The Origins of “Rush E”: Who Created the Internet’s Most Impossible Piano Meme?
If you have spent any time online over the last few years, you have almost certainly heard “Rush E.” Whether it was featured in a hyper-fast YouTube piano tutorial, a TikTok challenge, or a meme compilation, this chaotic track became a viral phenomenon. But behind the impossible notes, flying fingers, and internet humor lies a clever creation story.
Who Created “Rush E”?
“Rush E” was created by Sheet Music Boss, an online musical duo consisting of Andrew Wrangell and Samuel Dickenson.
Wrangell and Dickenson run a popular YouTube channel specializing in fun, accessible, and sometimes absurd piano MIDI visualizations and tutorials. While they produce content ranging from video game soundtracks to classical pieces, “Rush E” skyrocketed them into a completely different tier of internet fame.
The Inspiration and Meaning Behind the Song
To understand “Rush E,” you have to look at its predecessor, “Rush B.”
- The “Rush B” Connection: The title and concept are a direct nod to internet gaming culture—specifically Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), where players popularized the meme phrase “Rush B” to coordinate a chaotic, all-out charge to a specific location on the map. Sheet Music Boss originally created “Rush B” as a fun, Russian-style folk piano piece heavily centered around the musical note B.
- The Rise of “E”: Following that trend, “Rush E” was born during the peak of internet absurdist humor—specifically around the time the deep-fried Markiplier/Lord Farquaad “E” meme was circulating. The creators decided to build an impossibly difficult piano piece centered around the musical note E, taking internet meme culture and translating it into literal notes on a staff.
Designed to Be Unplayable
What makes “Rush E” so fascinating is that it wasn’t originally written for human hands. It was designed as a MIDI composition—meaning notes were programmatically placed on a screen to look funny, sound epic, and push digital capabilities to the absolute limit.
The sheet music famously features sections that would require a pianist to grow extra hands, smash their entire forearm across the keyboard, or play at superhuman speeds. This sparked an entire subculture online where real-life pianists and content creators accepted the challenge, trying to figure out wild ways to actually perform the unplayable song.
A Modern Internet Legacy
What started as a cheeky nod to gaming and shitposting turned into a bona fide cultural touchstone. “Rush E” proved that music, internet culture, and meme humor could collide to create something that millions of people recognize instantly. Thanks to Sheet Music Boss, a simple internet joke about the letter “E” became one of the most famous viral piano pieces of the digital age.
Rush E: A Completely Unnecessary History and Analysis
This video provides an entertaining breakdown of how Sheet Music Boss brought “Rush E” to life and why it became such a massive internet phenomenon.
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