This insanity was given life by Filthy Frank on his Youtube channel, DizastaMusic. February 1st, he uploaded a video titled Filthy Compilation #6, which contained just a snipped of the dance we would come to love. On February 2nd, 2013, at the urging of his Youtube audience, he uploaded the entirety of the dance, in a video titled titled "Do The Harlem Shake," in which he and his friends bugged out to Baaeur's "Do The Harlem Shake," dressed in a variety of costumes, including his popular Pink Man character. It doesn't sound remarkable, but once seen, it can never be unseen. And it's so easily imitated, that it IMMEDIATELY spawned imitators who copied and changed the performance until it mutated into the standard: Harlem Shake v.3. It became a meme whose main avenues of transmission were Youtube, Reddit, and Break.com.
If you want to do your own Harlem Shake video, here's what you do. First off, fill your room up with people. The more, the better. Second, make sure you have one dude wearing headgear for no good reason. That is essential. Next, start the track, and have that dude in headgear do pelvic thrusts to the beat as everyone else casually awaits the bass drop. Once the bass drops, you let the crazy loose. You need one person facing a wall, preferably humping it. You might want someone else breaking it down in crazy costume. Please, insert at least one girl. You can do it without, but it's way more watchable with. Then upload, spread, and infect the masses with ever more Harlem Shake v.3.