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Here Comes Another Bubble v1.1 - The Richter Scales

Open on YouTube First HN thread

3 HN users recommended this music video in 2 different months between 2009 and 2026.

2007–2026
3 recommendations 11 citations 6 jokes HackerTube score 2

Resurfaces in threads on startups, valuations and hype cycles as a funny, prescient bubble satire.

A cappella parody song by The Richter Scales, set to Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire', lampooning the Web 2.0 startup bubble. It won a Webby for viral video in 2007.

Pull quote: “in case anyone missed this gem.” (HN, 2019)

Also tagged: startup bubble satire, web 2.0, parody song, tech bubble, startups, facebook valuation

What Hacker News said

20 labeled comments from the HN archive; up to 20 are kept per video, favoring different commenters. Each one links back to the original thread.

Recommends karpathy April 2012 under Peter Thiel’s CS183: Startup - Class 2 Notes
Amusing video shown in Thiel's class, from 2007
I'm auditing the class as well and I like it quite a lot. Make sure to not get TLDR discouraged and at least scroll all the way down for the (very amusing) video that was played in class. Direct link: [this video] from 2007 but still semi-relevant :)
Recommends nchuhoai April 2012 under All In: Now's The Time
Always-appropriate song about tech bubbles
[this video] Always appropriate. On a side note, really hard to know whether this is a bubble or not. I don't want to take either side, but you cannot refute that a billion dollars for a startup that did not gain any significant revenue seems like a lot of money.

Citations, criticism and jokes

Cites it _delirium October 2010 under Peter Thiel: Facebook is Undervalued
Evidence that 2007-8 talk was of Facebook at $15 billion
Thiel says: "Back in 2008, we heard talk of another tech bubble, because people thought Facebook was overvalued at $500 million. Flash forward to today, and it’s clearly worth a lot more than that." Did this happen? Who in 2008 was talking about Facebook at $500 million, and complaining it was overvalued? People around that time were talking about Facebook at $15 billion being overvalued (e.g. [link] , [this video] ).
Cites it Apocryphon March 2011 under Parody Color Pitch Deck
Bubble song from December 2007
I just listened to the Richter Scales' "Here Comes Another Bubble" last week. I would repost it as a thread, but I'm not sure how well it'll fare, so here it is on all its glory. [this video] When was the song released? December of 2007.
Cites it jordanb May 2012 under Sequoia's Scout Program
Made in 2007, before Lehman and the recession
I find it interesting that this was made in 2007, before Lehman and before the great recession: [this video] Can there be a bubble bubble? Instead of irrational exuberance you have irrational cynicism?
2007 bubble satire, partly right for the near term
Longer. This Richter Scales "Here comes another bubble" video was 2007. [this video] Obviously 2008 did see something of a drop in general so I guess they were right for the near term. But they were specifically ragging on companies that you'd have done very well with over the next decade+ even if you had bought in 2007.
Cites it chx November 2023 under The Fallout from the Weirdness at OpenAI
Used to say tech hype cycles repeat
Read the full comment
Of course it is. FTX collapses (November 2-11, 2022), crypto hustle-scam is over, the decision is made to release whatever there is at the moment at OpenAI to start the next cycle, a few weeks later (November 30, 2022) there we go. Same thing as always: some investors -- mostly white males -- get filthy rich meanwhile some others get exploited -- this time it's Kenyan workers -- and many, many people get hoodwinked and then lose their shirt. Same story, different hype. [this video] did everyone forget? I guess. At we got something out of web2.0 ... but we also got a genocide and a few warped elections / referendums out of it so the jury is still out how history will see it. Crypto was a net negative for humankind in every possible way (except a few people walked away with tons of money of course but at what cost) and now we are facing down this terrible wave of AI. Yay?
Cites it bitwize February 2025 under 1% Equity for Founding Engineers Is BS
Song already mocked engineers' small equity in 2007
Per The Richter Scales, 17 frickin' years ago: Hire yourself an engineer, Feed him pizza, buy him beer, Give him just a fraction of a fraction of the pie. [this video] Let's face it folks, the party was doomed to only last a short while before the managerial class took over.
Cites it Frieren May 2025 under Cursor hits $9B valuation
Bubble song still relevant despite dated lingo
It may come back to be relevant "Here Comes Another Bubble v1.1 - The Richter Scales" but some lingo needs update (but other parts are still spot on). [this video]
Cites it senko February 2026 under Time Is Different
Video with Facebook's $15B valuation mocked alongside other startups
You may remember this video featuring Facebook with a ridiculously high $15B valuation, Skype, YouTube and other failures: [this video]
Cites it nostrademons June 2026 under AI Is Slowing Down
Logos in the video show which companies survived
They weren't wrong. We were in a tech bubble driven by social media. Digg, StumbleUpon, Kongregate, MySpace, Orkut, Slide, Meebo, Mahalo, Bebo, Justin.TV, etc. aren't exactly around anymore. Facebook and YouTube are the winners. Anyone remember this video? [this video] How many of the logos that scroll by there still exist?
Makes a joke confluence October 2012 under Trailer for Bravo's Start-Ups: Silicon Valley
Read the full comment
Relevant: [this video] , [link] , [link] More seriously I wonder why random signals that appear to be noise but if noticed are actually quite pertinent to predicting trends have such a great effect on people. Example follows: Kennedy later claimed he knew the rampant stock speculation of the late 1920s would lead to a crash. It is said that he knew it was time to get out of the market when he received stock tips from a shoe-shine boy Source: [link] . For example if my mom came to me with an investment decision my response would be a big fat no - might even go out and look at it for a short. If my hairdresser recommended a stock to me - I'd feel immediately like selling. These are by definition low signal events that should be classified as pure noise - but they seem to be a rather useful thought model. So party like it's 1997 - get in and get out.
Makes a joke shoo September 2015 under The Weight
This was a good article to read. Less seriously, back in hn, re: "we're going to change the world!" [this video]
Makes a joke mgdlbp August 2022 under Productivity porn
Or, from 2007, The Richter Scales - "Here Comes Another Bubble": [this video] "build yourself a rocket ship / blast off on an ego trip" – lmao

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