Sonic Warfare

¡WARNING! This site is not for the faint of heart. The songs contained herein may cause permanent damage to your hearing, sanity, and faith in humanity. It's also not a good idea to play these at work unless you despise your co-workers. If you do not wish to go further, flee as directed in the picture. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. ¡WARNING!

This site was created as a shrine to a certain kind of music that transcends the merely bad and enters the realm of the surreal. If you've spent any time at all on the Internet you probably know what I'm talking about. Hyakugojūichi, Tunak Tunak Tun, and Yatta!, to name a few, have spread across the web like wildfire. Others are vanishingly obscure, uncovered on random P2P searches like diamonds in the rough. Until now, there has been no central archive for these masterpieces of mind-destroying audio. I have gradually amassed a collection of these files, and now they are here for all to experience. —Justin Kerk

I shouldn't even have to say this, but some fuck DIRECT-LINKED one of the MP3s from here in an <EMBED> for background music for his site. If you're going to use a Sonic Warfare MP3 as background music (which is a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE idea anyway on many levels), please use your own hosting. My normal policy with this sort of thing is to replace files with something horrible, but I'm not sure how much more horrible I can get than this stuff, plus MP3s use way too much bandwidth for me to wait around for them to notice, so instead I've subtly renamed the original file.

Check out the Sonic Warfare Cafepress store!

10/08/05: Added German version of Do The Mario and DJ Sharpnel remix of Hatten är Din. Replaced YMCA MP3 with a 192kbps one that doesn't skip (thanks Beechwoods!). Added an English cover of Dragostea Din Tei (thanks Jason Whitcomb!).

3/12/05: Overhauled and expanded the Dragostea Din Dei section with new information; thanks to HoneyItsMe for locating the non-Flash version of Numa Numa Dance.

2/08/05: Removed Pokemon Ieru ka na? and Tuva Groove because they kinda sucked and replaced them with two new songs that are similar but more worthy. Also, a long overdue addition: Raffi's Bananaphone.

2/05/05: Added Dragostea Din Tei which was long overdue for an entry here; it's a shoo-in, especially given the number and variety of videos based on it.

9/16/04: Whew, it's been a while. Added two new songs, Hosse Hosse Hosse and Ultra Relax! Check 'em out! Also fixed the flash links for Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

4/20/04: Replaced 128kbps Nyaasu no Party MP3 with a 192kbps one (now if I can just manage to score the 320 one I've seen floating around).

4/04/04: Replaced 96kbps Nyaasu no Party MP3 with a 128kbps one.

3/31/04: Added video for Piccolo-san Daisuki, MAJOR thanks to Patrick Carroll for digging this up!

3/24/04: Moved "Jin" to Cantonese; thanks to David Yu for pointing out the error. Also gave it its full Cantonese title and added links to lyrics. Also replaced Opblaaskrokodil pic with the correct one, thanks Jim Drey.

2/28/04: Added a link to another Do The Mario Flash, thanks Toxic_AKA_Bob_Barker for pointing it out.

2/03/04: Added an OGG version of Do The Mario, again thanks Mr_Person!

1/31/04: Added a much better Do The Mario video, thanks a ton Mr_Person for capturing & encoding it!

1/26/04: Revised Hi-HO lyrics transcription to include all three variants.

10/04/03: Added a new section - Sonic Warfare Candidates! Added another translation to Opblaaskrokodil (thanks Eminem81@hotmail.com!) Added link to video of some guy dancing to Peanut Butter Jelly Time. Still lots of songs to investigate in the backlog, argh!

9/10/03: Added Cafepress link.

8/31/03: Added original Do the Mario vid (thanks Glombus!) Added ringtone versions of Habbeetik and Opblaaskrokodil.

While there is no strict set of criteria that makes or breaks a Sonic Warfare candidate, here are some general guidelines:

• Foreign language - not a requirement (see the English examples), but it really helps (especially Asian languages). Please note that I'm not explicitly trying to make fun of Asian people or languages, it just seems that lots of this type of music comes from Asia.
• Unusual - this ties in with the above; the song must be different from your run-of-the-mill bad music. The more strange and different from the musical norm, the better.
• Upbeat and fast-paced - makes bad songs that much more evil.
• Novelty voice - again, not a requirement, but often the singer has a very high-pitched, cartoony, or otherwise wacky voice.
• Subtly evil - this is the most important. The song must elicit a raw psychic terror not explainable by mere music.

Because of the multilingual nature of these songs, they are sorted by language. Note that a number of them are listed under different, more consistent spellings than the most commonly used spelling.

Arabic

Politics aside, Arabic music can be fairly odd.

