On this day · archive
The song that taught the web a dance step
July 15 records coups, crashes, platforms, and football. The release of “Gangnam Style” gives the archive a culture entry about speed: a song, a dance, and the internet learning how quickly a chorus can travel.
8
events in todayish file
2012
South Korean rapper Psy releases his hit single Gangnam Style.
The entry is short because the afterlife was large: a pop song became a global gesture, shared one replay at a time.
Psy’s “Gangnam Style” entered the record as a song release, then quickly became something larger and stranger: a global gesture passed from screen to screen. Its afterlife belongs as much to replay buttons and shared jokes as to charts.
The item is short because the cultural spread was so visible. A pop single became a dance step, a meme, a video landmark, and a reminder that the web could turn local style into worldwide participation.
The same date also holds civic change, tragedy, aviation, computing, and war. “Gangnam Style” gives July 15 its flash of shared popular motion amid a heavier archive.
The full record
8 entries from the day’s archive, filed year by year with a note on what each one leaves behind.
France win their second World Cup title, defeating Croatia 4–2.
France’s 4–2 victory over Croatia secured the country’s second World Cup title.
Sports
Factions of the Turkish Armed Forces attempt a coup.
The attempted coup challenged Turkey’s elected government and brought military force into the country’s political crisis.
Civic
A train derails on the Moscow Metro, killing at least 24 and injuring more than 160 others.
The Moscow Metro derailment killed at least 24 people and injured more than 160.
Disaster
South Korean rapper Psy releases his hit single Gangnam Style.
The release began the song’s rapid journey from South Korean pop hit to worldwide internet phenomenon.
Culture
Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Jannatabad, Qazvin, Iran, killing 168.
The crash near Qazvin killed all 168 people aboard Caspian Airlines Flight 7908.
Disaster
Space Shuttle program: Endeavour is launched on STS-127 to complete assembly of the International Space Station's Kibō module.
STS-127 carried Endeavour toward the International Space Station to complete assembly of the Kibō module.
Space
Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched.
Twitter’s launch opened a platform that would reshape real-time news, conversation, and public attention.
Technology
AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
Netscape’s disbanding and the Mozilla Foundation’s creation marked a handoff in the history of the web browser.
Technology