In one, a man seems to be punching a large stuffed animal in the head over and over again. The videos usually include someone wearing a weird costume. Everyone in the opening scene flails and dances erratically. Then, the music breaks open and the scene changes. If you’ve not seen one of these videos, they go like this: It opens with a large or small group of people going about daily life, except one of them is mildly gyrating to a minimalist electronica dance song. What struck me, aside from the fun of it, was the endless variety. (This began as prison fashion and is now proudly worn by many young men, including affluent and middle class males who think it unfair that they have to drive the Volkswagen, and not the BMW, to school.)Īfter numerous requests to “just give it a try,” I watched one. First, it would be impossible to pretend that watching these videos has any merit, and second, I assumed the Harlem Shake has dubious roots, like the source of the idea behind wearing one’s pants below one’s buttocks.

So, when a friend enthusiastically described to me the newest fad, the Harlem Shake, I immediately dismissed it for two reasons. I like to waste time just like everyone else, but only in ways that can be excused as important: reading news, answering E-mail, looking for productivity apps for my smart phone, etc. This is David Cambridge’s photo from Wikimedia, but the article does not reflect his views.