Habbeetik

AKA: Hatten är Din ("The Hat is Yours")
Sung By: Azar Habib
The Song: original MP3 ringtone MP3 DJ Sharpnel techno remix (Hatten Carnival!)
Videos: derivative Flash translated Flash
Lyrics: made-up Swedish original - NEEDED
Links: song shrine explanation #2
Rating: ***
What The Hell Is It: A song called "Habbeetik" by Lebanese singer Azar Habib that made its way to Sweden, where in a bizarre coincidence someone noticed that the Arabic lyrics made passable Swedish. Someone wrote up Swedish lyrics titled "Hatten är Din" ("The Hat is Yours") about a drinking game where whoever is most drunk wears the hat. Another person made a Flash video with these lyrics and appropriate visuals synced to the original song. This Flash has spread widely across the English-speaking Internet, most who see it having no clue of its original Lebanese origins. In a strange twist, DJ Sharpnel (NWS), a Japanese musician, created a techno remix called "Hattenカーニバル！" (Hatten Carnival!) for his album "SRPC0009 p2p. peer to peer!".
How I Found It: Flash posted on the 3D Realms UBB.

Cantonese

No offense, but I think Cantonese is the funniest sounding language for music. It's just so darn wacky.

Choi San Dou (財神到) ("Fortune God Arrives")

Sung By: Sam Hui (許冠傑) (homepage)
The Song: original MP3
Videos: original Flash #1 original Flash #2
Lyrics: NEEDED
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: Seems to fit in with the Chinese tradition of the God of Wealth or Fortune God (Choi San in Cantonese, Cai Shen in Mandarin). It seems from the video like he's associated with a New Years' tradition of giving out money?
How I Found It: I got a Chinese spam with original Flash #1 as an attachment (hanyuan.com sends a Flash spam every Chinese New Year, each one wackier than the last). Fortunately I like this kind of thing or I would have been pissed at the huge attachment.

Tin Choy Baak Chi Chin Chin Chin (天才白痴錢錢錢) ("Genius Idiot Money Money Money")

AKA: Tsin, Chi [sic]
Sung By: Sam Hui (許冠傑) (homepage)
The Song: original MP3
Lyrics: original transliterated
Links: shrine
Rating: ***
What The Hell Is It: Seems to be just a pop Chinese song about money (and probably the lack thereof).
How I Found It: Found the shrine while Googling for "Sam Hui" to research Choi San Dou. Although the MP3 had been taken down, the owner was kind enough to email it to me on request. Thanks, Andrew Aikenhead!

YMCA Hou Ji Gei (YMCA好知已) ("YMCA Good Friend")

Sung By: George Lam (林子祥)?
The Song: original MP3
Videos: derivative Flash
Lyrics: NEEDED
Rating: *****
What The Hell Is It: A Cantonese translation of the Village People song "YMCA". It seems to have been released as part of an album for DJ use called "Mastermix Classic Cuts 18 - Novelty". It's labeled there as "Lam - Ymca (Japanese Version)" but it's blatantly not Japanese. The title "Hou Ji Gei" and the name "George Lam" are from my own Google fact-finding attempts, I'm not completely sure that either applies to this song.
How I Found It: Someone on #3drealms sent me the initial version of the MP3 (since replaced).

Dutch

Dutch is the closest major language to English, although you'd never know it from this stuff.

Hosse Hosse Hosse

AKA: Shumway
Sung By: Duo de Pelikaan
The Song: original MP3
Videos: derivative Flash
Lyrics: translated (EXCLUSIVE!)
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: I dunno, some sort of crazy Dutch pop song that mixes a bunch of music styles.
How I Found It: It was featured in a fanimutation by Toxic_AKA_Bob_Barker, who was kind enough to send me the MP3. Thanks!

Opblaaskrokodil ("Inflated Crocodile")

AKA: Great_Music.mp3, Opblaas Krokodil, French Erotic Film
Sung By: Ome Henk
The Song: original MP3 DJ Maurice edit MP3 alternate MP3 ringtone MIDI
Videos: Fanimutation
Lyrics: original translated & dubtitled (EXCLUSIVE!)
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: Seems like a light-hearted joke song basically. The lyrics of the first one are about electronics, and I think the second is about winter and skiing, but I know fuck-all about Dutch. :)
How I Found It: Exor[B-A] on #3drealms sent me the DJ Maurice MP3 (after this site was produced); he got it from someone called AlmightyPants. Thanks Exor!

English

Proving that foreign language is not necessary for Sonic Warfare, here are some English tunes.

