THE AMERICAN skater punk band Blink 182 have managed to make fun of Brit pop boy-band One Direction a whole 11 years before they even auditioned for the X Factor.

British boy band phenomenon One Direction may have been the target of an elaborate practical joke during the filming of their first music video What Makes You Beautiful.

Eagle-eyed clip watchers have discovered remarkable similarities between the What Makes You Beautiful and ultimate boy band parody video Blink 182's All The Small Things most notably the beach that features in both clips.

More than a decade before the members of One Direction even auditioned for The X Factor, the American punk pop band produced one of the funniest clips of the MTV generation.

Scene by scene, Blink 182 mimicked the boy band cliches used in clips by Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, Westlife, NSYNC and Five.

Here is One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful. Notice the rock formations behind the boys:

They're the same in Blink 182's All The Small Things:

The beach scenes in What Makes You Beautiful appear to have been shot at the same Californian location with identical rock formations and dunes in the background of both clips.

And of course, both acts enjoyed the occasional crotch grab during their performance.

It is unclear whether One Direction's video director John Urbano was shooting for art imitating life imitating art or it is all just one intricate coincidence.

The big difference is All The Small Things has clocked up more than 40 million views on YouTube since it was released in 2000 while What Makes You Beautiful has been watched more than 230 million times in the past year.

Along with location we spotted a few other similarities between the clips:

They both make use of the sand dunes looking out over the beach at sunset:

They both feature the boys running along, frolicking in the waves:

And they both feature a little crotch-grabbing:

Check out the videos: