“Gangnam Style” is the #1 Pop single from South Korean musician PSY. Released in 2012, thanks to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and the number of people who made their own versions, it became the most watched video ever on YouTube surpassing Justin Bieber in the number of plays it received. But there’s a new cat in town…
Sure, the Gangnam Style beat and the amusing dance moves contributed to its success with multiple parodies being created. It became a favourite of “flash mobs” everywhere — each putting their own take on the original. The New Year in New York saw PSY in Times Square to welcome 2013 and here’s the Cornell version:
Move on over PSY — because the Harlem Shake took over. The BBC tracked the new claimant to the meme crown. Once again Facebook, and social media — in particular YouTube — were responsible for the amazing viral spread of this Shake “performance” phenomena… even though a new star is on the horizon…
Okay, so here’s the University of Nebraska-Lincoln football team — including head coach Bo Pelini — doing The Harlem Shake:
Harlem shake cat version — CAT VERSION?
Neither of those memes are prepared for the real contender to the social networking meme crown: Grumpy Cat!
It is a well-known fact that Cats do in fact rule the Internet and have done for many years.
Grumpy Cat is a nickname given to a grumpy-looking snowshoe cat that rose to fame online after its pictures were posted to Reddit in late September 2012.
The cat is also known as “Tard” which is short for Tardar (Tartar) Sauce. She has her own website and countless fan pages both official and unofficial.
Grumpy’s real popularity has come with the addition of sarcastic text to her picture — Grumpy cat can say all the things us mere humans may think but dare not say. She has become a voice for the grumpiest of us all, she gives words to our dark side, our frustrations and an avenue to vent the unpalatable “obvious.”
She is the anti-hero of cats, she is adored by the cat brigade and respected by the anti-cat brigade and in doing that she unites us all and for that Madam Grumpy Cat — we salute you!