Bananaphone

Sung By: Raffi
The Song: original MP3 sped up MP3
Buy The CD: album
Videos: Osakaphone Flash Badgerphone Flash The Friend Society Flash
Lyrics: original
Rating: *****
What The Hell Is It: A silly and pun-filled song (and album) by children's entertainer Raffi extolling the virtues of his "cellular, modular, interactive-audular" banana phone. The song becomes many times funnier when sped up (by 9 semitones), which W.T. Snacks (of 4chan fame) discovered. He made a video featuring Shift_JIS art from 2ch.net depicting Osaka from the anime Azumanga Daioh and some sort of banana-Gundam robot hybrid picture from 2chan.net, both of which were posted on 4chan's /b/. Later on, a [G]eneral Mayhem user combined the song and elements of the previous video with Weebl's widely circulated Badger Badger Badger video.
How I Found It: I'm not sure, this went around the Internet very fast. Probably via #3drealms. The MP3s are easy to find on P2P.

Do the Mario

Sung By: Mario (voice Lou Albano)
Series: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show
The Song: original MP3 original OGG (mono) German MP3 (Mach den Mario) MIDI
Videos: original (low quality WMV) original (high quality OGM) Animutation
Lyrics: original
Rating: ***
What The Hell Is It: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show was a cartoon with Mario and gang. They would have brief bits in between cartoons with a live action Mario and Luigi (yes, this was as corny as it sounds). At the end of the show the big fat Mario actor would dance around in the corner of the screen while the credits rolled, singing this song. It needs to be seen to be believed; God knows what the producers were thinking.
How I Found It: I watched the show back in the day; forgot about it until I found the Animutation on the official site.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Sung By: the Buckwheat Boyz
The Song: original MP3
Videos: derivative Flash #1 derivative Flash #2
Lyrics: original
Rating: ***
What The Hell Is It: The Buckwheat Boyz are an obscure, defunct band from Miami, Florida; one of the band members saw a kid dancing and was inspired by it to make up this silly song. Later, one Ryan Etrata created an animation of a dancing banana, and his friend Kevin Flynn set the song to it, resulting in the Flash animation (which was released with the band's permission). Eric Bauman, infamous proprietor of the eBaum's World web site, later appropriated the banana as his own logo and put the Flash on his site, without obtaining permission from anyone. At some point, the guy at WatchMeDance.com (thedanceman) made a video of himself dancing to the flash, see his site for lower-quality versions. Years later, in a bizarre turn of events, the animation was parodied on the television program Family Guy; although they reportedly obtained permission from someone, that someone was not the actual creators of the Flash. (The animation had earlier been shown unaltered on the NBC program "Ed", whose producers located the creators without difficulty.)
How I Found It: Someone on #3drealms linked the derivative Flash #1.

Japanese

The Japanese have a well-deserved Internet reputation for wacky music. Japanese music represents the largest single category here.

Chinko Ondo (ちんこ音頭) ("Penis Song")

AKA: Chinko Anesan (ちんこ姉さん)
Sung By: Chinko Utabito (ちんこウタビト) ("Penis Song Man", must be a pseudonym)
Anesan version by 95[Anesan (hitodzuma)] (95『姐さん(人妻)』) ("95[older sister (married woman)]", a 2-Channel reply number and temporary name)
The Song: original MP3 Chinko Anesan MP3
Videos: original Flash Chinko Anesan Flash English Flash karaoke Flash remix Flash
Lyrics: original & transliterated (EXCLUSIVE!) official dubtitled translated #1 translated #2 (includes background text)
Links: shrine official site
Rating: ***
What The Hell Is It: A song in the traditional Japanese ondo (marching or working song) style on the topic of self-love made by some bored (and lonely) guy. The video features ASCII art (or Shift-JIS in this case) in a style characteristic of the popular Japanese 2-Channel messageboard (see Kikkoman below). The version floating around the web is actually called "Chinko Anesan" and is sung by a female, unlike the original. There's also an official English version of the flash that most people don't know about.
How I Found It: Someone on #3drealms linked the Chinko Anesan Flash.

Hi-Ho! (ハイホー)

Sung By: ?
The Song: original MP3
Videos: original Flashes
Lyrics: transliterated & translated original & transliterated (EXCLUSIVE!)
Links: shrine (where?)
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: An advertisement for an Internet service provider in Japan called Hi-Ho (yes, that is its name) run by Panasonic.
How I Found It: mail.swf posted on the 3D Realms UBB (quickly removed due to degeneration of the thread).

