Why it matters to you
The fact that XP is still creating joy more than a decade and a half from its release is good enough for us.
Although both Smash Mouth and Windows XP no longer have much official support out there, it doesn’t mean both can’t be remembered fondly. Indeed they’ve both inspired Youtuber James Nielssen to create an homage to the late 1990s standouts in a mashup video of the 1999 hit, All Star.
The wave of recent reboots, remasterings and recreations in all media shows how powerful a tool nostalgia can be and Nielsson has tapped right into that with his video. Windows XP is the operating system that for many people, defined their early years of PC usage, or at least transformed it and Smash Mouth had that song everyone loves.
Using error bongs and bings, the warm tones of the startup sound and the pings of booting programs, this take on All Star is an impressive re-creation. Many important parts of its melody are there and though we aren’t treated to a cameo from Bonzi Buddy singing, we are left with the haunting image of the Office paperclip, which still continues to stare at us with those dead eyes, two decades after its introduction.
This isn’t the only time that Nielsson has dredged up sounds of operating systems past to generate music. More recently, he managed to recreate Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony using Windows XP sounds.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4iPVCLwvKQ?feature=oembed&w=100&h=100]
Once again we’re treated to the paperclip leading the way and he’s joined by all of his error and launch sounds as before. Who would have thought the sounds of unresponsive programs and task failures could turn out to be so musically capable.
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If neither of these beautiful renditions of music strikes your fancy, Nielsson’s other videos ask you all sorts of important questions, such as whether you like jazz — more than a million times.