The Rick Roll: Great Internet Meme, Or The GREATEST Internet Meme?
Ranked #878 in Tech & Geek, #22,862 overall
Answering The Question At The Top Of Everybody's Mind
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 Rick Roll
(You know, that thing everyone's a-talking about?)
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.
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
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)
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
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
The song's choreography was ripped off from a previous Janet Jackson video
0 points
10 Reasons Why The Rick Roll Is The GREATEST
(Again, 3 of these aren't fact)
Many people are flabbergasted when they realize that the guy who sang this classic is white
9 points
"Never Gonna Give You Up" is the one song that can make Chuck Norris cry
7 points
YouTube (and, by extension, Google) Rick Rolled its users as an April Fools joke
5 points
No other song could get a bartender (or you) dancing like Clive Clarke did
2 points
The phenomenon has dedicated followers, like Jonathan Harper from Austin, Texas, who tried to start the First National Church of Astley
2 points
What Do YOU Think?
Is the Rick Roll just a great internet meme, or the GREATEST internet meme?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byIt's just plain great.
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
Gail47 says:
Interesting way to spend your time. Hope you enjoyed the roll.
Posted September 20, 2008
It's the GREATEST with a cherry on top!
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
M_S_Beltran says:
Rick rolling is the greatest. I loved it when the Foster's Imaginary Friends Rick Rolled America at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Posted December 28, 2008
Use Protection?
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?)
Use the first four lines from the chorus as the titles for your next four blog posts (without explanation)
4 points
Take a projector and project the video onto the side of a building near you
4 points
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
When with a friend, start humming the song. Then ask the friend if they remember the lyrics
2 points
Make a mix CD for your good friends, inserting "Never Gonna Give You Up" somewhere in the middle
1 point
Send a letter to your political representatives, asking them to have April 1 be recognized as "Rick Astley Appreciation Day"
1 point
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
Print up Rick Astley postcards and use them as stationery (for any snail mail you might be doing)
0 points
Rick Astley On Amazon
A great way to prank your friends!
So feel good while you do it!
More Rick Roll Variations
Got an idea? Submit your own!
Build a karaoke Float...
and only have One Song to choose from (but don't t more...3 points
Rickrolling the Church of Scientology
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBDzzL3Kzpk2 points
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...
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What else do you have to say?
You can comment on the lens here, or even submit a site review at The Isle of Squid!
johnrapp wrote...
Check out my lens called FUCK BUM MARKETING AND FUCK YOU, TRAVIS SAGO. The title is very good.
Posted February 13, 2009
Marti wrote...
Great lens! (I happen to like the song, so I don't mind getting RickRolled)
I love the Barack Roll, where someone cut clips of him saying all the words in the lyrics, and inserting them into the song. Also, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, RickRolled the entire nation on Thursday, January 15, launching the Congressional YouTube Channel with what started as cats looking out the window, but morphed into Rick Astley.
Story with links to both here:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1871761,00.html
All the best to you!
Posted January 17, 2009
clouda9 wrote...
Took me a minute to figure this one out...I can be daft sometimes :) Ha, ha funny and thanks for the share!
Posted December 10, 2008
only1bub wrote...
Hey - just a note that the youtube video says it's no longer available!
Posted November 27, 2008
hlkljgk wrote...
undoubtedly the greatest. how does one not know about the rick roll? the literal version is my all time favorite - totally enjoyable rick roll
http://www.squidoo.com/rick-rolld#module12654569
:)
Posted November 18, 2008
RyanRE wrote...
Oh the Rick Roll. This is too funny. I have already commented here, but I say a link on another lens and just had to come back and check it out again.
Posted October 24, 2008
desertgrace wrote...
Posted October 13, 2008
Haha, yeah, I clicked on a youtube clip,and instead of getting the clip I wanted, what came up was a video by Rick. It was a nice (and funny) surprise.
Posted August 31, 2008
mulberry wrote...
Thanks for explaining it all...I've been scratching my head over this for awhile...
Posted August 20, 2008
Party_Girl wrote...
This song was number one on the day I was born!
Love the lens :)
Posted August 13, 2008
WhitePineLane wrote...
This is my favorite line from your lens:
"Like the terror alert system, but for Rick Astley."
I LOL!
Posted August 11, 2008
Tipi wrote...
Well, this was interesting, never heard of MEME b4!
Thanks for making such a good lens for me to read.
Http://www.squidoo.com/women_for_hire might give you ladies some ideas on career choices.
Posted July 30, 2008
by anulman
I've Rick Rolled plenty of others -- sometimes they were willing victims, others weren't. Sometimes, I... (more)
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