Hyakugojūichi (ひゃくごじゅういち) ("One Hundred and Fifty-One")

AKA: Hyakugojuuichi, Hyakugojyuuichi, pika.swf
Sung By: Professor Orchid/Oak (voice Ishizuka Unshō (石塚運昇))
Series: Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター)
The Song: original MP3
Buy The CD: album 1 album 2
Videos: Animutation
Lyrics: transliterated & translated
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: A song from the Japanese version of Pokémon, Pocket Monsters. The title refers to the 151 Pokémon available in the original game. The song seems to sing of the good memories had by "catching them all". Later made by Neil Cicierega into the first of the much-imitated Animutations to become popular (Pokemon Ieru ka na actually predates it) by superimposing random pop-culture imagery and made-up lyrics on the original Japanese song.
How I Found It: Animutation posted on the 3D Realms UBB.

Kikkōman (キッコーマン)

AKA: Kikkoman, Kikkōmaso (キッコーマソ), Kikkomaso, Kikko-man, Kikko Man, Shouyu Senshi (醤油戦士) ("Soy Sauce Warrior")
Sung By: 435 [a 2-Channel member #]
The Song: original MP3 MIDI more
Lyrics: transliterated
Links: shrine
Videos: original Flash more Flash
Rating: ***
What The Hell Is It: Originated at the popular Japanese 2-Channel messageboard as an ASCII/Shift-JIS art character. Someone apparently thought the soy sauce brand "Kikkoman" would make a great superhero - "Kikko-man", if you will. An "official" theme song tune and lyrics were made, and then sung by several forum members. One of these recordings was put to a Flash video featuring Kikkoman himself acting out the lyrics. This video spread across the English-speaking Internet, although ironically in its original Japanese form (there is an official English translation).
A note on spelling: In the original post, Kikkōman was misspelled Kikkōmaso (the Japanese characters "n" ン and "so" ソ are very similar). This erroneous spelling has about equal currency on Japanese sites with "Kikkoman".
His costumery: The fish thingy on his head is a common Japanese soy sauce container used in bentō boxed lunches. The kanji on his chest is man ("ten thousand"), the Kikkoman logo seen on soy sauce bottles. The kanji on his loincloth read kikkō otoko ("tortoise shell man").
How I Found It: A Google search for "wacky Japanese" for new stuff for this site led to the original Flash, which I had missed when it circulated around the Internet.

Maemuki Rocket-dan (前向きロケット団) ("Look Ahead, Team Rocket!")

AKA: Maemuki Roketto-dan
Sung By: Team Rocket (ロケット団) (Rocket-dan)
Series: Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター)
The Song: original MP3
Videos: derivative Flash
Lyrics: transliterated & translated
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: Yet another bizarre musical number from the Japanese Pokémon series..
How I Found It: Saw the Flash video and searched for the main lyric on P2P.

Muten Rōshi no Oshie (武天老師の教え) ("The Teachings of the Immortal Master")

AKA: Muten Roushi no Oshie, Muten Roshi no Oshie
Sung By: Muten Rōshi (武天老師) / Kamesennin (亀仙人) (voice Miyauchi Kōhei (宮内幸平))
Series: Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ)
The Song: original MP3
Lyrics: transliterated & translated
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: A song by the perverted old hermit master on Dragon Ball Z. That's about all you need to know.
How I Found It: It was in my sister's immense DBZ MP3 collection.

Nyāsu no Party (ニャースのパーティ) ("Meowth's Party")

AKA: Nyaasu no Party, Nyaasu no Paati, Nyaasu no Paatii, ニャースのパーティー, Nyaasu's Party
Sung By: Nyāsu (ニャース) (voice Inuyama Inuko (犬山犬子))
Series: Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター)
The Song: original MP3
Buy The CD: single
Videos: original MPG Gamecube MOV Animutation
Lyrics: transliterated
Rating: *****
What The Hell Is It: One of the ending credits themes for the Japanese Pocket Monsters TV series, starring Nyāsu/Meowth on vocals and guitar. There is an accompanying video with dancing CG Pokémon characters. This was later recreated as a real-time graphics demo for the Gamecube shown at trade shows.
How I Found It: The song was actually aired in its original Japanese after Pokémon on US TV. Forgot about it until I found the MP3 while searching for Hyakugojūichi (before this Animutation's production).

Piccolo-san Daisuki (ピッコロさんだ〜いすき♥) ("I Love Mr. Piccolo")

AKA: ピッコロさん大好き♪, Piccolosan Daisuki, Pikkoro-san Daisuki
Sung By: Son Gohan (孫悟飯) (voice Nozawa Masako (野沢雅子))
Series: Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ)
The Song: original MP3
Videos: original AVI GIF clip
Lyrics: transliterated
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: A musical interlude in the second Dragon Ball Z movie. Sung by the young Son Gohan, it extols the virtues of Piccolo (the green guy with the ears). The song is accompanied by a hilarious animated sequence with dancing school supplies and such.
How I Found It: I saw the song aired in its original Japanese as part of the DBZ movie as shown on Cartoon Network. My sister dug up an MP3 (since replaced by a better quality version) and the GIF clip.

