Gangnam style has arrived Today it’s been a year since it came out. I still remember exactly where I was the first time I heard (and saw) Gangnam Style. I was at my desk, in front of a computer. It’s not very exciting, I know. But it was probably a pretty common way to experience it: on the computer. A decade ago, that wouldn’t have been true. Songs and videos are spread the old way, on radio and television. Today is different, and that means that something completely improbable, like a burly K-Pop star, can impact in ways never before imagined.
I also remember where I was the first time I shared Gangnam Style, which is the other inherent action of the video. I was in my car, talking about it. My passenger hadn’t seen it, so I pulled over to the side of the road and we watched it on my phone. From there it was a brief jump to parodies, photoshops, and your uncool aunt dancing to Gangnam in the Marriott ballroom during your nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. In other words, in the span of a few months, it totally ate up the culture.
