In November 2008, the Rickroll meme came to a full circle when Rick Astley himself appeared on a float during the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, lip synching to his classic hit from 24 years ago (shown below, right). Rather than using the song for the 8th inning, it was apparently used during the home opener, much to the displeasure of Mets fans (shown below, left). On April 4th, 2008, FARK users bombarded the poll with upvotes for "Never Gonna Give You Up." On April 7th, the Mets announced that the song had won with over five million votes. In April 2008, the New York Mets baseball team's site posted an online poll to select the song for the 8th inning sing-along. On April 1st, 2008, every featured video on YouTube's front page redirected to the Rickroll music video (shown below, right). The UK daily The Guardian called it “a live rick-rolling of the Church of Scientology" (shown below, left). In February 2008, during the Anonymous' Project Chanology protests against the Church of Scientology, "Never Gonna Give You Up" was played from boomboxes, performed, and shouted. According to VH1's PopUp Video, record executives who heard his recordings didn't believe it was his voice either at first. Many people have expressed the opinion that the most attention-getting aspect of the video is Rick Astley's unexpectedly deep voice in contrast to his youthful looks. On May 15th, 2007, one of the earliest known instances of the music video was uploaded under the title "Rickroll'D" by YouTuber Cotter548. The timeline the account has been further corroborated by Wikipedia and Google Trends, which shows that search interest in "rickrolling" began to rise between April and May 2007. Due to the high buildup of anticipation for the game at that time, many GTA fans on the /v/ board fell victim to the bait-and-switch prank and the joke became quite popular on 4chan. The bait-and-switch phenomenon had its beginning on the imageboard community 4chan as a spin-off of an earlier practical joke known as duckrolling, in which an external link with a sensational title (i.e., a specific picture or news item) would be redirected to an edited image of a duck with wooden wheels.Īccording to 4chan founder m00t, the "rickroll" phenomenon began on /v/ (video games) circa May 2007, when someone posted a link to Rick Astley's music video disguised as a sneak preview for the then newly released video game Grand Theft Auto IV. The story was explained in a YouTube video titled "I Did the First Rickroll (w/ Proof)" uploaded on August 7th, 2015 (shown below). YouTuber Erik Helwig claims to have prank called a Michigan radio station after a sports game and played "Never Gonna Give You Up" over the phone on August 31st, 2006. Upon its initial release, the single became a number one hit on several international charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. If you really want to know the entire story behind the writing and recording of “Never Gonna Give You Up,” just rewind the YouTube video to the beginning and learn how Astley was a pop superstar in the UK in 1987.Rick Astley's dance-pop single "Never Gonna Give You Up" was originally released as part of his 1987 solo debut album Whenever You Need Somebody. Cotter may not have gotten paid for his meme, but he’s given us all a shared cultural moment and seems to have brought some joy to Astley as his career has been extended by something that started out as a joke. If you weren’t around in 2008, it’s hard to explain just how big meme culture was at the time and how the Rickroll was king of Meme Mountain. This new Vice video is a step toward giving Cotter the credit he deserves for creating an important moment in online culture. There was even a guy who tattooed a QR code on his leg that Rickrolled you if you scanned it.Īstley has embraced the absurdity of the situation and now seems grateful for how the Rickroll has kept him in the public eye as more than just a guy who had that hit record back in the old days. A funny joke, but not that funny.Ĭotter swapped it out for a link to Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” on YouTube, and the meme caught fire. There was a popular meme at the time called the duckroll, where random links took you to a picture of a duck on wheels. Like most great ideas, Cotter’s wasn’t totally original. He learned about the song when he looked up “songs that were popular the year you were born,” and since he was born in 1987, “Never Gonna Give You Up” was on the list. Back in 2007, when the online video streaming service was less than two years old, Cotter decided he wanted to be a YouTuber. Cotter explains how as a 19-year-old Air Force member, he created an online meme tsunami.
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