Shingo Mama no Oha Rock (慎吾ママのおはロック) ("Shingo Mama's Mornin' Rock")

Sung By: Shingo Mama (actor Katori Shingo (香取慎吾))
The Song: original MP3 MIDI
Videos: original music video
Lyrics: transliterated
Links: news article
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: A cross-dressing Japanese singer (Shingo Mama) advocating the use of oha as an abbreviation for the Japanese greeting ohayō ("good morning"). Lots of random "oha"-spouting people bop in and out to join in the fun. Includes a cameo appearance of James Brown, just because. Apparently this somehow turned into a Japanese government campaign for family communication.
How I Found It: Email and AIM from YouMakeMeFeelDie. Thanks!

Ultra Relax

Sung By: Shinohara Tomoe (篠原ともえ)
Series: Kodomo no Omocha (こどものおもちゃ) ("Child's Toy")
The Song: original MP3
Videos: original opening Kodomo no Evangelion opening original music video derivative Flash
Lyrics: transliterated
Rating: ***
What The Hell Is It: The second opening to a cutesy anime series called Kodomo no Omocha. There was apparently a parody Kodomo no Evangelion with the characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion that uses the same opening song. Also released as a J-POP music video and CD
How I Found It: I located the song on my own ages ago, can't remember how. Toxic_AKA_Bob_Barker later emailed me the two anime opening videos in .rm form, thanks a ton!
A number of people have e-mailed me since that suggesting it, so I thought I'd finally get off my ass and add it. :P
Dug up the music video on a quick WinMX search.

Yatta! (やった！) ("All Right!" / "We Did It!")

Sung By: Happa-tai (はっぱ隊) ("Leaf Team") (aka Happatai)
The Song: Radio Edit OGG Extended Mix OGG Instrumental/Karaoke OGG Radio Edit MP3
Buy The CD: single
Videos: original ASF original MPEG (BIG) Fanimutation
Lyrics: transliterated & translated dubtitled
Links: shrine #1 shrine #2
Rating: *****
What The Hell Is It: It started as a sketch on the Japanese comedy show Silly Go Lucky about a band called Happa-tai ("Leaf Team") who danced around wearing fig leaves and sang about happiness. It later got out of control and was made into a music video and best-selling CD in Japan. Most in the US know it from the Fanimutation "Irrational Exuberance", which features made-up lyrics and numerous Photoshoppings of "Yatta" onto household objects.
Update: OMG! Happa-tai made an American debut performing Yatta! on Jimmy Kimmel Live! See here for details and videos.
How I Found It: Fanimutation posted on the 3D Realms UBB. Found the original video and MP3s later. I actually bought the CD for this imported from Japan (and they say MP3s don't promote sales!). The OGGs here are ripped by me from that CD.

Korean

Korean is almost as funny as Cantonese.

Junghwa Banjeom (중화반점) ("Chinese Restaurant")

AKA: Jung Hwa Ban Jeom, Jung-Hwa Ban Jum, Joong Hwa Ban Jum, chin2.mpeg
Sung By: Louis (루이스)
The Song: original MP3 sped up MP3 MP3 from video
Videos: original derivative MPEG fan MPEG
Lyrics: original translated transliterated (EXCLUSIVE!)
Links: shrine
Rating: *****
What The Hell Is It: A silly Korean pop song about a Chinese restaurant and its specialties. Popularized on the web by "chin2.mpeg", a video featuring two topless Korean youths with too much spare time dancing and lip-syncing to the music. The song in the video is sped up from the original, making things higher-pitched and more frantic.
How I Found It: Exor[B-A] on #3drealms brought it to my attention. Got two of the MP3s off the shrine and the third from WinMX (under the Korean Hangul spelling). And the shrine says they doubt you can find it on P2P! :P

Money (머니)

AKA: money_funny
Sung By: WAX (왁스)
The Song: original MP3
Buy The CD: album 1 album 2
Videos: original karaoke
Lyrics: original & Japanese transliterated (EXCLUSIVE!)
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: A fast-paced Korean techno song about money, apparently based on the '70s disco hit "Hello, Mr. Monkey" by Arabesque. Known on the web from "money_funny.asx", a hilarious video featuring two Korean girls singing the song in a karaoke booth.
How I Found It: Eian Malone emailed me the address of the video. Found the MP3 on WinMX. I actually rather like the song, this wouldn't even be here if the video wasn't so damn hilarious.

