The internet generates a lot of phenomena that calls for new terminology. I think we need a term for useless and disposable media that becomes virulently popular, but that the creator prefers to be distanced from. Sort of like an Alan Smithee of Flash animation. The other day the now-antiquated End Of Ze World animation resurfaced, and as a result, I got a little curious about who created it, and if there was any followup. A logical place to look for this sort of thing is of course KnowYourMeme.com, but unfortunately, they didn’t. Know their meme, that is. They have a slightly confusing entry that references Jason Windsor, his alleged Facebook group, and the band “Gröûp X”. It was immediately evident that the Facebook page was not in fact Jason Windsor’s, so I started searching. Who is this Jason Windsor? Who created the darn animation? And who is this Gröûp X? Well, after a wikiphiliac hour or so of digging, I think I’ve pieced it together. In spite of the fact that someone even went as far as registering the domain EndOfWorld.net to plead for the creator to come forth, and in spite of dozens of sources that credit Gröûp X, it turns it out it wasn’t that hard to get the facts straight. It turns out that the confusion stems from nerdy google-impaired webtards emphatically repeating on comment threads everywhere that “omfg u r so stupid stfu its by group x just watch bang bang bang its so obvious“. By which they mean “if you watch the video Bang Bang Bang by Gröûp X the animation style and fake accent make it clear that they are by the same person”. Which is in fact wrong; End of The World was created by Jason Windsor, a young guy from California who then apparently got hired by Wieden + Kennedy to do some spots for “Nike Sphere”, which included Stupid T-Shirts , Autumn In New York , and Perfect Conditions. Windsor has since kept a low profile, not wanting, I suppose, to be famous for a goofy animation he did as a teen. And the band Gröûp X? If you watch a few of their fan-produced videos, you can quickly see where the confusion would arise. What’s interesting is that the band and Jason Windsor have one thing in common aside from their fake accents and stick-man animations: neither especially wants to be known by name for what they’ve done. The Wikipedia page about Gröûp X says that “mentioning their true identities or nationalities is generally frowned upon by fans and band alike“. Which is probably just as well. The video clips and prank call recordings are kind of quirkily amusing, but the whole phenomena suddenly loses its charm when you read about (don’t do it!) what they’re really like. Clips below.

You can easily see how “The End of the World”…

…could be attributed to Gröûp X (song kicks in around 0:56):

The most recent post on Gröûp X’s web site (from April 2010) informs us:

On Look off, we hev join your American disease channel know as Twetted

http://twitter.com/groupxarab

Here we will throw off for you for how to figure outh how to saind your saix to owse for free, or if you are mane, how to show your sister and momtron how to send ett.

OK?

Do a looke. Get raidy for vegina buttjowb.

In “Don’t Touch That” Gröûp X lives up to their “faux Arabian rock band” reputation:

“You Kicked My Dog” is an example of their Jerky Boys style phone pranks: