# Earliest Song To Mention The Internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2015, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208 "2015-07-26T03:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/41 "2015-07-27T21:00:14Z")
I seem to remember using “online” before using “internet” - probably from 1980 or so. and “web” was earlier than “internet” too. I belonged to a BBS (modem board) in 1985 called Arachne’s Web - name was a sort of joke on the spider’s kind of web as opposed to the network kind of web. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/42 "2015-07-27T21:27:30Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > This morning I happened to be listening to [Surfonic Water Revival](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfonic_Water_Revival), an album of Christian Surf music from 1998. One of the songs, “The Net,” seems to be about surfing the internet, if I’m interpreting it correctly (and I’m not absolutely sure that I am). (If you want to judge for yourself, lyrics are [here](http://www.thelostdogs.com/music/thenet.html) and the song can be heard [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9s14iO01UA) on YouTube.) I’m friends with one of the Lost Dogs, do you want me to ask him? ETA: On second thought, after reading the lyrics and listening to the song, I don’t think there’s any question they were referring to surfing the net. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/43 "2015-07-28T05:58:05Z")
Doesn’t fit exactly, and would not be a winner anyway (though earlier than some mentioned) but I remember browsing CD shelves in 1998 and noticing the album called [www.thug.com](http://www.thug.com) by Trick Daddy and thinking that was the first time a website had been that prominent in the titling of a major song or album, that I was aware of. I do remember buying many CDs before that with enhanced features that mentioned and made use of a band or record label website, used urls on the jacket, etc. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/44 "2015-07-28T10:43:30Z")
Although it’s been mentioned twice, the date for The Who’s The Relay hasn’t been given. It was 1972. Must be the earliest. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/45 "2015-07-28T10:48:44Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > I find it surprising that mid 90’s is the earliest for reference. > > Let’s face it that’s when the world wide web brought it to the modern popularity. However, email, ftp, and usenet groups have been on their for at least 10 years before this. No songs mention this? > > Interesting if there’s any mention of bulletin boards, how I first came across a net like entity, of course some of these, such as compuserve, also tied into usenet and the internet… Because before Teh Interwebs, computers and online weren’t sexy (or well-known) enough for most people. Sure, dedicated geeks (I’m included here) were online via BBS and Usenet and so on ages ago, but it wasn’t something most people had much experience with. There was a lot of reporting in the mid-90s about “the World Wide Web” and “the Information Superhighway” in popular media (which was still basically _Time_, _Newsweek_, and other paper magazines, and regular TV news, bless their elderly hearts). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/46 "2015-07-28T12:11:32Z")
Up to the early 1990s what we now think of as ‘the Internet’ was viewed, at least IME, as more of a set of discrete applications: email, Usenet, FTP, and the like. What really turned it into a single entity, IMHO, was the web browser. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/47 "2015-07-28T15:27:55Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Although it’s been mentioned twice, the date for The Who’s The Relay hasn’t been given. It was 1972. Must be the earliest. You can retrofit it with the idea, but the lyrics don’t support it directly. [Lyrics](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Relay-lyrics-The-Who/3C9C70187406591C4825697A00129092). Spreading the word about revolution was a common notion in 1972, with the 1968 Paris riots close in memory. Doing so electronically wasn’t even futuristic, given modern communications and even music itself. Relays could be computers, but they had a long association with telephones and long-distance dialing. And he was writing all this on synthesizers, which were stand alone. The Lifehouse project was about a universal spiritual vibe, as I understand it. Computers weren’t part of it. Astrology was. Making it about the Internet today is cheating at best. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/48 "2015-07-28T17:13:00Z")
Rick Springfield’s [“Human Touch”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo0uTu2uLtI) from 1983 starts with the line, “everybody’s talking to computers.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/49 "2015-07-28T18:44:27Z")
Kraftwerk, 1981, the entire _[Computer World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_World)_ album. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/50 "2015-07-28T18:52:18Z")
Or, more specifically, “Computer Love” from that album: _Another lonely night Stare at the TV screen I don’t know what to do I need a rendezvous … I call this number For a data date_ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/51 "2015-07-28T18:55:36Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Rick Springfield’s [“Human Touch”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo0uTu2uLtI) from 1983 starts with the line, “everybody’s talking to computers.” > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Kraftwerk, 1981, the entire _[Computer World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_World)_ album. [Oh, they have the internet on computers now?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YozC8yFrZKI) ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/52 "2015-08-01T14:07:03Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You can retrofit it with the idea, but the lyrics don’t support it directly. [Lyrics](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Relay-lyrics-The-Who/3C9C70187406591C4825697A00129092). > > Spreading the word about revolution was a common notion in 1972, with the 1968 Paris riots close in memory. Doing so electronically wasn’t even futuristic, given modern communications and even music itself. Relays could be computers, but they had a long association with telephones and long-distance dialing. And he was writing all this on synthesizers, which were stand alone. > > The Lifehouse project was about a universal spiritual vibe, as I understand it. Computers weren’t part of it. Astrology was. Making it about the Internet today is cheating at best. The Lifehouse project was about a _futuristic_ society where most everyone is connected into a government-sponsored _grid_ (Al Gore invented the internet, right? well, the government anyway) via _experience suits_. Through these experience suits, they experience life indirectly such as people now often do through internet porn and various online entertainment. While the _relay_ could linguistically refer to telephone communications, I think Townshend was referring to sending messages within the grid. ---
**Author:** ![White\_Horses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@White\_Horses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Horses)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/53 "2018-02-15T15:01:16Z")
What about Bette Davis and The Balconettes “Shopping on the Internet”?1996 I think? It’s on Youtube. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/54 "2018-02-16T21:19:53Z")
> [@White\_Horses](#): > > What about Bette Davis and The Balconettes “Shopping on the Internet”?1996 I think? It’s on Youtube. [Discogs says 1997.](https://www.discogs.com/Bette-Davis-The-Balconettes-Paul-Power-T-Shirt/release/855902) Found this so far (specific to OP): [Black Eva - Love On The Internet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCCvpvk3KRw) [1996.](https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/1458690) ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/55 "2018-02-16T21:23:10Z")
[Mr Cybersp@ce & His Yelling Housewife - Surfing On Internet](https://www.discogs.com/Mr-Cyberspce-His-Yelling-Housewife-Surfing-On-Internet/release/3922311) [Pretty solidly in 1996.](https://www.discogs.com/Mr-Cyberspce-His-Yelling-Housewife-Surfing-On-Internet/release/3922311) ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/56 "2018-02-16T21:27:16Z")
[Kung Fu On The Internet - Lung Leg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugUMk4guBCk) [16 Apr 1995](https://www.discogs.com/Various-Easter-Egg-Splosion/release/1565470) ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/57 "2018-02-16T21:30:54Z")
[U V O I I - God’s Picture On The Internet](https://youtu.be/AED6EIGgKZs?t=460) [12 Dec 1994](https://www.discogs.com/U-V-O-I-I-Sound-Of-Heaven/release/109447) ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/58 "2018-02-16T21:37:58Z")
[Warez Døødz - Internet Worms - 1993](https://www.discogs.com/Various-eScape/master/1121738) Yeah, I remember “warez”, ironically I can’t find the song anywhere…😃 ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/59 "2018-02-16T21:41:53Z")
[MX - Internet Song 1992](https://www.discogs.com/MX-Superhero/release/8282994) Just as well I can’t find this either, I can never figure out the lyrics to metal songs anyway. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208/60 "2018-02-16T21:48:01Z")
[Think Tank - Hack One (The Internet Worm Mix) 1990](https://www.discogs.com/Think-Tank-A-Knife-And-A-Fork-Hack-One/release/2103) Doesn’t mention the internet in any lyrics, but remixer’s name and obvious Kraftwerk tribute. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-song-to-mention-the-internet/726208.md?page=4)