Macarena
Does anyone do the Macarena in a non-ironic fashion anymore?
Post your recent Macarena sightings if you have them. Bonus points for non-wedding, non-Vegas, or non-children sightings…there’s never any irony involved with any of those things.
Reader comments
ChrisFeb 21, 2003 at 9:32AM
You think the macarena is bad? Have you *seen* what's going on with that Las Ketchup song?
Maybe it's only a craze here in Japan, but the dance that accompanies the video is like the macarena without any sense of rhythm or timing.
I think in Canada some guys arranged the largest ever "spontaneous" re-enactment of the moves; at a hockey game no less.
Sigh
G DiddyFeb 21, 2003 at 9:41AM
There was a small news report on the Ketchup song a while ago here in Detroit. It stated that the song would be the next macarena, and that it was spreading all over the world. However, I haven't seen or heard one iota of this claim come to fruition thus far. I think the key to becoming the next macarena is to not claim prematurely that you will be the next macarena. The only people this has ever worked for is Babe Ruth and Kid Rock.
SydFeb 21, 2003 at 9:48AM
umm, *blush*, I did the Macarena on New Year's Eve...this year. It was a party. And yes, other people saw me and joined in. I may even have picture of this random dorkiness.
ScotblogFeb 21, 2003 at 10:11AM
VH1 ran a "best of the 90s" day recently, and the song popped up.
I honestly have to admit, I entertained my 10-month-old son to the point of tear-inducing hilarity by attempting to perform the dance.
Whilst children were involved in the making of this mirth, none were actually harmed.
AnilFeb 21, 2003 at 10:20AM
The Macarena is featured quite prominently in the (surprisingly entertainin) recent movie The Guru. Given that its main proponent in the film is a guy from India, the land where corniness knows no shame, I'd say it is (from the perspective of the character) completely non-ironic.
LukwamFeb 21, 2003 at 10:44AM
The Las Ketchup craze is not just a Japan thing. As you can see from the first chart on the 2002 Google Zeitgeist, it's been all around the world already.
jkottkeFeb 21, 2003 at 10:47AM
I have somehow missed the whole Las Ketchup thing, which, as G Diddy says, was supposed to be nearly ubiquitous only a couple of months ago. Probably not a bad thing, although it will leave me unprepared for playing Trivial Pursuit - Double Ought Edition at my 50th birthday party.
ArnabFeb 21, 2003 at 10:51AM
I don't know about Las Ketchup being the next macarena, but it's all over the playlists here in India.
As for macarena, I used to do it everyday before going out:
Check left shirt pocket for bus pass, right shirt pocket for pen, left pant pocket for handkerchief, right for wallet, check your hairstyle, and you're ready to go!
jkottkeFeb 21, 2003 at 11:16AM
Related: Google image search for "macarena".
Buzz AndersenFeb 21, 2003 at 11:21AM
Did anyone ever do the macarena in a non-ironic fashion?
CamiloFeb 21, 2003 at 11:29AM
The Macarena was OK. But the aserejé (The Ketchups' song) is wacky.
MCFeb 21, 2003 at 12:14PM
Wait--Kid Rock is the next Babe Ruth?
DJSUBGFeb 21, 2003 at 12:23PM
Haven't people moved on to the "Cha Cha Cha Slide" dance by now? I went to a friend's wedding and saw it for the first time (only the black folks knew how to do it properly) and have seen it done at dance clubs too.
BrianFeb 21, 2003 at 1:05PM
The Cha Cha slide i don't think caught on because it is a "ghetto" version of the electric slide, which was the original "macarena" in terms of stupid dance songs. The ketchup song was big for like a week, but then people stopped caring, or it could be that it came out at the wrong time of the year (had it been in the summer, it would've been more conducive to silly partying)
ClancyFeb 21, 2003 at 1:56PM
Have you seen that Michelina's commercial in which a couple of office workers are going into the kitchen for lunch, doing the Macarena, and singing about Michelina's to the tune of Macarena? It's cheesy--not clever enough to be ironic.
alisonFeb 21, 2003 at 2:13PM
the busgirl at the restaurant where i work knows all the spanish words to the macarena, and can sing them while doing the dance at the same time.
it's quite impressive.
