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The Rick Roll: Great Internet Meme, Or The GREATEST Internet Meme?

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Answering The Question At The Top Of Everybody's Mind

Individually, popular music and the internet have lent to some great moments in history. Music has gathered people around causes ("All we are saying... is give peace a chance"); the internet has facilitated the flow of information across the globe.

There have also been some pretty awful moments in the history of these two media. We would all love to forget about the rise of Slim Whitman, or get rid of all of the spam that clutters our collective inbox - yes, even those forwards you may have sent.

But what happens when popular music and the internet - and the good and bad associated with each - combine forces?

Enter Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," and its propagation across the internet as "The Rick Roll."

The Meme: A Definition

Pronounced: "Me-mmm"

A unit of cultural information that represents a basic idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and subjected to MUTATION, CROSSOVER, and ADAPTATION.

Memes are the social-phenomenon equivalent of genes.

Important!

The Argument At Hand

The Rick Roll is (arguably) the GREATEST thing to grace the cross-section of the Venn diagram that is music and the internet.

The Venn Diagram Mentioned Above

For viewing pleasure.

But First, A Quick History Lesson

No textbooks necessary.

You may be asking yourself: "Aidan, this whole Rick Rolling thing sounds great, but I can't make any big decisions before I know the truth!"

That's what this section is here for.

According to Wikipedia (the most reliable source on the internet, of course), the Rick Roll was actually a spin-off of an earlier meme, the Duck Roll. "Duck Rolling," the act of posting an image of a duck on wheels masked as a post about a celebrity or news item, originated on the a>.

In a stroke of genius, one user decided to post a link to "a mirror for the highly popular Grand Theft Auto 4 trailer" (which had gone down because of heavy traffic). The link instead brought unaware clickers to a video of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

The meme, which was obviously hilarious, soared in popularity from that point onwards, with some very notable occurrences in non-internet-nerd pop culture. For example, YouTube pulled a giant Rick Roll on April Fool's Day 2008 by linking every one of their Featured videos to the infamous song. Another fantastic moment was when an online poll was hijacked by various internet-pranksters to have "Never Gonna Give You Up" played as the 8th-inning singalong during the New York Mets' 2008 home opener.

One can only hope that the glorious history of this meme continues well into the future!

A Brief Note

About the rest of the content

What follows are some top ten lists (because, you know, everybody loves top ten lists). First up are a few sample reasons for each of the sides of the question (which you can vote up or down if you so desire). Then, you voice your opinion.

After the debate, there are 10 helpful suggestions for new ways to keep the Rick Rolling fun going. Because, as everybody knows, we're "never gonna give [it] up." You can add your own here, too!

10 Reasons Why The Rick Roll Is Great, But Not The Greatest

(3 of these are totally unfounded)

1

Vote Up
Vote Down

Chuck Norris could eat Rick Astley for a pre-breakfast snack

8 points

2

Vote Up
Vote Down

The Rick Roll is neither amazingly cute nor disgustingly gross

7 points

3

Vote Up
Vote Down

The Simpsons already did it

5 points

4

Vote Up
Vote Down

Rick Astley's sunglasses aren't classic enough

3 points

5

Vote Up
Vote Down

A meme featuring Tracy Chapman will soon surface, thus continuing Chapman's series of victories over Astley (which started at the 1989 Grammies)

3 points

6

Vote Up
Vote Down

The video you now find online was modified from the original to include subliminal messages prompting you to Rick Roll others (meaning that you may not be exercising free will by keeping it going)

3 points

7

Vote Up
Vote Down

The Rick Roll came too late to make history

0 points

8

Vote Up
Vote Down

The song's choreography was ripped off from a previous Janet Jackson video

0 points

9

Vote Up
Vote Down

Attendees booed the Rick Rolling of a New York Mets game

0 points

10

Vote Up
Vote Down

Chocolate Rain is much catchier

0 points

10 Reasons Why The Rick Roll Is The GREATEST

(Again, 3 of these aren't fact)

What Do YOU Think?

Is the Rick Roll just a great internet meme, or the GREATEST internet meme?

Loading Fetching blurbs now... please stand by

It's just plain great.

emcueto says:

It's fun but there will be greater ones to come

Posted October 01, 2010

bruzzbuzz says:

Great not greatest

Posted January 13, 2009

CJTurner says:

Yeah, it was great for a week or so, then it was just "warm," and now, I had to think about it before I remembered what it was.

Posted December 12, 2008

greatspiderweb says:

This is Meme mutation, crossover and adaptation, with mutation being the key element.

Posted November 11, 2008

Brys_Web says:

hmmm ok

Posted September 24, 2008

It's the GREATEST with a cherry on top!

