In the summer of 1987, a new british pop star by the name of Rick Astley put himself on the map after he released his first hit single: Never Gonna Give You Up. The song itself is nothing too special. It’s a pretty average classic 80s pop sound, complete with the intese synthesizer, overexaggerated vocals, and incessant dance beat. What sets this song apart from the pack is its music video, which features Rick Astley himself doing a rediculously dopey dance as he sings to the camera. The fame was short lived. Soon, the 80s ended, and Never Gonna Give You Up was left behind in the sea of nostalgia like so much else from the era.But not forever. In 2007, an anonymous person posted a link to a YouTube video on a video game message board, claiming it was a leaked sneak preview of Grand Theft Auto IV. The game had not yet been announced, but there was still massive anticipation for its eventual release following the success of its predecessor. Needless to say, thousands of eager gaming fans clicked the link, only to be met with Rick Astley’s smiling face as they were redirected to the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. Ladies and gentlemen: the first rickroll.
Rickrolling took the internet by storm. The formula was simple. All you had to do was post a link to Never Gonna Give You Up and claim it’s something that everyone just has to see like a leaked trailer or funny cat video. Then, you could sit back and imagine the fustration of all the people you just pranked. Soon, no link on the internet could be trusted, because most of them would just take you back to Rick Astley (this article provides a much more in depth look at the illustrious history of the rickroll if you’re interested). Even today, thirteen years later, rickrolling continues as a time-honored internet tradition, with no signs of stopping.
In my eyes, rickrolling is the epitome of internet culture. The internet was created as a way to bypass geographical barriers to share information instantly. It was meant to connect people from across the world and allow them to share their knowledge, pushing human society further forward as a whole. And instead, people use it to prank complete strangers by sending them to a video of Rick Astley’s dorky dance moves. It just goes to show that humans as a species are incapable of taking anything seriously. At any rate, the internet seems like it never intends to give up the rickroll, and I’m ok with that.
What’s your opinion on rickrolling? I’d like to hear your thoughts.
The rickroll is more than a prank. It fulfills the internet's purpose of connecting through the use of humor.
ReplyDeleteRickrolling personally is just another meme to me, but I do understand that phenomenon has connected people with different cultures and from opposite sides of the world in its humorous manner. The internet can both confound us and surprise us, and the rickroll shows how some humor is truly universal.
ReplyDeleteI love the concept of rickrolling. It’s a relatively harmless prank, and allows people to bring out their mischievous side without actually doing any harm. I also think it brought people together; everyone knew what it was and everywhere you looked, people were trying to rickroll everything. It gave people something in common to talk about. I will never forget when my 7th grade English teacher rickrolled my whole class, and we laughed about it for the rest of the year.
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