Harlem Shake goes out with a bang, literally (video)

14 May 2013

You Harlem Shakers, you’ve had it coming! For some of us who found the Harlem Shake meme tedious and a bit of an overkill, a new video showing a Harlem Shake attempt gone wrong has us all laughing.

The video which saw Harlem Shakers accidentally pour petrol down the bonnet of a car has attracted almost 700,000 YouTube views at the time of writing.

It shows a bunch of pals starting off the Harlem Shake video in the customary fashion (every one standing still with one person making shapes), standing around a car with a jerrycan of petrol on the bonnet.

But as the beats kick in and the mayhem is supposed to begin, the engine of the car catches fire, the jerrycan falls over and the dancer’s expression of joy turns to horror as he attempts to put the fire out before he is launched into the air by an explosion.

Luckily he seems more dazed than injured and the air is punctured by the hysterical screams of one of the shakers as the fire spreads from the bonnet to the floor.

The video closes with the fire finally contained.

In this instance you could say the Harlem Shake has given us the shivers.

So, has the Shake meme finally gone up in smoke?

 

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com