Copernic1 says:

Love me some Astley humor. Check out this Rickroll satire on The Chicago Dope.

http://www.thechicagodope.com/2010/09/07/rick-astley-pranks-his-fans-rickrolls-concertgoers/

Posted October 03, 2010

TheWebCat says:

Awesome! What can i say this is a great idea

Posted June 04, 2009

vividearth says:

rick + roll > rick || roll

Posted March 26, 2009

JerryCollins3 says:

It's the best roll I've had in years just a roll without any action nor music. Those are the kind my ole heart can handle. I did eat the cherry tho.

Posted February 16, 2009

QueSea says:

memetic mutation

Posted January 23, 2009

 
view all 58 comments

Use Protection?

Fine, I get it. Some of you may not like getting Rick Rolled. Especially if it happens a lot. Some of you may even be paranoid, refusing to surf anywhere on the internet anymore that ISN'T CNN or my blog.

Well, you don't need to hide from the "big, bad, interwebs" anymore. Someone came up with a tool that will tell you the risk different sites have of being Rick Rolls.

RickProof Your World.

Like the terror alert system, but for Rick Astley.

---

This page, by the way, ranked as an "extreme risk"

Support From Cracked!

They think the Rick Roll is the "Most Obnoxious Meme to Escape The Web"

It's not just me, it's Cracked.com too!

From their write-up:

Rickrolling had become widespread by May 2007, with hundreds of thousands of occurrences popping up all over internet message boards, despite the fact that it had stopped being funny around the second time someone ever did it. By 2008, it somehow began appearing outside the web, which you wouldn't think would be possible for a joke based around a misleading link.



Thanks, Cracked!

10 Variations On The Rick Roll You Should Try Out

(You know, to keep it fresh?)

1

Vote Up
Vote Down

Use the first four lines from the chorus as the titles for your next four blog posts (without explanation)

4 points

2

Vote Up
Vote Down

Take a projector and project the video onto the side of a building near you

4 points

3

Vote Up
Vote Down

When in a public place, play the song very loudly. As soon as it starts, start pretending to try and turn it off. After 10 seconds, finally "figure it out" and apologize

2 points

4

Vote Up
Vote Down

When with a friend, start humming the song. Then ask the friend if they remember the lyrics

2 points

5

Vote Up
Vote Down

Make a mix CD for your good friends, inserting "Never Gonna Give You Up" somewhere in the middle

1 point

6

Vote Up
Vote Down

Post various screenshots of the video as a Flickr album

1 point

7

Vote Up
Vote Down

Send a letter to your political representatives, asking them to have April 1 be recognized as "Rick Astley Appreciation Day"

1 point

8

Vote Up
Vote Down

Buy a Rick Astley CD through Amazon (if you click on a link below, any referral commission I would get goes to charity) and send it to an unsuspecting victim with the note "I thought you might enjoy this"

1 point

9

Vote Up
Vote Down

Print up Rick Astley postcards and use them as stationery (for any snail mail you might be doing)

0 points

10

Vote Up
Vote Down

Hide CDs around your neighborhood with 10 separate tracks of "Never Gonna Give You Up", accompanied with a note saying "Congratulations! You found my band's demo. Give it a listen, and email me to tell you what you think!"

0 points

Rick Astley On Amazon

A great way to prank your friends!

Or you could listen to the music to bring back some fond memories. Either way, if you buy through here, I've asked Squidoo to forward any referral bonus I'd see to charity.

So feel good while you do it!
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More Rick Roll Variations

Got an idea? Submit your own!

1

Vote Up
Vote Down

Have Your Band Cover It In A Concert

3 points

2

Vote Up
Vote Down

Build a karaoke Float...

and only have One Song to choose from (but don't t more...3 points

3

Vote Up
Vote Down

Send it to a friend's phone with http://www.prankdialer.com/

2 points

4

Vote Up
Vote Down

Rickrolling the Church of Scientology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBDzzL3Kzpk2 points

5

Vote Up
Vote Down

Has Rick Astley Ever Been Rick Rolled?

He's 42 now and his singing career ended years ago more...1 point

For More Information About The Rick Roll And Clever Rick Roll Examples

Please click over to the following sites

Rick Astley
The unofficial Rick Astley website
Rick Astley on Wikipedia
Rick Astley's Wikipedia page
"Never Gonna Give You Up" on Wikipedia
A Wikipedia entry for the featured song
The Rick Roll on Wikipedia
The Rick Roll is on Wikipedia too!
The Counter-Argument
Arguing to stop silly internet memes
Moving Rick Roll
This one makes it difficult to close, since it stays on the move. Send it to your friends!
Lolcats Rick Roll You
Some people have claimed that Lolcats offer up a better meme than the good ol' RR. What would happen if the two "never gave [each other] up"? Click over to find out...

Some Other Lenses You May Like

Particularly those about various memes

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by

anulman

My name is Aidan. I've been Rick Rolled twice.
I've Rick Rolled plenty of others -- sometimes they were willing victims, others weren't. Sometimes, I... more »

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