Symphonic Burn! Bobonga! [GPO Version]

Published 2023-09-13

A relic of Internet meme history

I first heard this track in an old video titled “GTA SA Evil Clowns /// Some Cleo Myths Nº 20” ( • GTA SA Evil Clowns /// Some Cleo Myth... ) by @Xander0203. Those were the days of video game creepypasta videos accompanied by the X-Files theme (which that video also features).

That video, and particularly that music, which is insidiously catchy, recently came to my mind once again. In the comments, @raptorqe4168 helped tremendously by identifying the title of the original track, which is “Burn! Bobonga!” from Chrono Trigger, so it then became a matter of finding the source of this particular cover.

Some further research revealed that “Burn! Bobonga!” is associated with Brian Peppers (a physically deformed sex offender) (don’t look him up) since early meme culture, and I happened to find the full track in a 2008 Youtube video called “Scary Clowns Brian Peppers Theme” ( • Scary Clowns Brian Peppers Theme (Chr... ) by @Hopfot. However, there wasn’t much helpful information there, except the fact that “Burn! Bobonga!” Brian Pepper memes were especially prominent on YTMND.

With no direct leads, I blindly searched “burn bobonga brian peppers” on YouTube, and I came across a video called “Brian Peppers Gif Collection” by @YTMNDsGifCollections, which also features this exact version of “Burn! Bobonga!” 4:33 of that particular video has a meme with this remix and a YTMND link in the video, and it turns out that that link leads to the original remixer’s post for this track, which was made on 17 December 2006. It’s called “Symphonic Brian Peppers Theme (GPO version),” and it was created for YTMND Remix Contest 3.

Thus has over a decade of curiosity been satisfied.

To download this track, I suggest going to the site profile of the original YTMND post and downloading the original MP3 file available there. YouTube compression definitely reduced the quality of this audio.

The image is from BBC’s “A surprising history of the creepy clown.”