The group was founded in July 2008 by Lewis "Hacky-Sack" Brindley. The name "The Yogscast" was derived from the title letters of his previous World of Warcraft guild, "Ye Olde Goone Squade". Videos posted on behalf of the guild were thus referred to as "Yogscasts", though the term eventually came to refer specifically to those posted by Brindley and co-host Simon Lane on the "BlueXephos" channel.
With these videos gaining popularity, other "Yogs" guild mates and associates requested that Brindley and Lane help them create YouTube channels of their own. Hannah Rutherford (colloquially Lomadia), Duncan Jones (Lalna) or (LividCoffee) Paul Sykes (Sjin) and Chris "The Real Guy, The Best Guy" Lovasz (Sips) thus made channels alongside "BlueXephos" to form something of a Yogscast network. Since this point, many more content creators have joined the group, forming "The Yogscast Family".
The Yogscast was officially incorporated into a registered company on the 3 May 2011 by company director Brindley. He, Lane and Rutherford then moved operations from their shared home office in Reading, to their new headquarters in Bristol, colloquially dubbed "YogTowers".
The Yogscast team held their own panel at MineCon 2011, where they showcased some of the work of the Minecraft community. Following the event, the group came under fire from Minecraft creator Markus Persson, who stated that he would no longer work with the group, citing use of profanity and unprofessional behaviour. These claims were questioned by some MineCon attendees as well as game commentator John Bain. The Yogscast responded on Reddit and via a YouTube video, denying the accusations and expressing their disappointment and frustration with the organisation of MineCon, as well as their respect for Persson and the Minecraft community at large. Persson later apologised for the misunderstanding and retracted his accusations, attributing the statements to stress and miscommunication. To date, however, The Yogscast have not published further coverage of subsequent MineCons, nor have they ever worked professionally with Persson.
In June 2012, The Yogscast's primary channel, YOGSCAST Lewis & Simon, became the first channel in the United Kingdom to reach one billion views. That same year, the group started a Kickstarter campaign to develop a video game called "Yogventures!". The goal of $250,000 was quickly reached, with a full total of $567,000 eventually being raised by 13,647 donators. The project was cancelled, however, in July 2014. Backers were compensated with a copy of the game "TUG" by Nerd Kingdom, who also took hold of all developmental Yogventures! artwork and source code.
By the end of 2015, The Yogscast had:
15 members of staff;
20 officially noted networked channels;
A total of 20,867,994 subscribers on YouTube;
A total of 5,186,510,091 video views on YouTube
Best friends
The YOGSCAST Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I think to myself I'm all alone
And Then I
I saw a cute little piggy
And so I fed you some wheat and you followed me
All the way back to the factory
And then I screamed at the top of my lungs
And I say
Hey Yeah Yeah
I said hey
Best friends from now on!
And I say
Hey! Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Hey Yeah Yeah
I said hey
Let's get this cookin' on
And he fried!
Oh my god did I fry!
I fried all the pork
It's a taste infusion
And he grills!
Oh my god did I grill!
It was such a thrill
(MYAR!)
Pass the bar-be-que sauce!
And I say
Hey! Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Hey Yeah Yeah
I said hey
My best friend has now gone!
And I say
Don't cry for me
Just keep me inside
Inside of your big dwarf belly
Hey! Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
Hey! Yeah
Hey! Yeah Ye Ye Yeah!
Eating friends is so wrong
The opening lines of The YOGSCAST's song Best Friends tell us about the sense of loneliness that the singer is feeling. He's deep in a mine and digging for resources like coal and stone, lost in his thoughts when he spots a cute little piggy. He feeds it some wheat and the piggy follows him all the way back to his 'factory'. He screams at the top of his lungs and declares that they are now best friends, from that day on.
The song then takes a strange twist as the singer reveals that he ends up cooking and eating the piggy he just befriended. Despite enjoying a pork BBQ feast and having a good time, he realizes that what he's done is wrong and feels remorseful. The rest of the lyrics serve as a reminder that eating your friends is not the right thing to do.
The song seems to be a commentary on the temptation and consequences of indulging in harmful actions that go against our core beliefs. It could also be interpreted as a contemplation on the nature of companionship and how we can easily lose sight of our values when in the company of others, even if they are just cute little piggies.
Line by Line Meaning
And so I dig some times for some coal and some stone
I'm doing some mining, just trying to pass the time on my own
And I think to myself I'm all alone
Without any friends, I feel like the world is a lonely place
And Then I / I saw a cute little piggy / And so I fed you some wheat and you followed me / All the way back to the factory
But then I stumbled upon a pig and fed it some food, and it followed me all the way home
And then I screamed at the top of my lungs / and I say / Hey! Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah / Hey Yeah Yeah / I said hey / Best friends from now on!
Excited to have a new friend, I shout at the top of my lungs, declaring that we are now best friends forever
And I say / Hey! Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah / Hey Yeah Yeah / I said hey / Let's get this cookin' on / And he fried! / Oh my god did I fry! / I fried all the pork / It's a taste infusion / And he grills! / Oh my god did I grill! / It was such a thrill / (MYAR!) / Pass the bar-be-que sauce!
We cook up some food together and have a blast doing it, experimenting with different spices and flavors and having a great time
And I say / Hey! Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah / Hey Yeah Yeah / I said hey / My best friend has now gone!
