Revived Halo theme-song meme may owe its newfound life to the Philadelphia Eagles

The Halo franchise feels like a relic of video games past thanks to Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds recent dominance — except when it comes to memes.

One of the most wholesome, enjoyable, nerdy memes that’s emerged in recent weeks is a throwback to Halo. Rather, a throwback to the game’s classic operatic theme music. Teenagers are gathering in high school bathrooms, often 20 or 30 at a time, to belt out the docile tones found within the score. Here’s an example with 80 teenage boys in one school bathroom.

Here’s another with a paltry 40 some boys in what appears to be a much tinier high school bathroom.

Say what you will about teens having too much time on their hands, but it’s refreshing to see a bunch of teenage boys gathered in the spirit of singing rather than hitting one another or engaging in some other questionable activity. The question is why the meme is popping off again now? The answer appears football.

The co-relation between popular memes or GIFs on the internet and professional sports is pretty apparent. Something happens in a game and it’s immortalized online. Think Lance Stephenson blowing in LeBron James’ ear during Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Playoffs between the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat.

NBA

It’s that intersection between goofy internet culture, professional sports and video games where the Halo meme exists. Philadelphia Eagles’, Ian Park, is the original Halo meme kid. He recorded a video in December 2016, during his final year at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. Park was in a locker room, not a bathroom, and was the sole person in the video.

The video was popular, but certainly not defining internet culture at the time. It also wasn’t wholly original; people have been singing Halo’s theme song in a variety of cavernous places for years because of the operatic elements. This video is six years old, for example.

It wasn’t until May 6, 2018, when Park joined the Eagles, that he decided to come out of Halo-singing retirement. A video posted that April, featuring another person singing the Halo theme song, racked up 50,000 views on YouTube. Unlike Park, the singing impersonator was in the bathroom. So, to exact his revenge, Park posted a new version of him singing the song while wearing his Philadelphia Eagles top.

So, thanks to Halo and football, we have an adorable meme that we can enjoy this long weekend. This is just another day when I for one am thankful teenagers seem far more productive with their time than I ever was in high school.