Hello Darkness My Old Friend

2015

Date: October 2015 · Place: Twitter and Tumblr · Figures: Paul Simon, songwriter (1964) · Disturbed, 2015 cover · anonymous template inventors · Tags: Reaction, Music, Caption 01. Sound of Silence as Reaction By October 2015 the four-panel template is standard: three panels of a person committing a small social violation, then a fourth panel of the protagonist staring into middle distance with the caption hello darkness, my old friend. The line is from Paul Simon's 1964 song, sung by Simon and Garfunkel. The October 2015 release of Disturbed's cover of the song accelerates the format. The cover is a viral phenomenon in its own right at 1.2 billion YouTube plays. The caption attaches itself to any image of resigned despair. 02. Pure Caption Meme Hello Darkness is a rare meme that travels entirely as a text overlay; the image underneath is variable, the line is fixed. It is the universal kicker for relatable suffering. It is used unironically by parents on Facebook by 2017. The Simon and Garfunkel original returns to the Billboard Hot 100 in December 2015 on the strength of meme traffic. Paul Simon, asked about it in a 2016 New Yorker profile, declines to comment. Sources • Disturbed, 'The Sound of Silence' (Reprise, 1 October 2015) • Billboard Hot 100, week of 19 December 2015 • KnowYourMeme entry, 'Hello Darkness My Old Friend'