About
Stomp Clap Hey Music is an internet slang term for a subgenre of indie folk rock characterized by wholesome subject matter and the onomatopoeia of stomping, clapping and chanting, “Hey!” The musical genre was popularized roughly between the years 2008 and 2015, during the so-called “Obama era,” when many Millennials were in their early 20s. Bands like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers are notable examples of the genre. The optimism and commercial value of the genre were viewed negatively or skeptically in hindsight by Gen Z people in the 2020s, who used Stomp Clap Hey Music as a symbol of cringe, vapid, hipster culture from the previous decade. Stomp Clap Hey Music notably amassed viral discourse and memes in early August 2025, when Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’s performance of their song ‘Home’ for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series resurfaced on Twitter / X, where it was labeled the “worst song ever made” in the original tweet.
Origin
The concept and term “Stomp Clap Hey” was used in non-viral tweets as early as 2011, and persisted in tweets in 2018.
However, the first viral utterance of Stomp Clap Hey to describe a subgenre of indie folk rock music was a tweet shared by X user @lemonade_grrrl on August 24th, 2021, who wrote, “Remember this genre of music from like 2011. I like to call it Stomp Clap Hey. That shit sucked LMAO,” captioning an image of a stereotypical Millennial hipster, seen with suspenders and facial hair. Over four years, the tweet received over 48,000 likes (shown below).
Spread
On May 6th, 2018, the animated sitcom Family Guy notably mocked the stereotypical style of music, with Peter saying in a scene from episode 18, season 16, titled “HTTPete,” “What is this? They just keep saying, ‘Hey.'”
The scene was uploaded to YouTube by user Snarky Crow on September 2nd, 2018, receiving over 139,000 views, 2,200 likes and 250 comments in seven years (seen below).
On August 26th, 2021, X user @TheWageClown replied to the original tweet, writing, “Some people work in supermarkets and are subjected to stomp clap hey for several hours a day,” gaining over 1,700 likes in four years.
On September 1st, 2023, iFunny user @notcaro posted a cropped screenshot of the original tweet with a dim theme, gaining over 1,800 smiles in two years (shown below).
On November 25th, Redditor gothphetamine posted a screenshot of the original tweet to the /r/popheadscirclejerk subreddit, captioning it, “ATP I think a revival of Stomp Clap Hey is the only thing that can save the 2020s,” gaining over 1,600 upvotes in two years.
On April 16th, 2024, X user @musicstruggles1 quote-tweeted a post with a Spotify playlist screenshot that asked, “What is this genre of music called?” @musicstruggles1 answered it, writing, “Stomp Clap Hey,” gaining over 40,000 likes in a year (shown below).
On February 19th, 2025, musical comedian Kyle Gordon posted a video to his TikTok, @kylegordonisgreat, that debuted his new song called “We Will Never Die,” which was a parody of Stomp Clap Hey Music. The video was tagged “#stompclaphey” in the description. Over six months, the video gained over 1.2 million likes (shown below).
@kylegordonisgreat 🥹🫶 Official Music Video and Song Out Everywhere! We Will Never Die! Go stream it and watch the full music video! Guest starring @Audrey #pov #newmusic #millennial #millennialsoftiktok #millenials #millenialcringe #cringe #cringetok #2010s #2010sthrowback #funny #funnyvideos #funnytiktok #stompclaphey ♬ We Will Never Die (feat. Kody Redwing and The Broken Hearts) (Cut 1) – Kyle Gordon
On August 5th, TikToker @kiarangl posted a video of herself using the song “Ho Hey” by The Lumineers, captioned, “Is this a safe space to admit I really like this genre of Millennial stomp-clap granola music?” Over three days, her video gained over 77,700 likes (shown below).
@kiarangl i have plenty more hot takes btw my opinions on music tend to be very unpopular
♬ Ho Hey – The Lumineers
“Home” Tiny Desk Performance by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
On August 4th, 2025, X user @justinboldaji quote-tweeted a since-deleted tweet with a clip of the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros performing their song “Home” in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert video, originally posted on YouTube in November 2009. @justinboldaji’s post called it the “worst song ever made,” gaining over 90.8 million views and 51,000 likes in four days (shown below).
Worst song ever made https://t.co/CJRrvp3C4r pic.twitter.com/BS4wHAqrLK
— Justin🦩Boldaji (@justinboldaji) August 4, 2025
The tweet inspired viral discourse about Stomp Clap Hey Music. For instance, on August 5th, X user @nic__carter posted a lengthy quote-tweet of the video, starting with, “What happened in 2010-15, man? We were seized by some kind of faux frontiersman cult for urbanites. Probably the worst cultural era in history.”
He continued by naming Stomp Clap Hey Music and “stripped down exposed brick burger halls,” akin to the Millennial Burger Place cliché. Over three days, his post gained over 36,000 likes (shown below).
Various Examples
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/https://www.tiktok.com/@anglerf1sh/video/7482983219843861802?_r=1&_t=ZT-8yiFoqSniNJ
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7470655080761462062