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What Is The 'Cybergoth Dance Party,' And Did Someone Find An Alternate Angle Of It? The Iconic Viral Video And Meme Explained
A video of the "Cybergoth Dance Party" first went viral in the early 2010s, showing a gaggle of eccentrically dressed cyber-ravers decked out in neon hair extensions, gothic attire and goggles moving to electronic dance music under an overpass in Düsseldorf, Germany.
The recording, which was supposedly taken somewhere in Germany, became the subject of numerous meme edits and remixes on YouTube over the following years, with people editing the footage to make the dancers move to objectively funnier tunes.
But it seems like an alternate angle of the legendary cybergoth rave has been hiding under our noses this whole time. In a video posted months before what was thought to be the original upload, we can see footage taken right before the clip that went on to become a viral meme.
So what's the story behind this classic viral clip and meme? Here's the lowdown on the Cybergoth Dance Party.
What Is The Cybergoth Dance Party Video?
The Cybergoth Dance Party video was first posted to YouTube under its known name by user gNarLu cEe on September 7th, 2011. The video showed a number of young cyber ravers standing under an overpass dressed in bright neon getups, colored hair extensions, gloves, goggles and matching accessories.
The footage is the most viral record of the cyber rave, but no one really checked into who uploaded it as they were too distracted by the memes it inspired.
Interestingly just barely a week after the video went live, YouTuber griffin goodwin uploaded a version of the rave with the song "Cuban Pete" from the 1994 comedy film The Mask edited into the footage.
The post inspired a number of meme edits and remixes mocking the cyber ravers for being "cringe," but 10 years down the line, everyone seems to be looking back on the would-be outcasts rather fondly.
The historic revisionism may be for the best because it seems as though another angle of the rave has been hiding in plain sight for years.
What Is The Alternate Angle Footage From The Cybergoth Rave Party?
A video showing the leadup to the viral Cybergoth Dance Party video was posted to YouTube in March 2011, months before gNarLu cEe's upload. The YouTube account seems to be run by an actual cyber raver — perhaps even the same cybergoth that filmed the original video.
YouTube "CybertreffenNRW," which translates to "Cyber Meet" in English, seems to have been on a mission to record cyber-meetups in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia or "NRW" region. To this end, the channel posted a number of videos of various cyber meetups, many of which feature familiar faces from the well-known Cybergoth Dance Party video.
The video was reposted to the subreddit /r/DeepIntoYouTube by Redditor /u/Yeleywillonedaywin on December 12th, 2022, gathering over 3,000 upvotes in a year.
On November 4th, X user @chiweethedog reposted the clip, gathering over 60,000 likes on a post captioned, "Alternative angle of the famous 'Cybergoth Dance Party' video, showing more cybergoth dance moves to Early Hardstyle, ending where the famous one begins."
this is as historically significant as getting a different angle of the JFK assassination https://t.co/miUKc7S0Jq
— Will (@WillemDaFro) November 4, 2024
For the full history of the Cybergoth Dance Party, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
