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Bill Clinton Swag
About
Bill Clinton Swag is an exploitable photoshop meme featuring a template image of former U.S. President Bill Clinton sitting down on the floor with several vinyl records, which is often customized by Internet users to showcase their favorite albums.
Origin
On November 3rd, 1999, The Onion published a satirical news article titled "Clinton Writes Fan Letter to Joan Jett," which featured a photoshopped image of Clinton seated on a floor holding the Joan Jett and The Blackhearts album I Love Rock and Roll while listening to a record player through a set of headphones (shown below).
Spread
Photoshopped versions of the image are often posted to 4chan's /mu/ (music) board as a way of showcasing a user's four favorite albums. On September 26th, 2012, the earliest known instance was posted in a thread accompanied by green text reading "tfw you will never have listening session of your favorite records with Bill Clinton."[2] On October 20th, 2012, the website Bill Clinton Swag[9] was launched by "Canadian data engineer Thomas Millar,[11] which allows users to select four albums from a search bar to generate a customized image of Clinton sitting with the four records (shown below).
On May 16th, 2013, Redditor Raptor_Jesis submitted a link to the site on the /r/InternetIsBeautiful[10] subreddit. In the coming months, the Bill Clinton Swag generator was featured on various news sites, including BuzzFeed,[4] Rap Genius,[6] Metafilter[7] and Vocamania.[8]
2020 Revival
In April 2020, the meme found renewed life on Instagram. One of the earliest from this time appeared on April 10th, 2020. That day, Instagram[12] user @theofficialoneuprecords shared a variation of the meme. The post received more than 475 likes in less than one month (shown below, left). Days later, on April 14th, Instagram[13] user @kingdom.core shared a variation that received more than 600 likes (shown below, center).
On April 20th, 2020, the website HITC[14] reported on the posts, associating it with another Instagram social game "the Nine Albums Challenge." They wrote, "Another music challenge has made its way to Instagram and this one features Bill Clinton sitting amongst your four favorite albums. To join in with this challenge all you have to is search 'Bill Clinton swag' and click on the first website. You can search for any album and the website uploads the album cover for you and edits it into Bill Clinton's arms. Another random music challenge, but with a Bill Clinton shaped twist."
That day, Instagram[15] user @seyemusic posted a version with the caption, "Wrap your head around this mix. 4 of some of my favorite albums… Love is Hell – Ryan Adams Continuum – John Mayer Worship and Tribute – Glassjaw The Very Best of Deacon Blue – Deacon Blue Billclintonswag.com to generate yours HAPPY MONDAY" (shown below, right).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] The Onion – Clinton Writes Fan Letter to Joan Jett
[2] 4chan via Wayback Machine – tfw you will never have listening session of your favorite records with Bill Clinton
[3] Web Archive – BillClintonSwag
[4] Buzzfeed – Bill Clinton's Got Swag
[5] Reddit – This site produces a picture of Bill Clinton holding your favourite albums
[6] Rap Genius: Put the last 4 albums u listened to in the bill clinton swag generator
[7] Metafilter – Bill Clinton Swag Generator
[8] Vocamania – Funny Favourite Albums Generator
[9] Bill Clinton Swag – Bill Clinton Swag
[10] Reddit – What does Bill Clinton think of your music collection?
[12] Instagram – @theofficialoneuprecords' Post
[13] Instagram – @kingdom.core's Post
[14] HITC – Instagram's Nine Albums Challenge explained: Here's how to join in!
[15] Instagram – @seyemusic's Post
Top Comments
Particle Mare
Feb 05, 2015 at 05:52AM EST
Doc
Feb 05, 2015 at 12:45PM EST in reply to