About
Thom Yorke Dance Remixes refers to a series of dubbed videos combining M/V footage of Radiohead’s 2011 single “Lotus Flower” and background music of various genres that will go in hand. What began as a dub remix fad similar to the Charleston Dance, the video has become paired with all sorts of pop hits like Beyonce’s “All The Single Ladies” and Soulja Boy’s “Crank Dat.”
Origin
On February 18th, 2011, Radiohead released their 8th studio album The King of Limbs as well as the official music video for the single “Lotus Flower.” Directed by Garth Jennings, the video simply features lead singer Thom Yorke dancing in black & white with a fedora hat on. Many fans and music blogs were amused by the video, calling it goofy and sparse.
Spread
The meme has caught the attention of popular blogs and newspapers, including LA Times Blog as well as MotherBoard.TV. The fad has since expanded to videos of people dancing at bus stops, spoof videos with the choreographer and many more.
Notable Examples
While it is still in the early stages, several parodies have been created:
- Beyonce’s Single Ladies:
- Soulja Boy:
- Napoleon Dynamite:
- Shakira’s Loca:
- Girl Talk:
- Katy Perry:
- Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance:
- MC Hammer’s Can’t Touch This:
- Willow Smith’s Whip My Hair
