About

The Can-Can is a French dance originated in 1830s and is usually known as the popular name of "Galop Internal", the most famous Can-Can music comes from "Orpheus in the Underworld" that is an opéra bouffon composed by Jacques Offenbach in 1858. This 19th-century music has been arranged in diverse ways and enjoyed in pop culture since 20th century.

And 21st century now, its original and many arranged versions become popular music resource in online parodies such as MADs and YTPMVs.

Origin

In Japan, Can-Can is known as "Heaven and Hell" (Japanese : 天国と地獄, Tengoku to Jigoku), the translated title of that opéra bouffon in there. One of the most well-known usages of this music in Japan is BGM for sports days in schools. Almost all Japanese have participated in a footrace or a medley relay with this music in their school days.

Because of this common life experience of Japanese people, like Mayim Mayim, Can-Can has been frequently cited in their pop culture since 1950s and has been produced many its remixes in CMs, animes and games.

Among those remixes, the most popular Can-Can remix in online parodies comes from Jubeat, a Japanese rhythm action game produced by KONAMI in 2008. This remix was composed by Mutsuhiko Izumi, a Japanese musician.

Spread

Nico Nico Douga

On Nico Nico Douga (NND), a video sharing service in Japan, one of the oldest videos fearturing Can-Can had already been posted to there in October, 2007^[1]. That was also related to Futae no Kiwami.
Even Jubeat mix had already appeaered on Hissu Amoto San phenomenon in September, 2008^[2]. However, these early works couldn't get much attention among NND users.

The trigger of Can-Can fad on NND was this video related to Shuzo Matsuoka : 松岡修造で天国と地獄【ハイスピードver】ニコニコver^[3]

This video featuring Jubeat mix was posted to NND on June 2nd, 2009. Partly thanks to Shuzo's big phenomenon on there, this video soon placed in NND's daily ranking and got the attention among many NND users. As of May 2011, this video scores over 1.3 million page views on NND.

By the smash hit of this videos, many followers became introducing Can-Can to their videos, and also other Can-Can videos posted in previous became re-evaluated.

In June 22nd, 2009, the article that describes about this Can-Can's fad on NND was added on Nico Nico Pedia^[4], an internet encyclopedia in there.

YouTube

Can-Can's fad on MADs was imported to YTPMVs. The most notable work on YouTube is "Super Mario Bros. Can Can" made by famous YTPMV editor "MatrixMariox" and posted to there around January, 2010.

The trigger of Can-Can's fad on YTPMVs was pulled by this video.

And this video was also uploaded to NND and got much the attention among NND users. The popularity of Can-Can on there was further increased by this video.

Because of these hits on both online parody fads, Can-Can became one of the standard music resources on there around early 2010.

As of May 2011, over 800 videos related to Can-Can is posted to NND^[5], many of them is uploaded to YouTube^[6]. And many YTPMVs also related to the music are on there.

Notable Examples

For more remixes, check out the videos section.

[Most viewed Jubeat mix]
【遊戯王】海馬社長で天国と地獄【音MAD】^[7] / 2.5 million+ views on NND (See also : Enemy Controller)

[Original classic version]
【遊戯王MAD】結束のコマンド運動会Full～動画ver～^[8] / 1.6 million+ views in total

[The Rub Rabbits! version]
【第4回MMD杯本選】ニコニコ天国と地獄^[9] / 650.000+ views in total (See also : MikuMikuDance)

Sub-Meme : NRHP

Around 2010, it became one of the standard effects for MADs that the melodies of its 4 popular music resources, Night of Knights, RED_ZONE, Hammer and Po Pi Po were inserted to MAD videos.

On NND, this routine is called Set Piece:NRHP (Japanese : 課題曲:NRHP, Kadaikyoku:NRHP), or simply "Set Piece" (Japanese : 課題曲, Kadaikyoku). NRHP is created from the capital letters of that 4 soundtracks.

Nico Nico Pedia^[10] says the origin of this NRHP routine on NND are 2 videos. One is "Super Mario Bros. Can Can", the other is, this below : テトリスは地獄【天国と地獄】 (a.k.a. Tetris HD can can)^[11]. This was the video that inspired MatrixMariox and made him make that "Super Mario Bros. Can Can".

Many MAD editors imspired by these videos started borrowing this routine to their own videos. Also on YTPMV, though it wasn't given a name, this routine became appearing on many videos.

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos listed in this section.