Penis Music

About

Penis Music is an ironic catchphrase often used in GIF captions to humorously describe GIFs of various characters dancing. Originating from a meme posted on Tumblr in December 2019, and subsequently circulating in the /r/okbuddyretard subreddit and iFunny, the format achieved mainstream popularity on Twitter in February 2020. The meme later mutated to include other variations in the form of X Music snowclone.

Origin

On March 24th, 2018, Tumblr^[18] user walrusguy posted the phrase "penis music," with the post gaining over 19,600 likes and reblogs in two years.

On December 18th, 2019, Tumblr^[1] user imoutofideas posted a meme following a popular object labeling format of a crowd of people cramming into a single door and ignoring the other one (shown below, left). In the edit, the doors were labeled "penis music" and "regular music," respectively. The meme received over 21,900 likes and reblogs on the platform in two months. Another example featuring the caption was posted by Tumblr^[2] user lostcryptids on December 19th (shown below, right).

Spread

In the following days, the image was reposted on iFunny^[3] and in /r/okbuddyretard,^[4] with the posts receiving over 7,700 smiles and 21,400 upvotes, respectively. Starting in late December 2019, the meme gained a notable presence in both communities. For example, a December 24th, 2019, post by Redditor^[5] Sarcs__2 received over 1,500 upvotes (shown below, left), with an iFunny^[6] repost by a bot account gaining over 29,600 smiles. On December 28th, 2019, Twitter^[14] user @fishstick_134 made a GIF caption post based on a GIF of character Hal Stewart, with the post gaining over 970 retweets and 3,100 likes in one month (shown below, right).

On December 28th and 29th, Twitter users @Iguanaman_07^[16] and @supermickmaker^[17] posted the two earliest edits based on the GIF, gaining over 2,000 views and 900 views, respectively (@Iguanaman_07's tweet shown below). On January 1st, 2020, Redditor^[7] PyroIusite reposted @fishstick_134's GIF caption, which gained over 1,800 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard prior to being removed.

fixed pic.twitter.com/H1HhdSrJI4

— stage coach robber (@Iguanaman_07) December 29, 2019

On January 8th, 2020, Instagram^[12] user repostrandy reposted another edit based on the GIF caption (original author unknown). A January 23rd iFunny^[13] repost of the video received over 1,100 smiles.

On January 20th, 2020, @fishstick_134^[15] posted a remastered version of their Hal Steward Penis Music GIF caption. On January 20th, 2020, Redditor^[8] Xnopish posted an edit based on the remastered GIF, pairing it with "Rubber Band" by Jackal Queenston. The post received over 800 upvotes prior to being removed. On January 27th, 2020, YouTube^[9] user Fried Fish reposted the video, with the meme gaining over 22,400 views on the platform (shown below). After Xnopish's authorship of the meme has been verified, the post was restored in /r/okbuddyretard,^[19] gaining over 8,000 upvotes in six months.

On February 1st, 2020, Twitter^[10] user @evilvillain1231 reposted the Xnopish's meme, with the tweet receiving over 6,300 retweets and 26,000 likes in five days and the video accumulating over 250,000 views on the platform. Following the post, the format gained a significant presence on Twitter; for example, a February 2nd, 2020, Yakuza meme by Twitter^[11] user @VenomDeathNinja received over 6,100 retweets and 19,700 likes (shown below).

Actually wait i can improve this meme pic.twitter.com/yPsIKuVz7G

— That Yakuza Guy 🎮 Yakuza 7 (@VenomDeathNinja) February 2, 2020

Various Examples

twitter is SILENCING penis music this is unbelievable pic.twitter.com/gffdLtkz2V

— Xarlable (@Xarlable) February 4, 2020

Search Interest

External References