@greatmemereviver: #viral #fyp #meme #trending #nostalgia Rickrolling is a bait-and-switch prank that involves posting a hyperlink that is supposedly relevant to the topic at hand in an online discussion, but re-directs the viewer to the music video of "Never Gonna Give You Up," a 1987 dance pop single by English singer-songwriter Rick Astley. Since May 2007, numerous versions of the music video on YouTube have garnered hundreds of millions, largely driven by the widespread practice of "rickrolling" and subsequent resurgence in popularity of the song over the following decade. 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. Upon its initial release, the single became a number one hit on several international charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart[1]. 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. The story was explained in a YouTube video titled "I Did the First Rickroll (w/ Proof)" uploaded on August 7th, 2015. 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. According to 4chan founder m00t, the "rickroll" phenomenon began on /v/ (video games) circa May 2007[2], 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. 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 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. On May 15th, 2007, one of the earliest known instances of the music video was uploaded under the title "Rickroll'D" by YouTuber Cotter548. 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. According to VH1's PopUp Video, record executives who heard his recordings didn't believe it was his voice either at first[3]. 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. The UK daily The Guardian[4] called it “a live rick-rolling of the Church of Scientology". On April 1st, 2008, every featured video on YouTube's front page redirected to the Rickroll music video. In April 2008, the New York Mets baseball team's site posted an online poll[6] to select the song for the 8th inning sing-along. On April 4th, 2008, FARKusers 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. Rather than using the song for the 8th inning, it was apparently used during the home opener, much to the displeasure of Mets fans. 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[7], lip synching to his classic hit from 24 years ago. In April 2009, co-writer of "Never Gonna Give You Up," Pete Waterman, denounced Google and YouTube at a press conference that announced the launch of a website campaigning for a fairer deal for songwriters whose work is featured on YouTube. He was quoted saying, "Panorama did a documentary on the exploitation of foreign workers in Dubai. I feel like one of those workers, because I earned less for a year's work off Google or YouTube than they did off the Bahrain government."

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Friday 05 December 2025 12:01:21 GMT