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Techno Viking


Techno Viking is an internet phenomenon or meme based on a video from the 2000 Fuckparade in Berlin, Germany.

The 4-minute video shot by experimental video artist Matthias Fritsch at the Fuckparade on 8 July 2000 begins with the title "Kneecam No. 1" and shows a bare-chested man wearing a Thor's hammer pendant. He grabs the arms of another man and starts pointing his finger at him after the man jumps from a truck and stumbles into a blue haired woman accidentally shoving her. He is offered an inverted bottle of water by another man, then proceeds to dance down Rosenthaler Straße (52°31′33.8″N 13°24′13.2″E / 52.526056°N 13.403667°E / 52.526056; 13.403667 (filming location)) to techno music. Fritsch intended it to raise questions of whether the action was real or staged.

Fritsch uploaded the video to the internet in 2001. In 2006 he uploaded it to YouTube, and it went viral in 2007. According to Fritsch, its popularity began on a Central American pornography site. After being posted on Break.com, it peaked on 28 September at more than 1 million views per day and was watched by over 10 million people over 6 months. More than 700 responses and edited versions were posted. It was the #1 clip on Rude Tube's series-three episode Drink and Drugs. Mathew Cullen and Weezer wanted to include Techno Viking in their compilation of Internet memes for the "Pork and Beans" music video but were unable to. Techno Viking was also rendered in oils as part of a series on internet memes. By mid-2010, the video had generated over 20 million hits on YouTube alone; as of January 2013, the original version had more than 16 million views. Techno Viking has a Know Your Meme page, which documents aspects of the meme including derived images such as Techno Viking with his finger raised and the word "Obey", and an Encyclopedia Dramatica page.


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