KarlFeb 21, 2003 at 6:21PM
As Al Gore was responsible for developing the internet, and Al Gore was made moderately famous for doing the Macarena poorly at some democratic convention, family and friends of mine habitually do the moves from the Macarena while we're waiting for a slow web page to display.
mauraFeb 21, 2003 at 6:49PM
wait, people actually do something in a non-ironic way these days? stop the presses and hand me a rheingold!
paulFeb 21, 2003 at 7:28PM
on a local tv station, cityTV, they videotaped some people on the street do it as a dare (well not really a dare... a camera goes around the city and films people pulling random notes with silly things to do out of a toque and the macarena was one of them).
jkottkeFeb 21, 2003 at 7:35PM
Maura, are you being ironic, or....
smokeymischiefFeb 21, 2003 at 10:49PM
I work with the developmentally disabled and we have one fellow that can dance to the beat of any song with quite a bit of accuracy but only the macarena.
Regardless of tempo or complexity of beat, this man can out macarena just about anyone I know, it is very charming to witness.
Michael HanscomFeb 21, 2003 at 11:17PM
A few years back, I was DJ'ing an all-ages dance club in Anchorage right when the Macarena broke big, so I ended up not just knowing the dance, but owning my own copy of the single with four - count them - four different remixes!
And, whether or not this is something I should actually admit in public, I was once told by a girl that I "did good things for the macarena". An unusual, but not unappreciated comment.
I'm still tempted to break into it from time to time. Usually when I'm in the middle of the dance floor at the goth/industrial club I frequent. One of these days my common sense will take leave, and I'll actually do it.
ArmandoFeb 22, 2003 at 2:44PM
The mariachi band at El Chapala, Asheville's finest inexpensive Mexican restaurant, performs the tune as part of their regular "Macarena"/"Tequila"/"La Bamba" hit parade.
They don't do the dance, though.
AmyFeb 23, 2003 at 7:45PM
I don't know if this is in the same category as weddings, but you can find the Macarena at just about any Bar/Bat Mitzvah party with a dj. Bunch of old rhythmless Jews wiggling what's left of their asses. Usually, the kids are too embarrassed to be on the same dance floor with them.
leeFeb 24, 2003 at 8:40AM
on a cruise ship. over and over on a cruise ship, just last month.
my brother-in-law is convinced that he brought the macarena to the US from a cruise he took several years ago. he had never heard the song until that trip, and when he came back, it was everywhere.
semi-pro hockey loves the macarena. and there's always one guy there...he's not being silly...he really thinks he's helping the home team by doing the dance as vulgar as possible.
PoopFeb 24, 2003 at 7:26PM
When my alarm clock went off this morning, the station it was tuned to was playing the Macarena song.
essFeb 25, 2003 at 9:20AM
I've never seen or heard of anyone doing the Macarena in an ironic fashion. Smug, silly, sarcastic, yes; ironic, no.
essFeb 25, 2003 at 9:20AM
I've never seen or heard of anyone doing the Macarena in an ironic fashion. Smug, silly, sarcastic, yes; ironic, no.
essFeb 25, 2003 at 9:21AM
I've never seen or heard of anyone doing the Macarena in an ironic fashion. Smug, silly, sarcastic, yes; ironic, no.
ChuckFeb 25, 2003 at 3:38PM
The DJ for my sister's wedding reception ('97) had been specifically forbidden from playing "Macarena" and "YMCA", but when the playlist that my sister and I had put together ran out, those were the first two songs he played.
My comment upon hearing the first notes of it became one of the most oft-quoted when my family tells stories of the wedding: "The DJ dies."
DianaFeb 26, 2003 at 11:19PM
I had just performed this dance the other day, completely at random. Irony or no, I still looked like quite the buffoon.
CHrisFeb 28, 2003 at 11:18AM
Just last Friday I saw a crowd of about 50 doing the Macarena at the Houston Livestock show and Rodeo BBQ Cook-off. Both my wife and I wondered why these folks hadn't moved on to the Ketchup song already.
essFeb 28, 2003 at 3:09PM
Triple-post heck!!
For the last month or so, reading through other people's posting-stutters has been driving me to distraction. Now I'm guilty of a triple-post. Is this a Movable Type issue?
As far as I know, everything people do at a barbecue cook off is a joke. Except for the cooking.
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.