Late last year, the Richter Scales rocked the online world with a song and video called “Here Comes Another Bubble.” The ditty, written and arranged by Matt Hempey to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” mocked the kooky buzzwords and outsized valuations associated with the Internet phenomenon known as Web 2.0. Members of the a capella group—which includes (from left) Stanford alums Hempey, MS ’98, Loren Cheng, ’95, Ephraim Swanson-Dusenbury, ’92, and Curtis Chen, ’95— know a thing or two about bubbles. Composed mostly of computer scientists and engineers, the Richter Scales formed in 2000, around the time of the dot-com bust. They practiced in the former offices of one member’s failed start-up and performed mainly at private events and one another’s weddings. But with “Bubble,” the group became something of an Internet phenomenon in its own right. In its first week on YouTube, the video was viewed more than 1 million times, becoming the site’s top-rated clip. This spring it was nominated for Yahoo’s Golden Play Award for Best Comedy Video, but ultimately lost to a PSA about the dangers of cooties. That’s the thing about bubbles: eventually they pop.
ONLINE ONLY - "Here Comes Another Bubble"
