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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Bill Wurtz
Bill Wurtz (often stylized in all lowercase) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, video producer, animator, and internet personality. He is known for his distinctive style of music involving deadpan delivery and singing, as well as his animated music videos, which often include surrealist and psychedelic graphics.

Wurtz has been actively publishing music and videos since 2002. He has uploaded videos on Vine, where he first gained popularity, and on YouTube. Two of his animated videos on YouTube, History of Japan (2016), and History of the Entire World, I Guess (2017), went viral and inspired internet memes. In 2016, Wurtz won the Shorty Award for Best in Weird.

Career

Early work

Wurtz's first published composition was an instrumental named "Late Nite Lounge with Loud Lenny", which was recorded on June 17, 2002, and his first song with vocals, "stuck in a rut", was created in March 2005. Beginning in 2010, he released songs more frequently.

Vine videos

Wurtz first became known on the short-form video-sharing website Vine, where he gained a following in 2014. He took short videos he had previously published to his website and edited them to fit Vine's six-second restriction. Before moving to YouTube, Wurtz was uploading a video to Vine nearly every day. In 2015, he received attention for the short video "Shaving My Piano". On April 11, 2016, Wurtz won the Shorty Award for "Tech & Innovation: Weird" at the 8th Shorty Awards. At the awards ceremony, his acceptance speech solely consisted of the words "Thank you." Later that year, Wurtz withdrew from making Vines to focus on finishing History of Japan.

YouTube

Wurtz created his YouTube channel in September 2013. Despite disliking online streaming, he joined YouTube after a friend advised him to post content that was previously exclusive to his website.

History of Japan

External videos
thumbnail of a blue terrain map of Japan, beside the text "history of japan"
video icon history of japan on YouTube

In 2016, Wurtz released History of Japan, a nine-minute YouTube video that outlines Japan's history. The video gave him wider popularity, following an increase in subscribers due to his Vine popularity. Wurtz has stated he chose the topic due to his lack of knowledge of it. According to Wurtz, it took fourteen weeks to make History of Japan. The video covers key events of Japan's history, such as the spread of rice farming, the introduction of Buddhism, internal conflicts between rulers, its alliance with Britain, World War I, World War II, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and its post-war economic miracle. It showcases Wurtz's quirky visual and comedic style through fast-paced narration and animation, intercut with short musical jingles.

History of Japan went viral on social media after its release on February 2, 2016, and received over four million views by February 8th. It received considerable attention on Tumblr and Reddit., and became a lasting internet meme, with people posting quotes and images from it while discussing subjects such as politics. As of July 2024, the video has over 82 million views.

Adario Strange of Mashable described the video as "an entertaining new approach to education". German Lopez of Vox called it a "strange", "pretty good", and "surprisingly funny" video. Lopez noted the poor coverage of Japanese war crimes against Korea and China in the 20th century and attributed this omission to the video's short runtime. In 2021, Polygon listed it in its list of top 25 "dumb internet videos".

History of the Entire World, I Guess

External videos
thumbnail of a simplified Earth consisting of a blue circle with a green squiggle, beside the text "history of the world, i guess"
video icon history of the entire world, i guess on YouTube

Wurtz released a 20-minute overview of world history, History of the Entire World, I Guess, on May 10, 2017. The video took over 11 months to produce, including almost three months of research. It briefly covers the topics of natural history and human civilization from the Big Bang to the near future. The video marked the continued development of Wurtz's style, with fast-paced, absurdist humor and jazz-like musical interludes.

On the day of its release, History of the Entire World, I Guess was the top video on the YouTube trending page, receiving 3.2 million views. On Reddit, it became the most upvoted YouTube link. It became an internet meme and was listed eighth on YouTube's list of the top 10 trending videos of the year. As of November 2024, it has over 170 million views.

Vox's German Lopez praised the video for not heavily focusing on Western history and successfully covering areas that may be neglected in American schools, such as powers in China, Persia, and India. Las Vegas Weekly called it a "must-see", and it has been considered Wurtz's magnum opus. In 2020, Thrillist ranked the video at number 40 on its list of the 100 greatest YouTube videos.

