Saddle Up: "Pony" Rides Again!
Internet memes are curious things by their very nature. We get things that are cute (see: "David After the Dentist"), things that are geeky and retro (see: virtually anything at YTMND- a favorite is Chunk is Indestructible), and often disturbing.
Then, there's "Pony" and its growing legion of dancers.
History lesson: "Pony" was the debut single from Ginuwine (nee' Elgin Lumpkin), whose website makes interesting use of quotation marks. It's an entry into the mid-90s post-New Jack, pre-AutoTune R&B field, at one point usurping the top spot (from Blackstreet's "No Diggity," no less) and helping to establish Timbaland as a producer to watch in coming years. Certainly, the use of what is either a talkbox, Vocoder, or bass synthesizer to utter those low "YEAH"s throughout the song gives it a bit of novelty, but it's largely an artifact of a bygone time.
And now: it's a web sensation thanks to the Dancing Alone to "Pony" Tumblr. One mainstream site- that of the DC-area FOX affiliate- has picked up on the story, which means we could see further coverage in coming (slow news) days.
More after the jump. (It gets weirder.)
So, this curiosity is amusing in its own right- as a general rule of thumb, there is nothing sexy about dancing by yourself on YouTube, and, yet, here these people are, bumping and grinding like the invisible man was waving singles at them. Things get weirder, though.
Somewhere, a brilliant idea was hatched: combine the possibly-cresting "Icing" trend (which was covered in the New York Times and counts Modern Suburbanite favorites The National as its victims/participants/"bros") with this emerging "Pony" roundup, producing "Bros Ponying Bros," which may be critical mass on the phenomenon.
I'm loading "Pony" on my phone, just to be safe.
