This Nostalgic Musical Animated Series From the 2000s Will Trigger Any Millennial’s Memory

The 2000s seem like forever ago, probably it’s been 25 years since the turn of the millennium occurred. Don’t shoot the messenger. With that in mind, music has changed quite a bit since the early start of the century, especially when it comes to electronic music and audio technology. And nothing better exemplifies that change like the ultra-nostalgic series of animated video albums called Animusic.

Videos by American Songwriter

Don’t recognize the name? Watch literally any video you can find on YouTube, or one of the embedded video clips below. The nostalgia will knock you off your feet. Personally, one of my teachers would always whip these bad boys out on the class TV when he was hungover and didn’t feel like teaching. 

Ah, the 2000s. What a time.

‘Animusic’ Bridged the Gap Between MIDI-Based Music and CGI in the 1990s and 2000s

If you didn’t experience a big chunk of your childhood or teen years in the 2000s, you might be unfamiliar with Animusic. If you’re on the young side, this might just look like a more sophisticated version of Cocomelon. And that’s because it is. Animusic was absolutely entrancing, but its purpose wasn’t to hypnotize energetic children in the early aughts into settling down. Rather, Animusic was meant to showcase what could be done with music visualization, especially when it came to the use of MIDI.

I won’t bore you by turning this article into an audio engineering lesson. Essentially, MIDI-based music involved digital control methods used to access virtual instruments. A MIDI controller just looks like your basic keyboard and functions similarly, but the potential sounds and instruments it can use are endless.

The Animusic compilations, which include several video albums that were released from 2001 to 2005, showcased their computer-generated animations that were based on MIDI events. Essentially, just playing a song on one’s keyboard could drive the sounds, music, and on-screen animations to correspond with the audio in question. It was a marvel of sequencing and the connection between music and visuals, and few had done it like Animusic did at the time.

Now, music visualization is much more sophisticated and complex. Go to any rave in 2025 and you’ll see oceans of visuals moving in tandem with very complex musical arrangements. By today’s standard, Animusic looks robotic and not too revolutionary. But at the time, it was a joy to experience: both on-screen and behind a MIDI keyboard.

As of 2025, Animusic still technically exists, though the company is considered dormant. It’s fitting, in a way. I can’t imagine how many computer-animated graphics demos from the turn of the century are just floating around the internet, lost to time and search engine indexing.

Photo via YouTube screenshot of ‘Animusic’ album (2005 remastered version)

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.