About

Everybody Walk The Dinosaur is a 1987 pop song by "Was (Not Was)." Used in a number of feature films, the song was ever-present in popular culture from the late-80s through the early-90s. The song would eventually become a copypasta on the popular imageboard 4chan, using the song's closing lyrics ("Open the door, get on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur") as part of a bait-and-switch meme, replacing the ending of the story with the lyrics.

Origin

In 1987, the band Was (Not Was) released the song "Everybody Walk the Dinosaur" in 1987. The song peaked at the position of #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (shown below).^[1]

Origin

In the early-to-mid-90s, numerous motion pictures used the song on their soundtrack. The 1993 adaptation of Super Mario Bros. featured a version of the song performed by The Goombas and featuring recording artist George Clinton (music video below, left).^[2] The following year, the song appeared on the soundtrack for the 1994 adaptation of The Flintstones. ^[3]

On July 1st, 2009, 20th Century Fox released the film Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in the United States.^[4] Ahead of the film's release, on June 19th, YouTuber elhabibpatrick posted a music video for a cover version of the song by Queen Latifa, included on the film's soundtrack. within 12 years, the post received more than 1.1 million views (shown below, right).

Copypasta

In 2008, some online began using the lyrics of the song as a copypasta. On August 8th, 2008, an anonymous user on the DerbyTrail.com^[5] forums posted the earliest known usage of the copypasta, posting it as part of a bait-and-switch story and using the lyrics as the punchline to a story and creating an anti-climax. They wrote, "guys, you'll never believe what just happened no less than 15 minutes ago. so my sister and her boyfriend came home while i was watching tv and they went into the kitchen to get some drinks. while in the kitchen they were doing their whole lovey dovey thing and kissing and playing grab-ass and what not, and it was unappealing to me, so i went up to my room. a few minutes later, i heard them enter into my sister's room and then some rustling occured. i thought nothing of it, they were probably just making out again on her bed. then i heard her scream and i got worried so i ran over to her room, and opened the door, got on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur! open to door, get on the floor, everbody walk the dinosaur! BOOM BOOM ACKLAKKALAKKA BOOM BOOM BOOM ACKLAKKALAKKA BOOM!"

Over the next decade, usage of the phrase continued, as people posted the lyrics as the closing line to a story, effectively depriving readers of a satisfying ending. This continued until at least December 8th, 2020, when an anonymous 4chan user posted the copypasta in the /sp/^[6] imageboard (shown below).

Search Interest

External References