Music

Remember the Harlem Shake? Baauer does. And he hates it.

by Dan MacRae

It’s been a while since Baauer’s temporarily inescapable tune “Harlem Shake” roamed the earth and soundtracked YouTube videos of people that needed something to do after planking fell out of fashion. Checking in with Baauer these days,  it turns out the producer wasn’t particularly fond of his song’s viral status.

In a recent chat with Rolling Stone (the magazine that always like to reassure you Bob Dylan’s doing okay), Baauer said 2013’s biggest musical meme made him miserable.

“It became corny and annoying as fuck, and my name was attached to that,” he told the publication.

Yes it was, Baauer. Although we suspect a healthy chunk of “Harlem Shake” enthusiasts might have no clue who put it together.

Speaking of putting things together, “Harlem Shake” caused a few extra headaches for Baauer. There were copyright issues attached to the track (Bauuer has previously said he made zero profits from the song’s success) and an unpleasant bit of tussling with Azealia Banks over a remix. According to the 26-year-old DJ-producer, he’s aiming to avoid that brand of global domination ever again.

“I look at Kanye, who lives in that 24/7, and I can’t imagine what kind of a person you must be to deal with that,” said Baauer. “Just getting the smallest little touch of that experience was too much for me… I totally see what Kurt Cobain must have felt like when it happened to him.”

So next time when you think “Harlem Shake,” think stressed out Kanye or melancholy Kurt. Let’s speed the process along, shall we?

[h/t NME]