10 Songs That Inspired Dance Crazes

In June 2012 Baauer (Harry Rodrigues) released an EDM style track, Harlem Shake. With the tracks hard EDM style drops, the internet exploded creating a dance meme phenomenon.

The dance does not feature the original Harlem shake but instead usually starts with one person dancing alone (typically in a costume) surrounded by others who seem unaware of the happening dance. When the bass drops, the video will then cut to an entire group dancing in various and unusual ways.

Ironically, the song was commissioned for a music video, however, they were not satisfied with the end result so this never was released. It soon became apparent that a video was not needed for this track to cause an internet explosion.

George Miller (Joji) was the first to feature the song in meme form with his original rendition of the Harlem shake. Hundreds of thousands of clips were then posted online conducting a sudden wacky dance to Baauer’s track. This caused the song to skyrocket through the charts and cement it as a dance hit sensation.