With today being April Fools’ Day, I just had to play Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ at the beginning of the shuffle. It is the famous Rickroll! That got me thinking…how did this start? I have to confess, I owned that cassette tape when it came out. Please don’t take my Best of the Tristate award away, it was a bad time in my life. Did you believe that, good!
Back to the Rickrolling, I learned on the internet that this trick grew popular on a website called “4chan” on April Fools’ Day in 2007. It then spread to other internet sites later that year. The meme gained mainstream attention in 2008 through several publicized events, particularly when YouTube used it on its 2008 April Fools’ Day event.[5]
Astley, was initially hesitant about using his newfound popularity from the meme to further his career but accepted the fame by Rickrolling in the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with a surprise performance of the song.
The more you know…
**If you are reading this before 4pm on April 1st, I have a Rickroll set up for Crazy Bob on 101.5 Bob Rocks! I hope it works!
