RICK ASTLEY : Never Gonna Give You Up
By the time the practice of ‘Rickrolling’ came around almost three years ago, Rick Astley’s debut single ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ was 20 years old. The track hit the No.1 position in the UK back in 1987 and then followed with No.1s in countless other countries throughout the world, including the United States and here in Australia. It hit right in the midst of Stock Aitken Waterman’s dominance of the British charts with other artists like Bananarama and Mel & Kim, while preceding the days of Kylie and Jason. But with the advent of Rick Rolling, the main video on YouTube (which we can’t show you due to embed code restrictions) has now received almost 22 million views globally – all in just over 20 months. It was a phenomenon in the ’80s, it was a phenomenon again in the noughties. More Rickrolling for 2027, anyone?