Albino Blacksheep

About

Albino Blacksheep^[1] (sometimes abbreviated as ABS) is a website designed for sharing user-submitted flash animations. Traditionally it has featured a large number of images, movies, and games, and more recently has expanded into other media such as music, products for mobile phones, and free software. It was a hub for early flash-based entertainment in the first half of the 2000s, and has largely been supplanted by sites such as YouTube and Newgrounds.

History

The site was launched in 1999, originally to promote a band of the same name, and has gone through numerous incarnations since then. In 2000, it was redesigned as a personal blog for its creator, Steven Lerner, featuring videos and images from around the web. In 2001, it was once again redesigned to allow users to submit images, videos, flash animations, music, and text files. Since then, it gained popularity, and became a hub for online media. Its popularity peaked in 2006.

After YouTube was created, ABS stayed active; however, the ABS YouTube channel became extremely popular^[2]. It was one of the first YouTube Partners^[3], with many videos being cross-posted between the sites. Some of the more popular videos include It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!!!, Emo Symphony, The End of the World, and The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. These videos attracted millions of hits, and were spread around YouTube, Newgrounds, and social media sites such as MySpace.

Traffic

Related Memes

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Peanut Butter Jelly Time is one of the most famous flash animations from the early 2000s. Although not limited to Albino Blacksheep, the site certainly assisted with the spread of the meme. The YouTube video of the animation, posted to ABS's channel in 2008, has nearly 23 million views.

Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny is a music video that became widespread over Newgrounds and Albino Blacksheep, featuring an epic battle between all of the world's heroes. It was created in 2005, and has received millions of views on those sites, as well as on YouTube. It has also spawned many parodies and fan interpretations, and remains one of the more flash animations on the internet.

The End of the World

The End of the World, also known as End of ze World, is a short flash animation depicting possible scenarios for the destruction of Earth, read by a man with a very poor imitation of a Russian accent. It was uploaded to ABS in 2003, and to ABS's YouTube channel in 2003, and has millions of views from both sites.

Gonads and Strife

Gonads and Strife was a popular flash-animated video, featuring a squirrel singing a song about what has caused him to "go WEEEEEEE!" It was created in 2001, and was uploaded to ABS soon after. Its popularity peaked around 2004.

Milk and Cereal Lipdub

Milk and Cereal Lipdub is one of the earliest examples of a lipdub. It was posted to ABS in 2003 (3 years before the term 'lipdub' had even been coined), and has spawned a number of imitations and parodies. Its popularity peaked in mid-2004.

Search Interest

Search interest for Albino Blacksheep peaked around 2006, and has been minimal since 2010.

External References