2017–present: Post-History of the Entire World, I Guess career

In 2017, Wurtz released "Hi, I'm Steve", an absurdist animation about a man named Steve, which trended on Reddit. Other popular videos made by Wurtz include animated music videos, such as "Mount St. Helens is about to Blow Up" and "and the day goes on", as well as nonsensical shorts.

In 2018, Wurtz appeared on the H3 Podcast, his first major interview, and his song "I Just Did a Bad Thing" inspired a trend of TikTok videos of people lip-syncing to the song and using it to accompany pranks and regrettable changes in personal appearances. Millions of videos used the audio, and #ididabadthing became the platform's top hashtag of March 2019.

Style

Wurtz creates music and animation in an absurdist, surreal style. Eddie Kim of MEL Magazine wrote that Wurtz "refuses to mimic anyone else's animation or musical style, but it's not weird for weirdness' sake alone", comparing him to Thundercat and Louis Cole and highlighting Wurtz's pretty pop melodies, unexpected chords, and multi-layered rhythms as commonalities. Geoff Carter of Las Vegas Weekly stated, "Merge Don Hertzfeldt, Jenny Holzer and Thundercat and you might get someone a little bit like Bill Wurtz."

Music

Wurtz's music has been classified as jazz pop, incorporating elements of lo-fi music, smooth jazz, funk, and easy listening. In an interview with Genius, Wurtz stated that "it's a good [...] songwriting technique to write about something bad with a good sounding melody, because if you can get people to feel good about something bad, then you're bulletproof in life." Wurtz's voice has been described by MEL Magazine as a "silky tenor with range and energy". He plays instruments including the piano, bass guitar, and drums. His songs feature prominent basslines, which he records on a keyboard rather than a bass guitar.

Wurtz started making music at a very early age. In an interview with Bass Guitar magazine, he said he was "wholly self-taught" as a musician, and he downplayed the importance of music theory in songwriting and composition, saying, "'Theory' may be fun, but it's made of liquid and has a tendency to melt. The music comes first and then you figure out how to describe what happened, although fully describing it can never be done."

Wurtz has mentioned pop singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and jazz fusion musicians Dave Weckl and Chick Corea as songwriting influences. Artists who have expressed admiration for Wurtz's music include indie musicians Daði Freyr and Sidney Gish, as well as DJ and producer Porter Robinson.

Videos

Wurtz's videos are typically set in a lo-fi, neon aesthetic and have been described as surreal and psychedelic. They often involve deadpan humor, clip art images, dancing stick figures, vaporwave-like transitions, and neon, sans-serif text on-screen. He said on the H3 Podcast that his aesthetic arose to "get the job done [...] the only way I can do it, really." His aesthetic has been compared to that of the early internet.

Wurtz is against running advertising on or accepting sponsorships for his videos, despite feeling pressure to do so. He has explained that advertisements make him "uncomfortable" and that he thinks "they suck". Wurtz receives direct fan support through crowdfunding on Patreon, streams on music streaming services, and merchandise sales, but he does not heavily promote these revenue streams.

Public image

Wurtz has an online following, including a subreddit. He is known as a private person; he infrequently does interviews and has not gone on tour. On the H3 Podcast, he said that he "doesn't have time to do anything but make music". He struggles with perfectionism, making use of schedules and deadlines to overcome it.

Online presence

10.9.18  7:48 pm how the heck are you so gosh darn wacky?
     i'm just trying to be reasonable
— A question and Wurtz's answer on his website

Wurtz launched his personal website, billwurtz.com, in 2014. Its simple design has been compared to late-1990s websites. The website contains his released songs and most of his videos dating back to 2002, as well as short journal posts and vlog-style "reality" videos depicting his creative process. Wurtz maintains a section on his website to answer anonymously submitted questions. He originally allowed people to send questions using Ask.fm, but stopped using the website due to his distaste of people having to sign up to ask anonymously. The style of his answers has been described by the website OK Whatever as "[verging] on the poetic" and by MEL Magazine as "earnest, if somewhat loopy-sounding".

Wurtz is active on Instagram and Twitter, with humorous tweets in the style of Weird Twitter.

Awards

Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref.
2016 Shorty Awards Tech & Innovation: Best in Weird Bill Wurtz Won

Discography

Music videos

Year Name Views (millions)
2014 "I'm Sad" 0.4
"I'm a Diamond" 1.8
"Barf On Me" 0.1
"Feel Okay" 0.2
"Dance The" 0.2
"Tape Deck" 0.1
"New Canaan" 0.8
"Still Silly" 0.1
"I Like" 0.3
"Tuesday" 0.3
"Icy James" 0.1
"I'm Confused (I Love You)" 1.1
"Blind (To no Avail)" 0.2
"Hey Jodie Foster" 0.1
2015 "I'm Crazy / It's Raining" 1.4
"You're Free to Do Whatever You Want to" 1.8
"School" 11.7
2016 "Alphabet Shuffle" 7.8
2017 "I Wanna Be A Movie Star" 4.1
"Outside" 6.4
2018 "La De Da De Da De Da De Day Oh" 13.8
"And the Day Goes On" 8.0
"Hello Sexy Pants" 3.4
"Hallelujah" 1.9
"I'm Best Friends with my Own Front Door" 3.2
"Mount St. Helens Is About to Blow Up" 8.8
"The Moon Is Made of Cheese (But I Can't Taste It)" 3.9
"When I Get Older" 2.7
"Long Long Long Journey" 3.5
"Slow Down" 2.5
"Christmas Isn't Real" 2.3
"Just Did a Bad Thing" 9.4
2019 "At the Airport Terminal" 3.2
"Might Quit" 14.4
2021 "Here Comes the Sun" 9.8
"I'm a Princess" 4.0
"Got Some Money" 5.0
"More Than a Dream" 2.1
2022 "I'm Scared" 2.4
"Fly Around" 1.2
"9 8 7" 1.1
"At the Corner Store" 1.3
"If the World Doesn't End" 1.0
"I'm a Huge Gamer Most of the Time" 1.5
"The Ground Plane" 0.8
"Meet Me in September" 0.6
"I Like to Wear Soft Clothing" 0.8
"The Ending" 1.2
"Where I've Been" 1.8

Bandcamp releases

Albums
Title Year
What the Fuck 2010
Church Sessions
The Summertime
Fun Music 2011
EPs
Title Year
Yikes 2009
The Song Song
Guerilla Myspace Project
Bach Garageband 2010
Burger King Spring
April Flowers
It's All About the Ladies
Fly July
Short Butt Suites
Fall Sprawl
Murder Your Demon 2011
When is it Time to Come Home Again?
Soap Boat
Love
Pain
Hi-Bye (New Shorts) 2013
New School 2014
We Could Just Get Right
Eat Dirt Shorts
My Next Album
High Enough

Other songs

The following songs are available on Wurtz's website:

Title Date
"The Song Song" August 10, 2009
"15 Minutes" November 28, 2009
"Be Free and Don't Sell Records" July 8, 2010
"Desk and Chair" July 15, 2010
"Song 41" August 26, 2010
"2010" September 7, 2010
"Eat Bread (Feel Sure)" September 13, 2010
"The Trees" October 14, 2010
"I'm About to Graduate from School" November 7, 2010
"Fever" November 11, 2010
"Dream of Evil" November 24, 2010
"Murder Your Demon" January 14, 2011
"Dumpies" January 25, 2011
"Blue Boy" May 22, 2011
"How Am I Spost" May 22, 2011
"Home Again" May 23, 2011
"The Stupid Song" June 1, 2011
"No Place like Home" June 16, 2011
"Do the Thing" June 20, 2011
"I Love You" June 20, 2011
"Go to the Store" June 24, 2011
"(What) Love Is" July 11, 2011
"Do What You Want to Do" July 15, 2011
"All U Need Is Love" August 2, 2011
"The World" September 2, 2011
"Home" September 9, 2011
"I Guess I've Got to Listen to Bob Marley" September 23, 2011
"Stupid Song" September 26, 2011
"Textin on my iPhone" February 12, 2014
"Rabbit Snakes" February 26, 2014
"The Future Song" March 5, 2014
"We Could Just Get High" March 19, 2014
"I'm in Bryant Park" March 26, 2014
"It's Gonna Be Alright" April 23, 2014
"Write a Song on the Count of 3" May 28, 2014
"This Is a Song for my Next Album" June 11, 2014
"Goo Soup" July 9, 2014
"I Wanna Sail You Away" July 23, 2014
"I Can Play" September 3, 2014
"The Road" September 17, 2014
"In California" May 30, 2017
"I Love You" June 6, 2017
"Got to Know What's Going On" June 20, 2017

