What helps it is the cross-cultural popularity. It’s rare for an American or British song to be popular in Asia, and rarer for an Asian song to be popular worldwide, but this one is, which would explain the high hits number - the most populous countries in the world (America, Japan, China, India, etc) have all fallen for it.
Meanwhile, back to the OP. For me I occasionally hear some people talk about an actor who we’re all supposed to know because they were in huge movies of the past five years that everyone saw. Well, everyone but me, apparently, because I had never heard of them before that moment. One example I can remember was Benicio del Toro, when he was being cast in the Wolfman movie a few years ago, and more recently there was Ryan Gosling when everyone was talking about Drive. Apparently everybody had been watching them grow as actors and marking them for greatness, and I had missed out on them entirely.
I imagine that there will be many more incidents like that, the fewer movies I watch each year, as I increase my curmudgeonly picky ways.
Watched any episodes of Max Headroom lately? Twenty minutes into the future… and well over twenty years ahead of its time. It’s hard to remember that some of the jokes and sight gags there were meant to be funny and/or disturbing.
I occasionally read or hear about something called a “Honey Boo Boo” but I have absolutely no idea what the heck he/she/it is. My wife is apparently living under the same rock that I am because when asked her about it, she had no idea either.
I was in college in the mid-80s and didn’t watch much tv (and no Internet of course), especially in the summer when I was working for the school; so I had no idea what “Live Aid” (Live Aid - Wikipedia) was until several weeks later. Same thing for “New Coke” and Bernie Goetz, too, I think.
Mine was the Donner Party, up until about two years ago. One of my Facebook friends posted a status-update during a winter storm two Christmases ago, about how she needed to get out of the house before “she went all Donner Party on her kids”. (granted, the post was written in sarcastic jest).
Until then, I had never read in a history book, seen any History Channel stories of, or been told of, anything having to do with the Donner people.
I ran a 5K recently with some friends, all much like me (librarians in their late 20’s and early 30’s, terminally dorkish). And at the end there’s a big party, you know, like you do. So this Wobble song comes on and all my white-ass friends know the dance to it! Usually I at least know a dance craze song exists, you know?
I asked somebody how on earth people learned this thing and she said “You know, you go to white people weddings!”
Dude, I just HAD a white people wedding!
“Oh, sorry, your wedding was way past white people and all the way into a ‘Stuff White People Like’ wedding.”
In 1993, I was working for a small company in Westchester County, New York. While driving home one day in February, the radio station mentioned the traffic nightmare that still existed downtown due to that morning’s events. I had gone the entire day without hearing about the bomb that had been set off in the parking garage below the World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring hundreds.
Thanks - with the help of you and YouTube, I now know both the “Wobble” song AND dance! I will not be the most un-hip person at the weddings I attend in 2013.
While vacationing in Mexico, I had no access to U.S. new sources. I read a little Spanish and noticed that many Mexican newspapers featured a front page story about the U.S. being attacked by space aliens. It seemed unlikely, but I didn’t know for sure until I got back.
I was backpacking in the wilderness for a week and came out to find that Princess Diana and Mother Teresa had both died while I was communing with nature.
Also, since I haven’t lived in a house with a television since 1972, nor listened to pop music since maybe 1980, much popular culture has escaped me since. When I bother to check in, it never seems like I missed anything.
“Gangnam-Style” is a pleasant, catchy tune with an amusing, energetic video with solid production that doesn’t take itself seriously. Also, the fact that it’s in a language we Americans can’t understand may add to the novelty. We don’t understand a damn thing the guy is saying, but the fun & energy transcends language.
I was scheduled to move to my new apartment that day . . . from the East Village to Chelsea. I was sitting in my apartment, wonder why the movers were so late (my phone was already disconnected). Finally I went down to the laundromat and called on the pay phone, and was told something like “well you know, there’s gridlock all over; we’re coming from Brooklyn, and the bridges and tunnels are closed.” The mover had to explain to me what had happened.