When I was about 11, my neighbor had her mother's Barbie dolls from the 60's. There was a FOB (friend o' Barbie) named Alan. He had fuzzy red hair and looked just like Rick Astley. We hated him and were always mean to that doll.

He never gave us up.

It is an infectious song.... whenever I get rolled I can't help but listen to the song all the way through. Damn, the kid had a good voice.

Richard Pye: He never gave us up.

He never let us down.

This submission is full of T3H WIN!

Seems like an OK guy.
Who would've thought he wasn't teh ghey?

I was worried he was running around and deserting me.

thats cool. good for him for having a good sense of humor about the whole thing.

rick rules!

Cewley: rick rolls!

Get it right!

Meh. This article is just a rehash of this (new window) much weightier interview he gave to BBC Newsnight three weeks ago.

King Something: Richard Pye: He never gave us up.

He never let us down.

He never ran around nor deserted us.

SilentStrider: thats cool. good for him for having a good sense of humor about the whole thing.

Zackly.

Great article.. and with new SurroundSound audio!!!

Gavino, great find on that BBC Newsnight article.

Astley also did an interview with German Newspaper Berliner Zeitung here (new window)

FARK YEAH! Greenlight, indeed! I read about this a few hours ago, before i went out, and i couldn't help but think how brilliant it all was. Very humble guy, and seems to genuinely like the attention.

Embarrassing admission #26:

I have to admit I really like his song "Cry For Help (pops)".

That is all.

I got rickroll'd in the grocery store the other day. I couldn't help but smile. Good stuff. Glad he's happy about it.

I remember watching this on Night Tracks (^) in the late 80s

Rick Astley is handling this situation perfectly, and will probably end up pocketing several million extra dollars thanks to this thing. And after reading his comments, I have to say he deserves it.

Exactly, Rick actuallys "gets it" and is embracing it. Kudos for his good attitude about it

This was the article I had been expecting for months.....that finally WASN'T a Rickroll.

/sadly I saw a duckroll before I saw a rickroll

Wow, I like the guy now, that was cool. Not self-important, grasps that the Internet is a completely randomly amusingly weird thing. Plus he taught me a new Britword, good on him.

I like some of the variations:
Fresh Prince Roll
Tay Zonday Singing to the video
Reich Roll (Yes, a Rickroll thread has been Godwinned)

The chocolate rain variants ... not so much except maybe Chad Vader

Rickrolling is an example of an Internet "meme" (defined by Wikipedia Richard Dawkins as "any unit of cultural information ... that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another").

FTFY

I think if I were an editor I'd smack any contributor that was merely pawning stuff off as "defined by Wikipedia". I don't think the attribution is needed for an inline definition, either.

+1

I thought I'd gotten over my love for Rick by 1990. I let him down. I deserted him. But it's renewed suddenly. Sigh. If only I was as reliable as him.

Kinda cool how he has a good sense of humor about the whole thing.

/+1 for Rick

This is why I have this song on my iPod.

I'm sure he could probably go on tour or something with that song and do fairly well.

I smell a VH-1 Reality Show, where Rick will show up at random events to "roll" them.

The song, done on a well-known (albeit relatively low-end) piece of music composition software

i wonder if he's ever been rick rolled

It's great that he's so cool with it.

Now has anyone heard from the other Ric?

I smell a VH-1 Reality Show

If it were a KISSroll and not a rickroll Gene Simmons would already be on it. And I'd be vomiting angrily.

heh, his hair changed. And the face got a little pudgier. But he looks the same still.

Di Atribe: I got rickroll'd in the grocery store the other day. I couldn't help but smile. Good stuff. Glad he's happy about it.

How do you get RickRoll'd in person?

Holy god.... can't believe I'm such a frickin nub that I let myself get Rickroll'd in an article about Rickrolling...

I could've sworn the headline said "Rick Astley has been found dead." at first...

+1

/x1000

I was rickrolled in a thrift store by my brother. He got an excited look on his face and yelped "look! I found an old Ramones tape!" You all can imagine what happened next.

I love stories like this where the person has some perspective on their life. Good going, sir.

SCARY ROLL (so simple, yet so creepy) (new window)

I read the headline as: Rick Astley has been found dead. Then I went to the article, skimmed it, saw something pertaining to anti-Scientology and thought that his death might be a Scientology conspiracy!!!

Then I went back to the comments for some good old Scientology bashing with Tom and Xenu. Finding no such comments, I read the headline again.


FAIL for me!

He sounds like a cool guy, surprisingly. I always wonder if pop artists realize that their work is kinda vapid.

This is great. I mean, really awesome.

Innertoobs, I want to marry you.

Imagine what we'd all be doing without the miraculous creation known as 'the internet.'

Seriously, why is there not a Firefox extension to block them?

There is an Adblock plugin, but it does not really work.

Lars The Canadian Viking: Seriously, why is there not a Firefox extension to block them?

There is an Adblock plugin, but it does not really work.

There is. Flashblock.

Wow...the album with 'never gonna give you up' on it was one of the first cassette tapes I ever owned. I listened to it about 1000 times because I didn't have much else.

...man what a nerd I was...

Here's the interview he did on the BBC about it: link

Glad to see the guy's a good sport. Good on him.

Should I be proud or embarrassed not to have heard of "rickrolling" or "duckrolling" before this article?

/frequent Fark lurker, but out of the loop