Harlem Shake

[the_antithesis]

So, browsing Youtube I became aware of something called Harlem Shake. I don't know what that is. But an educated guess is it's a song of some kind and multiple people are making videos involving it in some way in the vein of Gangnam Style or Call Me Maybe.

This seems like a trend that has long outlived its reason to exist, if it ever had one. I would simply ignore it because I find it very easy to not click on all the shit Youtube thinks I might enjoy because it knows me about as well as close family members. But it's not just Harem Snake but that this sort of thing keeps happening. How amusing is it when people lip synch to some brain dead pop song or sing an alternate version of a brain dead pop song (see: Minecraft Style, a riff on Gangnam Style).

This seems to be an unfortunate effect of the internet. Used to be that when a lame song came on the radio, you or one of your friends would make a joke out of it and it was original and unique. But now that clever clogs makes a video of it and posts it on the internet and it falls into a sea of a bunch of people making the same joke out of the otherwise harmlessly stupid song. Maybe one got the ball rolling and all the others are copycats. Maybe everyone got the same idea at the same time because the joke is that obvious. Be it makes out culture just a little bit poorer when a girl's swim team copies a previous team's video of Call Me Maybe but they do the choreography with their legs and then they get on the Today show for it because the Today show is to actual journalism the way a cardboard box is to a high fiber diet.

I would make a call to arms. Let's make Belgium Cake the last one of these vapid song to receive undue attention. But I'm not going to do that because it is futile. I really can't work up the enthusiasm to care enough to get angry about it. Mostly, I'm just sad. It's a very sad commentary on the human race. Garden Rake wasn't the first of these abysmal pop song to have multiple copycats. It won't be the last. Because someone out there actually finds the joke funny. And there's enough of them to make money off it.

[BarkAtTheMoon]

I just heard of this yesterday when my old university club volleyball team posted a video of them doing it on reddit. I'm glad we never did anything that dumb when I played on the team.

ETA: their video...

[youtubehd:2h57hqql]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDa_2-zTRwY[/youtubehd:2h57hqql]

*insert WTF smilie*

[stromboli]

I was hoping and praying- yes, praying- that this would die off before it ever got here. After Gangnam Style, I thought we'd learned.

(buries face in hands and sobs openly)

[ThePilgrim101]

SThis seems to be an unfortunate effect of the internet. Used to be that when a lame song came on the radio, you or one of your friends would make a joke out of it and it was original and unique.

 :|

Oh ye of the 12 picosecond attention span.
[youtubehd:z1in7m1j]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiBYM6g8Tck[/youtubehd:z1in7m1j]

This isn't really an internet thing so much as it is, and I saw this completely biased with no actual empirical evidence, a trend that American whites people have to dance to things relating to other cultures and subcultures that they gawk at from tinted windows.

But then again, don't mind me. I'm on a "white-privilege" binder.

[Jutter]

I also think there are elements involved that pre-date youtube. Because dancing is gay, haven't you heard, the manly dudes love it when an excuse comes along to suck at dancing to music... or what can hardly pass for music.
In the late seventies/early eighties this is what we goofed around to.
[youtubehd:1fx1bn3g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJSM46nWwo[/youtubehd:1fx1bn3g]
If we had youtube back then, we'd probably see Madness-spoofs going viral.

But that crap these guys are using for music... tastes sure seem to have taken a nosedive down the shitter from my side of the generation-gap.

[Savior2006]

[youtubehd:3ujlovhi]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m64AkOE3O8k[/youtubehd:3ujlovhi]

[the_antithesis]

Oh ye of the 12 picosecond attention span.
[youtubehd:13p4kf96]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiBYM6g8Tck[/youtubehd:13p4kf96]

This isn't really an internet thing so much as it is, and I saw this completely biased with no actual empirical evidence, a trend that American whites people have to dance to things relating to other cultures and subcultures that they gawk at from tinted windows.

But then again, don't mind me. I'm on a "white-privilege" binder.

I don't know if there's a cultural superiority complex or anything. I'd mention Call Me Maybe, which was recorded by some American twit. I think. I don't think she's from Puerto Rico. So you force my hand.

Original
[youtubehd:13p4kf96]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic[/youtubehd:13p4kf96]

Parody 1
[youtubehd:13p4kf96]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEWVwgDnuzE[/youtubehd:13p4kf96]

Parody 2
[youtubehd:13p4kf96]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ppxF4O130[/youtubehd:13p4kf96]

Hey, it wasn't the swim team, but the rowing team. How silly of me. At least they both do sports with water.

