When Memes Collide – PSY, Lady Gaga and Beyonce

We’ve talked extensively here about memes – units of social content.

PSY on Saturday Night Live

They are UBER-hot for a second before flaming out so we can move on to the next one.

I look at music in the same way. There are some songs that blow up beyond words. For example, “Call Me Maybe” took over the world this summer, spawning thousands and thousands of covers, parodies and tributes. Heck, I even saw an ad recently for a TV station using a “watch us, maybe” theme.

Some music moments become quite meme-worthy – think cone-bra Madonna.

In the age of digital storage, we can relive those moments all the time. So even something that happened years ago can still be fresh. Pop culture progresses, but never dies, in that respect.

One of the biggest music memes recently was Korean rapper PSY’s “Gangam Style” song that has led to hundreds of millions of YouTube views, a Saturday Night Live tribute/appearance and an association with Justin Bieber. One song. Kind of a big deal.

In a way, PSY himself has become a meme.

And in a recent concert, when he paid tribute to meme-machines Lady Gaga and Beyonce, well, just watch for yourself below.

THIS is what it looks like when memes collide. You can decide how awesome it is.