The latest and greatest viral sensation sweeping the nation
right now seems to be the electronic song by Bauuer entitled "Harlem
Shake." The song created an internet explosion of YouTube videos of people
"doing the Harlem Shake." What is the Harlem Shake exactly? Well,
nobody is quite sure. But the main basis of the videos seems to be people
standing around while someone else is doing a dance move for the first part of
the song, while everyone joins in in a chaotic manner when the beat drops. For
some reason, this simple premise to a video sparked a worldwide internet
phenomenon that, in a way, changed the media world.
It's believed that (besides Psy's "Gangnam Style,"
which became viral last fall) the Harlem Shake is the most popular internet
meme so far. As of February 15, 2013, 12,000 versions of the dance had been
uploaded on YouTube, reaching a total of 175 million views (http://youtube-trends.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/the-harlem-shake-has-exploded.html).
Now, many famous celebrities and figures have done some sort of their own
version of the Harlem Shake, such as The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert, multiple
athletic teams, and more. Even our own CU Boulder did their own version.
Actually, it's impressive to see who hasn't participated in a Harlem Shake video. It is virally
withstanding the test of time. With all of its impact, it is sure to become a
staple memory into many young generations of the world today. It sparked the
employees of YouTube to add a little fun to its website. If you go to the site
and search "do the Harlem Shake," the entire site actually does its
own version of the meme for you. The meme even influenced Billboard (the music
charting company) to change their standards of finding the most popular songs.
Billboard now takes statistics from each song's YouTube videos, which led to
the song debuting at #1 its first week in the charts.
The Harlem Shake is an interesting trend for mainly one
reason: the internet. It's amazing to see how the internet created a #1 song.
The internet has become such a significant influence in our present day lives
that if it were to be completely gone tomorrow, the world would have major
difficulties functioning. Society has put so much dependency in the internet
and technology. The Harlem Shake is just one unique example of that.