Notes

  1. ^ Last updated: November 2024

References

Bill Wurtz's questions page

  1. ^ Wurtz, Bill (February 15, 2021). "[...]Did people in your life have an influence on you developing this skill?". billwurtz.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2021. i was able to hear a lot of music on records[...]and I will confess I also had access to a piano/keyboard instrument, and a drum set.[...] Having an extremely early start, it was pretty natural to find me in many many personal and professional music relationships with peers (well at first it was usually people much older than me because I was so young to start)
  2. ^ Wurtz, Bill (October 9, 2018). "how the heck are you so gosh darn wacky". billwurtz.com. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2019. i'm just trying to be reasonable

Bill Wurtz's reality page

  1. ^ Wurtz, Bill (2016). "1.16.16". billwurtz.com. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2023. made a serious decision to stop doing vines which i know seems like madness, but we're doing it for a good reason: we're finishing the long projects and then we're finishing more projects after that.
  2. ^ Wurtz, Bill (2015). "2015-10-25". billwurtz.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2023. I would like to try history of Japan, just because it's random. I know nothing about it, it just seems like a sweet spot.
  3. ^ Wurtz, Bill (2016). "3.26.16". billwurtz.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2024.

Other sources

  1. ^ "bill wurtz". Bandcamp. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  2. ^ "About billwurtz". YouTube.
  3. ^ Kim, Eddie (October 12, 2018). "Meet Bill Wurtz, the Internet Musical Genius You've Never Heard Of". MEL Magazine. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  4. ^ Feldman, Brian (May 11, 2017). "Bill Wurtz Returns to Teach the History of the Entire World, He Guesses". New York. Archived from the original on August 10, 2019. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  5. ^ Gutelle, Sam (May 11, 2017). "Bill Wurtz's "History of the Entire World" Gets 3.2 Million YouTube Views in Its First Day". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  6. ^ Klein, Ethan; Klein, Hila (December 1, 2018). The H3 Podcast (podcast). The United States: h3h3 productions. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  7. ^ Sheffer, Sam (July 13, 2015). "Why can't I stop watching this video of a piano being shaved?". The Verge. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  8. ^ Lee, Ashley. "Shorty Awards: The Complete Nominations List". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  9. ^ Pandell, Lexi (January 16, 2019). "How Bill Wurtz's Videos Make the Internet a Better Place". OK Whatever. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  10. ^ Gaudette, Emily (May 10, 2017). "Viral 'History of Japan' Video Finally Has an Update on the Entire World". Inverse. Archived from the original on August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  11. ^ Moran, Lee (February 8, 2016). "WATCH: Trippy Video Teaches The Entire History Of Japan In Just 9 Minutes". HuffPost. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  12. ^ Lopez, German (May 18, 2017). "The most bizarre, entertaining history of Japan you'll ever watch". Vox. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  13. ^ Strange, Adario (February 6, 2016). "Psychedelic history of Japan turns learning into an acid trip". Mashable. Archived from the original on February 9, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  14. ^ Burton, Julian (September 19, 2019). "Look at Us, We Have Anxiety: Youth, Memes, and the Power of Online Cultural Politics". Journal of Childhood Studies. 44 (3): 3–17. doi:10.18357/jcs00019171. Archived from the original on June 5, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024 – via EBSCO Information Services.
  15. ^ Broderick, Ryan; Davis, Sarah; Kesvani, Hussein (June 1, 2021). "The greatest achievements in Dumb Internet Video". Polygon. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
