#pbandjam

Many years ago, during its first-ever Season, SiIvaGunner released the rip Light Plane (Krabby Mix); a rip that I, in my review and analysis of it just a few weeks ago, described as perhaps the best SpongeBob-related rip of its time. Utilizing a simple concept, a recognizable song, and an immediately identifiable and funny source all at once, Philiponbread created an all-time classic using naught but the bare essentials. Yet writing that post got me thinking of what lies on the opposite end of the spectrum; what would qualify as the best SpongeBob rip of TODAY, one made with years upon years of refinement in ripping prowess? Part of that thought process was, of course, also motivated by remembering how Season 8 in particular had an entire SpongeBob event occur during it, which gave my question more answers than I could have ever hoped for. There were tons of possible picks I could have had for today's post, but ultimately it was Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star that stuck with me most; standing out as the clearest expression of just how far SpongeBob-posting has come in the years since Light Plane (Krabby Mix).

Indeed, while Light Plane (Krabby Mix) was moreso teetering on the edge of being a YTPMV though its approach of pitch-shifting one snippet of audio alongside the original track's music, Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star is almost overwhelmingly maximalistic in its approach as evident from just the first few seconds. Despite all falling under the same umbrella term, the art of making YTPMV covers so many different approaches; For instance, there's rips like (YTPMV) Bob​-​Omb Battlesources which give a sense of ping-ponging between different sources by the second, while rips like Going Somewhere Jerma? and Everything Circus use a consistent, themed set of sources throughout their entire runtime. All YTPMVs are, in some form, rearrangements, which rips like Chillin' Like A Villain and its WANO-ilk embrace to a point where that underlying chaos that defines the genre almost starts to disappear from that equation. At the direct opposite of that almost elegant style or arrangement, then, we find the embodiment of said chaos, the definition of the aforementioned maximalism; with rips like my dearly beloved Crompton Racing, or indeed, Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star. Like rearrangement rips, every part of the original song is taken into consideration – Lead, bass, percussion, etc. – yet, rather than the approach of unassuming coherence, these are the kinds of rips that lean wholesale into cacophany; using as many sources of as many different kinds as possible, each source being picked out on a "what would be funny"-like basis. From there it's effectively just a matter of how hard the YTPMVer wants to dial in; into total insanity along the lines of LAST YTPMV​^​2 OF 2016, or into something that still holds on to a shred of sanity.

The most standout thing about Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star beyond its broad-strokes direction is the care taken in the sources used; what at first appears like a cacophany of sources taken everywhere from SpongeBob itself to funny online videos and memes, soon clicks as all being under one theme; It's ALL SpongeBob posting. The percussion and bass are from the SpongeBob movie and show respectively, yes; but the TikTok that plays as the lead melody, an all-time favorite source of mine, is very specifically connected to SpongeBob as well, containing the lyric "Chilling on the weekend like usual / Watching SpongeBob and Scooby Dooby Doo". The high-tempo soundscape of Kirby music being used as the framework for all of these sources to fit into has an almost inherently comedic value to it, in a way I've alluded to back on rips like Kirby Joins the Circus!; it's the kind of whimsical soundscape that elevates YTPMV sources to sounding even more absurdly funny than they already are. As mentioned, the Gym Music TikTok source is one of my most cherished sources of all time, and the realization that it was eligible for SpongeBob day through seeing this rip made me embarrassingly giddy, only emphasized by how much fun the pitch shifting on it became through being aligned with Cocoa Cave's melody. This pattern only continues throughout the rip; The sudden appearance of the Whip and Nae Nae of Whip Fortress fame baffled me at first brush, only for the visuals remind me that, oh RIGHT - Silento DID make a Nickelodeon-themed (SpongeBob included) Whip and Nae Nae variant for Labour Day Weekend!

This all follows what I think, crucially, most separates SpongeBob rips of today from SpongeBob rips of yesteryear; The sources have gone from being in tribute to just SpongeBob itself to also referencing so many parts of SpongeBob's meme culture. Of all cartoons in the world, perhaps only The Simpsons rivals the absolute outreach that the Sponge has on internet posting; So many quotes, so many clips, so many gifs and so many absurd videos have been shared and made and posted in tribute to the show. Light Plane (Krabby Mix) was only truly scratching the surface, of just one of SpongeBob's many many many holds it has on the internet world; every little source from Watching Spongebob and Kirby Super Star – the knee-slap percussion, the stepping-on-the-beach song, the NO-NO-NO-NO!'s, the use of that one Patrick soundbyte that Sans Undertale's voice was sampled from – feels like it can be mentally traced back to some week, month or year on the internet, be it social media or YouTube or forums or discord, where it was THE funny thing to be sharing. It took until a rip like this, so dense with audio information all layered atop one another in a way that teeters on the incomprehensible whilst remaining a genuinely fun listen, for me to realize just how MUCH SpongeBob has its roots in the internet world.