Y2K Parody Video
Sun Microsystems, Monday, December 23rd, 2024
As the 20th Anniversary of 'Y2K' (the 'Millennium Bug') approaches on December 31, here's a short music parody VIDEO (set to the music of 'YMCA' by the Village People, a hit song from 1978) produced in 1999 by a Silicon Valley tech giant at the time, Sun Microsystems. It was one way the company used to break the ice at Y2K planning meetings in the 6 months leading up to the event.
The tongue-in-cheek parody music video was recorded by song parodist, Loose Bruce Kerr, together with a production staff of his fellow employees at Sun
Two years prior, Sun Microsystems hired attorney Bruce Kerr. Most were not aware he was the same as 'Loose Bruce Kerr,' a nationally-known song parodist who'd opened for 'Weird Al' Yankovic back during Bruce's previous twenty year performing career, before then returning to law. Early in 1999, Bruce performed for a Sun legal conference his latest parody at that time, 'Y2K' ('The Western World collapsing/My car insurance lapsing').
Over 6 months in early 1999, Bruce and a team of his fellow Sun employees were charged by their employer with producing a music video (MTV was popular at the time) to Bruce's soundtrack and a script he quickly put together. Sun senior executives were used as extras, including cameos by Sun's CEO, Scott McNealy and COO, Ed Zander.