Enjoying a hot, buttered Rickroll on Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving, millions of Americans enjoyed their turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole and an additional, surprise side dish: a Rickroll.
At the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, '80s musician Rick Astley performed his very own Rickroll, the internet meme in which a video link is provided, but the expected content is redirected to the video for Astley's first pop hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up."
On Thursday morning, as the float for the Cartoon Network show Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends pulled up to the cameras, an announcer said that the show's characters -- Bloo, Eduardo, Wilt, Fluffer Nutter, Jackie Khones and Cheese, among others -- would sing "Best Friend" (popularized by the TV show The Courtship of Eddie's Father) and be joined by a "special musical surprise."
Sure enough, the colorful characters were interrupted in their singing by the familiar opening notes to "Never Gonna Give You Up" as Astley himself -- in a long black coat and gloves -- walked out lip synching, smiling and dancing. By the end of the bit, the character Cheese (known for blurting out inane comments or non sequiturs) declared, "I like Rickrolling!"
Check out the Thanksgiving Rickroll below:
Since I was on the West Coast, I learned of the live Rickroll via East Coasters on Twitter. This was actually fortunate since I had no previous plans to watch the parade. So instead, I recorded it on my DVR and later fastforwarded it to the 1:50 mark to catch the goodness. Awesome.
Not everyone loves Rickrolling, and even I admit that it has been overdone. I have a particular fondness for Astley though, beginning way back when "Never Gonna Give You Up" wasn't so ironic. I absolutely loved that video growing up. Here was this goofy, redheaded Brit who couldn't dance, singing this infectious pop song with an incredibly rich voice.
My best friend and I became immediate fans, bought several of his albums and I even quoted the lyrics to one of his songs in my maid of honor speech at her wedding. Uh, yeah ... we're dorks. But hey, it's all in good fun, and so far, Astley has let this strange little phenomenon run its course. The Thanksgiving appearance was the first time he really actively participated in Rickrolling.
I'm still trying to figure out who thought of the idea -- was it the Turner Networks, of which Cartoon Network is a part? And why pair it with Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends? Astley's daughter is 16, so he probably didn't do it for her.
What did you think of the Thanksgiving surprise? What's your take on Rickrolling?
I loved this! I have never been Rickrolled, in fact, I didn't even know what it was until my husband explained it to me yesterday. But, I was so excited to see Rick Astley--one of my huge crushes in the 80s! He was adorable then and is still adorable now! He looked great. Loved it!
I didn't know about rickrolling until yesterday, but I still loved it.
Needless to say, I've watched the clip so many times, the song is stuck in my head.
1st, who came up w the name 'rickroll'?
2nd, who was the 1st 1 2 do a rick roll?
Hanh:
I think Rick is extremely good natured about it bc everytime his vid plays on YT & other websites he gets paid.
I dont watch these parades either. They are so boring and long.
lilkunta -
I'm no expert, so I turned to wikipedia for the answers to your questions. I hope they're correct!
1) "Rickrolling" is actually the Rick Astley version of "duckrolling." For some odd reason, the whole bait and switch was used first on the 4chan image site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4chan , which has become a hotbed for the origin of internet memes. So, let's say a particularly intriguing image is promised (like a look up Britney Spears' skirt), but when the user clicks on the link, they would see a pic of a duck w/wheels. WTF? Yeah, it doesn't make sense, but that's why the whole bait and switch with Rick was called a "Rickroll." (I hear that "duckroll" came from "eggroll," but that still doesn't make sense to me!)
2) When Grand Theft Auto IV was going to be released, those infamous 4chan-ers also linked to what was supposed to be a preview of the game. And instead of "duckrolling" the viewers, some ingenious dude linked to the Rick Astley video. Rickrolling was born.
Wow. The Internet, if you trust it, is a wonderful research tool. Now I know. And -- as "G.I. Joe" has taught me -- knowing is half the battle! :)
3) As for being "good natured" about Rickrolling because he gets paid for every public use ... does anyone have any citation of this? You see, I don't think he owns any rights to the song since it was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. In interviews he's been pretty cool with the song being used with the caveat that his daughter isn't embarr***ed.
Anyway, I just wanna hold onto the dream that he's a sweet guy!
My husband says the artist doesn't get paid when you see the video/hear a song on the radio. The songwriter gets the dough (specifically SAW in this case - his idols).
not only did i love this, i was THERE when it happened :) Astley will always be awesome and fab in my eyes.
I love that you're a dork, Hanh, dorks are where it's at. :)
I'm a TV writer in Atlanta and interviewed a publicist at the Cartoon Network about the rickroll last Thursday. Here's the link:
http://www.accessatlanta.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/radiotalk/entries/2008/11/27/1127_youve_been.html
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