[BlackL1ght]

OK. As a foriegner I don't understand what is going on here. Is this a culture thing? I doubt that though. What is going on?

Apparently its funny to look stupid dancing to a music video. I have to admit, I looked up a few parodies of gang am style, but I think I'll skip out on whatever harlem shakes is. This kind of stuff is why I left red dit. I have better things to do.

[ThePilgrim101]

I don't know if there's a cultural superiority complex or anything. I'd mention Call Me Maybe, which was recorded by some American twit. I think. I don't think she's from Puerto Rico. So you force my hand.

American?  :|

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carly_Rae_Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian recording artist and singer-songwriter from Mission, British Columbia.

As well, we're talking about dances. Not song lyrics. That distinction is actually fairly important, since you're talking about one and not the other.

[the_antithesis]

As well, we're talking about dances. Not song lyrics.

What the fuck gave you that impression?

[the_antithesis]

What is about Canadian 'singers' and America...

America is full of idiots.

[ThePilgrim101]

As well, we're talking about dances. Not song lyrics.

What the fuck gave you that impression?

The fact that you titled the thread "Harlem Shake?" And that Harlem Shake is a dance? Or that you referenced Gangnam Style? Making a strong bias to dance videos with only one real reference to a viral video that's mocked for its lyrics?

If you want to attribute human conformity to the internet, that's fine, but it's just not entirely true :l Ridiculous dances have been around for ages. If you want, I can even teach you how to dougie.

Speaking of Minecraft Style, creating a minecraft animation - I imagine - is fairly difficult. And even so, it's surprising you pick that one as opposed to, say, Fallen Kingdom, Screw the Nether, Don't Mine at Night, Revenge, or any other number of videos based on other groups. I'm not sure it's fair to call video parodies of that nature "brain-dead" as clearly thought went into the design, art, and humor.

[The Dude]

I actually think "Harlem Shake" is really funny! Look at these ones:

[youtubehd:2vlj7fah]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hpEnLtqUDg[/youtubehd:2vlj7fah]

[youtubehd:2vlj7fah]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IJoKuTlvuM[/youtubehd:2vlj7fah]

[youtubehd:2vlj7fah]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr6K3I8XLDE[/youtubehd:2vlj7fah]

[youtubehd:2vlj7fah]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNrSpqUr-E[/youtubehd:2vlj7fah]

[the_antithesis]

The fact that you titled the thread "Harlem Shake?" And that Harlem Shake is a dance? Or that you referenced Gangnam Style? Making a strong bias to dance videos with only one real reference to a viral video that's mocked for its lyrics?

So you did really read the OP.

OK, got it.

I'll reiterate. I do not know what the fuck Margarine Quake is and I do not care. It doesn't matter. What does matter is this:

[youtubehd:268917ri]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfoBCshFs6s[/youtubehd:268917ri]

It's not about the song or the dance or the song that is that especially lame kind of song that is about a dance, like Twist or Locomotion. It's about the random yahoos posting videos of themselves doing said dance or dancing to said song and this shit just getting everywhere until you have newscasters doing it.

(Incidentally, I didn't actually watch the above video because I refuse to do so lest I learn what the Quantum Steak actually is besides this thing. Therefore, this video may, in fact, be a poor example of Christmas Break. Apologies should that be the case)

So are we done arguing about what the topic of the thread I started is, or are you one of those sad sorts that find talking about a topic more interesting than the topic itself.

[ThePilgrim101]

It's not about the song or the dance or the song that is that especially lame kind of song that is about a dance, like Twist or Locomotion. It's about the random yahoos posting videos of themselves doing said dance or dancing to said song and this shit just getting everywhere until you have newscasters doing it.

Ah, so you're complaining about people doing something you don't care about and that doesn't actually affect you. You should start a prom or something where people have to do traditional dances.

People have found someway of telling others about the stupid shit they've done since we first developed the capacity for language and art. Every generation has something they share with the rest of their cohort that is senseless. To moan and groan over it, while freely admitting that you're not going to indulge it, just seems like a way for some to massage their superiority complex that is unjustifiably huge.

So are we done arguing about what the topic of the thread I started is, or are you one of those sad sorts that find talking about a topic more interesting than the topic itself.