Punjabi

Only one candidate here so far, but I think the Indic languages in general have lots of potential for this kind of thing.

Tunak Tunak Tun

Sung By: Daler Mehndi (homepage)
The Song: original MP3
Videos: original RM fanimutation
Lyrics:
Links: shrine
Rating: ***
What The Hell Is It: An impressively produced music video featuring multiple copies of the Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi. The lyrics are apparently upbeat and talk about how the world is a great place.
How I Found It: Video posted on the 3D Realms UBB.

Romanian

Romanian is descended from Latin, although with strong Slavic influences.

Dragostea Din Tei

AKA: Dragostea din dei, maiyahi, numanuma, Numa Numa Dance
Sung By: O-ZONE
The Song: original MP3 English cover
Videos: original music video (BIG) Rotti vs. Haiducii Klip.wmv maiyahi.swf gojyone.swf Numa Numa Dance WMV Numa Numa Dance Flash special edition Numa Numa Dance Flash with subtitles
Lyrics: original & translated
Links: shrine (in Japanese)
Rating: *****
What The Hell Is It: There's a lot to this one so I'm breaking it down into paragraphs.

Dragostea Din Tei is a somewhat silly song and music video by the Romanian boy band O-ZONE, who are apparently better known in Europe. Because of the funniness of the song, it has since appeared in Internet videos across the globe.

Rotti vs. Haiducii is a video which I previously linked to a lower quality version of under the name crazydj.wmv. It features "DJ Friki" aka Rotti (DJ Rotterdam) who has a website here and who is apparently an Austrian man named Michael Glumboeck and living in Germany. He has a whole series of videos where he goes absolutely apeshit cavorting to Eurodance-type music, including a version of Dragostea Din Tei by Haiducii, some sort of Romanian starlet.

Klip.wmv is a video of some European youths calling themselves the "Backstreet Bejs" who make their own lip-syncing performance to the O-ZONE song.

As far as I can tell the first widely known Internet appearance is the Flash maiyahi.swf, which is from the Japanese 2ch forums and features humorous nonsense Japanese lyrics that sound a lot like the Romanian being sung. gojyone.swf is from off-switch.com (seems to be down now) and is anime-style so it's probably based on this source. There are a number of less funny spinoffs of maiyahi.swf which I haven't bothered to catalog.

And finally, the video which is absolutely all over the place and which most of you are probably thinking of - Numa Numa Dance. Some slightly overweight kid named Gary Brolsma lip-synced and waved his way to Internet fame, finding himself on blogs and in inboxes everywhere, even getting mainstream news coverage even though he's hardly the first or even the funniest person to make a goofy video of himself using Dragostea Din Tei. The Internet works in mysterious ways. The WMV version is the original; there's a Flash version with some random superimposed images, and a further Flash edition featuring Romanian subtitles so you can sing along or something.

In other news, someone (apparently named Lucas) covered the song in English, although the lyrics aren't the same as the Romanian version. I hear there's also a German version but I don't have an MP3 yet.

How I Found It: maiyahi.swf was posted on 4chan, as most 2ch phenomena eventually are.

Tuvian

Tuva is a small republic nominally part of Russia. Its people speak Tuvian, an Altaic language akin to Mongolian. Tuva is most renowned for its people's unique method of throat singing.

Ching Söörtukchulerining Yry

Sung By: Tuva Ensemble
The Song: original MP3
Rating: ****
What The Hell Is It: The steppe nomads of Tuva have a unique singing tradition called "throat singing" or "overtone singing" in the West, by which they can sing more than one tone simultaneously by adjusting the shape of the mouth to enhance the overtones in the voice. The sound is very distinctive and unmistakeable. This particular song features a variety of different throat singing styles.
How I Found It: I first discovered throat singing while messing around with the ethnic music in Encarta. I found this particular song among others on WinMX after a search for "Tuva" and thought it the most suitable one for Sonic Warfare because of its variety and abrasiveness. I've actually developed a taste for this music, but it's certainly strange and frightening to others.

Gibberish

These songs don't even attempt to have a meaning, so it's safe to laugh at them.

Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot

Sung By: Caramba
The Song: original MP3 alternate MP3
Videos: anime music video MPG
Lyrics: from MPG
Rating: *****
What The Hell Is It: Ted Gärdestad and Michael B. Tretow created the group Caramba as a joke and they released one record, Caramba, in 1981, which contained 10 songs, Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot among them. It has never been revealed exactly who was involved with the project, but Björn Skifs ("Hooked on a Feeling") admitted to it in an interview and the involvement of ABBA seems likely as they were close to Michael and Ted. The song doesn't mean anything in any language. (Thanks to Martin Nilsson for the preceding info). It was popularized on the web as the soundtrack for a hilarious anime music video called "Jinnai and the Bugrom - Live!" starring Jinnai from El Hazard.
How I Found It: My friend Christopher showed me the anime music video.

Sonic Warfare Candidates

In my own Internet and anime travels, and, since starting this site, in my inbox, I've encountered a number of wacky songs that don't quite make the cut. Perhaps they're too similar to another song I've already posted, perhaps I can't find enough information to make it worth a listing, perhaps the song has grown on me too much, perhaps it just doesn't quite have that "special something". I may change my mind at some point and post some of these. Nevertheless, I think it's worth mentioning their names here in case folks are craving more Sonic Warfare, and to avoid people sending me stuff I already have. I won't be posting the MP3s for these for time/space/legal reasons, but most of them should be pretty easy to find on P2P. If you're really desperate for one and can't find it, email me and I might be nice and send it to you. I may change my mind about some of these and post them, who knows.

• Ado Gegaj - Hej Majko Mati
• Bozo le Clown [French theme to Bozo the Clown]
• Card Captor Sakura - Okashi no Uta
• Dragon Ball Z - Ichido wa Kekkon Shitai Mambo [Kuririn sings!]
• Dragon Ball Z - Tenkaichi Gohan [like Piccolo-san Daisuki]
• Gummi Bears (Bumbibjörnarna) - Theme (Swedish) (Techno Remix) [the theme to Gummi Bears...in Swedish...techno remixed]
• Hulk Hogan & The Wrestling Boot Band - I Want To Be A Hulkamaniac [yes, Hulk Hogan actually made a song]
• Lou Albano - Captain Lou's History of Music [as if Hulk Hogan wasn't enough]
• Ranma Nibun no Ichi - Hyakunen-Me no Uwaki [Happōsai & Cologne duet]
• Pocket Monsters - Gunya Gunya Gasu Gasu
• Pocket Monsters - Ieru ka Neo [equivalent of Ieru ka na for Pokémon Neo]
• Pocket Monsters - Lucky Lucky
• Pocket Monsters - Pokemon Ieru ka na Baby! [remix / new version of Ieru ka na]
• Pocket Monsters - Pokemon Ondo [a traditional-style Japanese marching song...about Pokémon]
• Pocket Monsters - Toitteru Nya [another Nyāsu number]
• Sailor Moon - German Theme (Techno Remix) [the filename says it all]
• Shin Tenchi Muyou - Yamerarenai
• Wizo - Raum der Zeit

Sonic Warfare Stuff

Miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else:

• Gahbunga! The Animutation Mix - A remix of a bunch of the Animutation tunes made by Toxic aka B0b Barker. Not all of the songs used are on Sonic Warfare but it's still quite neat.

Some definitions of terms and abbreviations I use in the site:

shrine

A fan site dedicated to a particular song, with information and links. There tends to be one of these for each of the songs that have been spread across the Web. One goal of this site is to provide a centralized directory for these.

NEEDED

I don't have the file in question and desperately want it. If you have it or know where to get it, PLEASE contact me

coming soon

I have or am able to make (i.e. lyrics) the file in question; be patient and it will be put up.

EXCLUSIVE!

A file (usually lyrics) made by me expressly for this site. Cannot be found anywhere else (at least until someone copies it off here). I have lots of tools available for reading and writing Asian languages and I have a good eye and ear for foreign words, so I can transliterate lyrics from the Internet, although I prefer using those made by others when available.

Animutation

See animutation.com. The term Animutation refers a series of Flash works by one Neil Cicierega. He has attained Internet fame by taking wacky Japanese music and setting it to bizarre Flash videos containing random pop culture imagery. His original Animutations use songs from the Japanese Pokémon show, although he has since branched out into other music (including some English songs).

Fanimutation

A Flash video made in imitation of the Animutation style by someone other than Neil. The most famous of these is the Irrational Exuberance adaptation of Yatta!.

derivative video

Other Internet videos made by people other than the song creator(s).

original lyrics

The lyrics for a song in the native writing system used by its language. Not useful to people who can't read it.

transliterated lyrics

Lyrics for a foreign-language song written in the Roman alphabet (which English uses) for easy use in karaoke, language learning, or just figuring out what the hell they're really saying.

translated lyrics

Lyrics for a foreign-language song translated into English. Can be disappointing, but can also shed a whole new humorous light on a song.

dubtitled lyrics

(Term taken from the anime community) English lyrics for a foreign-language song that can be fit to the original music. Sometimes the translation can be fairly accurate, but other times lots of liberties must be taken to get things to fit.

made-up lyrics

Animutations are famous for this - making up lyrics in English that sound kind of like the foreign-language lyrics. Range from the hilarious to the nonsensical.

