>I feel like the most popular pre-app wide popular usage would’ve been the Ke$ha song.

Agreed, a lot of the alternative usages that people are mentioning seem fake and I don't recall any of them being a thing. The only usage I recall being widespread was people saying tick tock to tell you to hurry up implying that the hands of a clock are moving. That and the little known novel from the 80's about a sentient murderous robot.