Here at Boing Boing we love screaming goat content, and we're back with more!
February 9, 2024 marks the eleventh anniversary of an internet classic—YouTuber Goosik's brilliant mash-up of Taylor Swift's 2012 song "I Knew You Were Trouble" with the sound of a screaming goat edited into the chorus.
Know Your Meme states that "within three weeks, the upload accumulated more than 1.09 million views and 800 comments. In the following weeks of February 2013, YouTuber Goosik's mash-up went viral and spawned dozens of derivative remixes."
The Trouble/Goat mashup remains my favorite Taylor Swift song, and because of the recent Taylor Swift Everywhere at All Times phenomenon, I was reminded that I hadn't heard it in a while. So I just spent the last 2 hours learning about its origins and listening to dozens of the awesome versions that still live all over the internet. Turns out Taylor found the whole thing pretty funny and was a great sport about it, as you can see in this interview. The mash-up even inspired the screaming goats scene in Marvel's 2022 movie Thor: Love and Thunder. There's also a subreddit called "I Knew Goats Were Trouble" where users have posted dozens of variations of the meme. Below are some of my favorites:
Here's the original that was uploaded on February 9, 2013:
And here's another one that got really popular, with a different goat scream:
Here's a version featuring the full song along with extra goats:
Here's a bunny version:
And an epic cry (IYKYK) version:
This tiny frog version is adorable:
And there's even a Luke Skywalker version:
To read more about the Trouble/Screaming Goat meme, here's a great entry from Know Your Meme. Enjoy the chaos!
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