterly dead by the end of the sub-2 minute video: An 8-bit banana dancing to a highly repetitive rap (“It’s peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter jelly time!”). But Peanut Butter Jelly time, with its energetic soundtrack by the Buckwheat Boys, may be the early Internet meme with the greatest penetration into the public consciousness. The song and dance were featured in an episode of The Family Guy and in an American Idol audition (the performer did not make it to Hollywood). In 2009, ice cream chain Baskin Robbins released a new ad featuring another rap by the Buckwheat Boys (“Ice Cream and Cake”) that may be just as catchy—but commercial memes never really take.