About
Cat on a Keyboard in Space (also known as Space Cat or Astro Cat) is rather self-explanatory: an image of a cat posing on a musical keyboard set to the background of outer space. Due to the nonsensical yet amusing nature of the artwork, it became a popular template for image macros and video remixes, particularly on the popular image-sharing community YTMND.
It is not to be confused with Keyboard Cat, an unrelated YouTube phenomenon based on a video clip of a cat ostensibly playing a melody on the piano.
Origin
The original picture reportedly comes from a promotional website for Oddssey keyboard products1, originally titled Space ARP and credited to an individual who goes by the name of Andy Squirrel. The image was first published online via personal blog MatrixSynth2 in June 2006.
On September 18th, 2006, YTMND user napalmnabuco created a strange site called catonakeyboardinspace] under the subdomain “whatyouseewhenyoudie.ytmnd.com,” featuring a picture of a cat sitting on a keyboard in outer space and Jean-Jacques Perrey’s “Brazilian Flower”4 playing in loop.
The highly eccentric combination of a dated electronic song, the image and the curious subdomain “What You See When You Die” soon proved its potency within the YTMND community and gave way to a popular phenomenon now known as “Cat on a Keyboard in Space” (sometimes abbreviated as “coakis”).
The YTMND Wiki article5 describes the phenomenon as :
[…]an example of an independently successful ytmnd; a testament to the potential of original creativity.
Following its initial rise throughout the summer of 2006, MatrixSynth posted a follow-up blog article6 on September 22nd, linking to the notorious original YTMND site:
Well, it looks like someone took the image and made a page featuring it and Jean Jacques Perrey’s Brazilian Flower. Title link takes you there. Just load the page, listen and look at the cat. Enjoy. Also note the name of the URL. I seriously hope not.
Spread
In February 2007, the original YTMND site was picked up by social bookmarking sites like Digg7 and StumbleUpon8 and the first Urban Dictionary9 article for “Cat on a Keyboard in Space” was posted on September 22nd, 2007.
CatonaKeyboardinSpace: “something that we see when we die”
The YTMND phenomenon was also referenced in a XKCD comic10 published in September 2008, not to mention the launch of Facebook11 tribute page in 2009.
Search Interest
Notable Examples
The YTMND influx of “Cat on a Keyboard in Space” sites continued with pop culture-related mash ups, such as Harry Potter Sees The End of Book 7 site posted by user quacx on September 20th. Eventually, it spawned more than 110 YTMND sites12 under the tag “catonakeyboardinspace” and an additional 20 sites under the initialized tag “coakis.” Other notable examples include:
- Attack of the Dean Fighters (more than 209,000 views / one of the highest rated sites with a 4.71 / 5)
- The New Ruler of Hell. (more than 98 000 views)
- Stephanie Is about to DIE ! (more than 46 000 views)
- Can You HeaR Me , Major Tom Arnold? (more than 32 000 views)
- A Close Encounter (more than 29 000 views)
- Death and the Cat (more than 27 000 views)
Videos
The first YouTube video edition of the celestial cat was uploaded on March 7th, 2007 :
Other remixes featuring alternative backgrounds followed:
It has also been mixed with the Keyboard Cat phenomenon in June 2009:
External References
1 Odyssey – The Ultimate ARPODYSSEY Information Resource Page
2 Blogspot – MatrixSynth – SpaceARP
3 YTMND – What You See When You Die
4 YouTube – Jean-Jacques Perrey’s Brazilian Flowers
5 YTMND Wiki – Catonakeyboardinspace
6 Blogspot – MatrixSynth – Cat on a Keyboard in Space
7 Digg – Cat on a Keyboard in Space
8 StumbleUpon – WhatYouSeeWhenYouDie.YTMND.com
9 Urban Dictionary – CatonAKeyboardinSpace
10 XKCD – xkcd: Height
11 Facebook – Cat on a Keyboard in Space