Bill Wurtz (often stylized in all lowercase) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, video producer, animator, and internet personality.
Wurtz's first published composition was an instrumental named "Late Nite Lounge with Loud Lenny", which was recorded on June 17, 2002, and his first song with vocals, "stuck in a rut", was created in March 2005.
[3] Despite disliking online streaming, he joined YouTube after a friend advised him to post content that was previously exclusive to his website.
[9] The video covers key events of Japan's history, such as the spread of rice farming, the introduction of Buddhism, internal conflicts between rulers, its alliance with Britain, World War I, World War II, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and its post-war economic miracle.
[11][12] It showcases Wurtz's quirky visual and comedic style through fast-paced narration and animation, intercut with short musical jingles.
[11] It received considerable attention on Tumblr and Reddit.,[4][10] and became a lasting internet meme, with people posting quotes and images from it while discussing subjects such as politics.
Lopez noted the poor coverage of Japanese war crimes against Korea and China in the 20th century and attributed this omission to the video's short runtime.
[17] The video marked the continued development of Wurtz's style, with fast-paced, absurdist humor and jazz-like musical interludes.
[18] On the day of its release, History of the Entire World, I Guess was the top video on the YouTube trending page, receiving 3.2 million views.
[22] Vox's German Lopez praised the video for not heavily focusing on Western history and successfully covering areas that may be neglected in American schools, such as powers in China, Persia, and India.
[3] Geoff Carter of Las Vegas Weekly stated, "Merge Don Hertzfeldt, Jenny Holzer and Thundercat and you might get someone a little bit like Bill Wurtz.
[q 1] In an interview with Bass Guitar magazine, he said he was "wholly self-taught" as a musician, and he downplayed the importance of music theory in songwriting and composition, saying, "'Theory' may be fun, but it's made of liquid and has a tendency to melt.
"[35] Wurtz has mentioned pop singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and jazz fusion musicians Dave Weckl and Chick Corea as songwriting influences.
[36]: 0:22:02 [37]: 0:10:16 Artists who have expressed admiration for Wurtz's music include indie musicians Daði Freyr[38] and Sidney Gish,[39] as well as DJ and producer Porter Robinson.
[6][13][29] They often involve deadpan humor, clip art images, dancing stick figures, vaporwave-like transitions, and neon, sans-serif text on-screen.