  16. ^ Shamsian, Jacob (May 18, 2017). "This 20-minute animated video explains the entire history of the world – and the internet is obsessed with it". Insider. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  17. ^ "The (almost) entire history of the world in under 20 hilarious minutes? This video is your answer". Scroll.in. May 18, 2017. Archived from the original on April 24, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  18. ^ "What to binge on YouTube, the original "quick bite" video service". Las Vegas Weekly. April 23, 2020. Archived from the original on January 22, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  19. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (May 11, 2017). "History of the Entire World, I Guess could have been the best online video of 2005". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 11, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  20. ^ Hathaway, Jay (May 17, 2017). "Viral 'History of the World' video turns into a meme bonanza". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  21. ^ Spangler, Todd (December 6, 2017). "YouTube Reveals 2017 Top Viral and Music Videos". Variety. Archived from the original on July 8, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  22. ^ Wurtz, Bill (May 10, 2017), history of the entire world, i guess, archived from the original on October 26, 2023, retrieved May 14, 2017
  23. ^ Lopez, German (May 7, 2018). "Watch this bizarre, hilarious history of the whole world". Vox. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  24. ^ Carter, Geoff (April 23, 2020). "What to binge on YouTube, the original "quick bite" video service". Las Vegas Weekly. Archived from the original on November 3, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  25. ^ "The 100 Greatest YouTube Videos of All Time, Ranked". Thrillist. Archived from the original on August 26, 2021.
  26. ^ Shi, Diana (July 9, 2017). "Watch This Absurd Animation Where a Little Man Climbs a Mountain to Avoid Taxes". Vice. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  27. ^ Haysom, Sam (July 7, 2017). "Gloriously random animation about a man named Steve is going viral". Mashable. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  28. ^ Piedra, Xavier (September 19, 2018). "This weirdly peppy anthem for end times will be stuck in your head for days". Mashable. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  29. ^ Muncy, Julie (May 1, 2018). "This Surreal Inspirational Cartoon Will Have You Ready To Face Anything". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  30. ^ Scheetz, Cameron (August 20, 2020). "Follow the Old Town Road: 20 songs that got a boost from TikTok fame". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  31. ^ Lee, Dami (August 2, 2019). "TikTok turns one: its first 12 months, as told through TikToks". The Verge. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  32. ^ Perrett, Connor (January 14, 2020). "21 of the most popular TikTok songs and sounds, and where they came from". Business Insider. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  33. ^ Ring, Julian. "These Viral Musicians Are Still Making Great Songs". Pandora Blog. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  34. ^ Reneau, Steven (January 11, 2019). "Bill Wurtz Breaks Down The Meaning Of 'Mount St. Helens Is About To Blow Up'". Genius. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  35. ^ McIver, Joel (April 2, 2019). "WURTZ CASE: YouTube sensation Bill Wurtz has a secret weapon – bass – but not the way you'd expect. He reveals the method behind his three million subscribers". Bass Guitar. No. 168. p. 32. ISSN 1476-5217.
  36. ^ Lawless, Jack (March 15, 2023). Bill Wurtz Discusses The Beatles | "Here, There, and Everywhere" Podcast, Ep. 44. Retrieved September 22, 2024 – via YouTube.
  37. ^ Padilla, Anthony (December 15, 2023). history of the entire bill wurtz, i guess. Retrieved September 22, 2024 – via YouTube.
  38. ^ "Get To Know... Daði Freyr". DIY. May 27, 2020. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  39. ^ Beriss, Ben (January 25, 2019). "WBRS brings indie spirit to campus". The Brandeis Hoot. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  40. ^ Bein, Kat (July 16, 2018). "Porter Robinson Shouts-Out Mat Zo, Nina Las Vegas and More of His Favorite Artists to Celebrate His Birthday". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  41. ^ "billwurtz". billwurtz.com. Archived from the original on September 19, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
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