Wow... That's gone by too fast, it's pretty scary.

I still remember the first time I saw Newgrounds... Nary a young lad watching some weird English talk show where the hosts discussed the classic flash game "stab macaulay culkin in the face". I remember they were talking about the celebrities section as there were a strangely large amount of flash games where you simulated death on celebs. Of course the terrible bitmap graphics back then made them more hilarious than any sort of serious.

I tried making my own terrible flash videos too (One called "smokin' Joe" which was a terribly drawn face that silently inhales some smoking shape and blows out lines of grey then ends), but I couldn't understand the keyframes, and this was 2003 so it was NOT easy to get free guides to everything like you do now. Then I started producing music in about 2005 and have been posting all my stuff here ever since then!

And I'm glad I did, not only can I go back with a few clicks and literally listen to my own growth as a musician, but Newgrounds is the only place I ever really felt people got my songs. Back before the redesign there was a big wall of top tracks which included the top for the day, the week and of all time. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be up there, not with the likes of Paragon (who was my favourite), but I still remember the day I saw my name on the top daily, it was honestly one of the best moments of my life. After that I ended up with multiple hits in the list and I felt like I was an absolute success. I made no money but did not care a single bit, just having the Newgrounds community enjoy my music as much as they did was everything. I spent a lot of this period at home caring for a family member so my life was online, it meant so much to me.

I still write music now and get a lot of lovely listeners, of course now I'm old and rent is so high I have to work most of my free time, but there's something very comforting about knowing that when I am ready and I've made something new, I have my special place to go and share my music... just like I always did.

To 20 years on Newgrounds, and to many, many more!