Sadly, my new friend has been sacrificed for our meal, but I'm grateful for the time we had together
And I say / Don't cry for me / Just keep me inside / Inside of your big dwarf belly / Hey! Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah / Hey! Yeah / Hey! Yeah Ye Ye Yeah!
In a weird way, I ask my former friend not to mourn for his death, but to live on within me by being a part of my body. It's a strange sentiment, but that's what makes our friendship unique
Eating friends is so wrong
In retrospect, it's probably not the best idea to eat your friends, but in the moment it seemed like the right thing to do
Contributed by Scarlett F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@gurmly
I’ve come during the great pandemic of 2020 to leave my mark on this historic video, I'll be back in another 5 years or so
Edit:
August 2nd, 2020: I'm glad to see all my fellow historians making their pilgrimage to this sacred place. I hope to see you all here in five years brothers.
Edit 2:
January 4th, 2021: The pandemic is still raging on and things still don't seem to be getting better. This video stands as a comfort in these dark times, perhaps this new year will shine brighter.
Edit 3:
September 29th, 2021: Its been over a year since I first made this post. The vaccine has rolled out and things may just get better going forward, but honestly my hopes aren't high. A lot in my own life has changed though, since my last update I turned 18 and graduated high school, so that's exciting. No matter how much my life changes though, I'll always come back to this video when I need a little happiness. It makes me smile a bit every time I get a notification about someone else coming to reply to this comment.
Till next time :)
Edit 4:
January 10th, 2022: Wow, its 2022 now, and the world is mostly the same. I've taken a year off of school, rather than going straight into yet another year of online classes. I try my best to keep busy, but as time goes on, the days tend to blend together. I've considered trying to get a job to help keep myself from going stir crazy, but with this Canadian winter and my lack of driving ability, its proving a little difficult.
Through all the boredom of being cooped up inside however, I've found myself looking back on the old videos that kept me entertained all these years ago, and the Yogscast are a big part of that. As I write this I'm about halfway through my 4th or so rewatch of the Shadow of Israphel and its just as good as I remember. And it goes without saying but this video still brings a smile to my face.
I wish you all good health and wonderful days in this new year :)
Edit 5:
June 27th, 2022: 9 Years have gone by since this video came out, time sure does fly. I was ten years old when this first released... just a couple weeks ago was my 19th birthday. The world is in a tricky place right now, the pandemic seems to have calmed down enough to return to some kind of normality, but with the turmoil overseas I wonder what the future holds.
I start college soon, I'll be studying to become a game designer, its always been my dream and I'm finally taking the first step towards it. But even as I get older and move on to bigger things, this video, along with all the other Yogscast classics remind me of where I came from, and what started this dream of mine. When I found Simon and Lewis' first Minecraft video, it blew my mind, seeing that incredible game, an infinite world full of possibilities, and hearing it was "made by a single man" that inspired me. Someday soon I hope to have a part in working on the "next big game", and who knows? maybe Simon and Lewis will play it here on the channel :)
Thank you for joining me in this "journey" even if its a simple like on this comment. I wish you luck in all of yours as well.
Edit 6:
June 3rd, 2023: It's been a while... I honestly can't say there's much to update as my life has been pretty "dull" this past year. School's been good though, I'm acing all my classes so far despite the workload getting pretty heavy. Looking back at my previous updates is a weird feeling knowing everything that has changed in my life in that short time. In two weeks is my 20th birthday, which is wild to think about... and a week after that is the 10 year anniversary of this video! So I'll see you all then :)
Anyways, It still makes my day seeing a reply to this comment, and I wish you luck in all of your lives. See you soon.
@alexpardo1515
I firmly believe HONEYDEWYEAYEA may be one of the best songs to be written within the past fifty, nay, one hundred years.
The song is about a man in the wilderness and being alone, finding a pig to combat this loneliness.
At first, he is celebrating, however, he is faced with a choice. Isolation or starvation. He chooses what would lead to his survival, that being cooking his only friend.
During the break, it can be interpreted that his guilt is getting the best of him, him being bear hugged representing the overwhelming guilt that weights on him, being forced to come to the realization of his actions.
During the second verse, the "Hey yeah yeah yeah" followed by "My best friend is now gone" can be seen as the never ending voices that won't alllow him to rest.
However, as the spirit of the pig comes in, he says "Don't cry for me, just keep me inside your dwarf belly." While the "Hey yeah"s are clearly softened, meaning the guilt slowly fades away, his friend telling him not to worry about his actions or the past, but to instead thrive and think about the future.
At the very end, the man comes to terms with his wrong doings, but can now live in peace.
Simply beautiful
@DozzerAnimations
yogscast ruined it... (Don't mind me I'm just fishing for 10 year olds hate)
@DozzerAnimations
No more banter?
@Ginkami
uhm nope
@meraki2545
Growing up with the yogscast was truly a magical time.
@lastprimaris7914
They never did finish "Shadow of Isriphel".........now I'm sad
@ashleybyrd2015
@@lastprimaris7914 Maybe the real shadow of israphael was the fellow yognauts we met along the way
@airbud7748
Last Primaris oh god old peculiar
@crcoghill
they need to have a renaissance of content again.
@Piggynatorgaming
True that
@TrialByDance
Obligatory reminder that Lewis started the Yogscast because he believed that Simon's talent should be shown to the world.