OGG

OGG Vorbis, a free alternative to MP3. On this page, it means that I actually have a CD containing the song and have ripped it myself into an OGG file of higher quality than the MP3(s) floating around. OGG files can be played with recent versions of WinAmp.

Ratings are out of a possible 5 stars.

"Hi there. This is Neil Cicierega. Cool-ass site."
—Neil Cicierega

<DopefishJustin> http://dopefishjustin.is-a-geek.com:8000/sonicwarfare/
<DopefishJustin> :D
<Volt|Sleep> Hyakugojuuichi, Tunak Tunak Tun, and Yatta!, to name a few   <--- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
<DopefishJustin> :D
<Volt|Sleep> You sir, are evil
<DopefishJustin> that was the desired effect

<TheBaskinator> Good site.  Good site.  --- BTW, I'm taking Japanese 1 in school. \o/
<DopefishJustin> \o/

<RollingBrass> dopefishjustin
<RollingBrass> you better flee to some unknown spot on the glob
<RollingBrass> because i'm fairly certain that the UN can prosecute you for crimes against humanity for having that page
<RollingBrass> :D

<Redlof> That's a very nice site, justing.
<Redlof> heh heh. I said justing.

<greenskeleton> original site DopefishJustin, I congratulate you

cremmel13: Gah no, my ears will never be the same

"great site" "Bout time somebody got all that shit rounded up on one site"
—Matthew Dudevoir

I'm always on the lookout for new additions to this page. Please send candidates to me at dopefishjustin =at= gmail.com. Links to files or names for me to look up on P2P or Google are preferable to attachments; please ask before sending large attachments. Also keep in mind the Sonic Warfare guidelines at the top of the page—just because a song is bad, annoying, or in a foreign language does not necessarily make it a Sonic Warfare song. In addition, I go for variety on the page—if I have a bunch of similar songs, I will choose only the best one or two to appear here on the site. I reserve the final choice of what makes the cut.

Some notes on stuff I already have or plan to look into:

• Japanese Pokémon (Pocket Monsters) - I have MP3s of basically all of these and while many of them are indeed humorously bad, I picked only the "cream of the crop" to appear here.
• Other Animutation tunes - I am aware that there are some non-Pokémon Animutations; I haven't had the time or willpower to go through these yet. Rest assured, if there's anything good, I'll put it up.
• Dragon Ball Z - I've heard a bunch of these; only the couple I've put up are really Sonic Warfare-worthy IMO.
• Ranma ½ - I have a whole CD full of awful karaoke-type singing from Ranma; none of it surpasses the merely bad to become Sonic Warfare.
• Chinko Ondo & Kikkoman - I have a whole bunch of MP3s of remixes, covers, etc. of these. I may put some more up later but there's no need to send me any more. Look on WinMX if you want to get some.

Wanted Songs

There are some songs in particular that I've heard and would consider adding, but I don't have access to in a format suitable for posting here (e.g. OGG or MP3). If anyone can track these down, it would be greatly appreciated.

• Japanese Arinamin V jingle from a commercial with Arnold Schwartzenegger (see Greatest Commercial Ever). I can't find hide nor hair of this anywhere.
• La Bamba from this Flash (companion to Peanut Butter Jelly Time) - this rendition of La Bamba is especially annoying for some reason. Unfortunately there's a bajillion covers of this song and I have no clue who sings it in the video.
  

Also, some of the MP3s on the site are of poor quality, but they are all I could obtain. Better quality versions of these would also be greatly appreciated:

• Habbeetik / Hatten är Din - the MP3 sounds like it's from a much-used cassette tape; anyone have an Azar Habib CD lying around?
• YMCA Hou Ji Gei - the MP3 of this has a bunch of missing frames, so it pops and skips a lot.
• Hi-Ho! - the MP3 seems to have been recorded straight from the Flash (i.e. very low quality). I would also like files for the two other alternate versions of the song ("koi no INTAANETTO" and "ai no INTAANETTO" instead of "yume no INTAANETTO").

Higher bitrate or OGG versions of any of the songs that don't have them would also be great to have.

Technically, all of these songs and some of the accompanying videos are copyrighted to their respective creators. Frankly, I doubt many of them would care or even admit to owning the rights to them. It can also consitute great advertising—I would never have heard of Yatta!, much less bought the CD, if it hadn't been for the web. Nevertheless, if you own the rights to any of the files on this page and don't appreciate them being copied in this way, please contact me and I'll remove them ASAP. Also note that not all of the files here are hosted on my server; you may need to contact the owners of the respective sites linked to.

< # CHIN2 ? >