Weezer released their latest music video ‘Pork and Beans” on Youtube last week. The band has always had a special spot in the hearts of those labeled geeks and nerds, probably stemming from the bands image and the fact they had one of the first digital videos to be widely distributed. If you recall the “Buddy Holly” music video became so popular it was included with the Windows 95 , and was my first introduction to the band, of which I would consider myself a fan. Unfortunately I also remember that Microsoft also included the trailer to Rob Roy, which I would say missed the demographic of computer users in the 90s by a wide, wide margin (still haven’t seen it).

All of this makes it fitting that the band chose to not only release their latest music video on YouTube, but also to make YouTube an integral part of the video itself. There is an excellent post by Nicholas Carlson that lists and links to all of the now famous YouTubers that appear in the video. Take a minute to watch the music video which is posted below and see how many of the ‘stars’ you spot.

There are, count’em, 21 YouTube cameos in the video, for those of you scoring at home

1. One man band
2. Numa Numa Guy
3. Dramatic Gopher
4. How the Dramatic Prairie Dog was Born
5. Afro Ninga
6. GI Joe Gay, Guinness World Record for most T-Shirts worn at one time
7. Chris Crocker (aka LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!)
8. All Your Base Are Belong To Us
9. Miss Teen USA 2007 – South Carolina answers a question
10. Star Wars Kid
11. Crank That Soldier Boy
12. Evolution of Dance
13. “Chocolate Rain” Original Song by Tay Zonday
14. K-Fed Popozao
15. Daft Hands – Technologic
16. Daft Bodies – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
17. Shoes the Full Version
18. Charlie the Unicorn
19. It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time!!!

And in the product placement category …

1. Will it blend
2. Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments

The thing is for most of the people/videos I have listed above, this wasn’t the first time they have been pulled into so called ‘mainstream’ media. In fact for most of the YouTube stars you will find a number of talk show, sitcom and news appearances. You only need to check out Tay Zonday aka ‘Chocolate Rain’ to find other links to appearance on South Park, Jimmy Kimmel Live, or even a promotional spot for Dr. Peppers new Cherry Chocolate beverage.

The question now becomes what defines a celebrity or ‘media personality’? A line that I would say is increasingly dwindling away. I hate to use this example and will not link to him, but Perez Hilton has gone from the blogosphere, to YouTube, to mainstream media. I would even argue that it is more that mainstream media is being redefined than internet stars are infiltrating it. The shift to digital content means that channels are becoming homogeneous, only differentiated by medium (print, audio and video) and the end-users device. Video content is available has been traditionally thought of as Movies and Television, but in this digital age how are they any different from YouTube? It will be interesting to see how this plays out as Television, Movies and online media continue to converge. Will video be able to make the transition smoother than the music industry? Perhaps the fact the both have add based business models will make it easier?