A rickroll is a kind of earworm

If you listened to music in the 1980s, you might have heard Rick Astley’s wonder hit, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ playing on the radio (this was before Spotify, or YouTube). And if you’ve been on the Internet in the last few years, you might have become aware that the song has become something of a pop culture phenomenon… and a pretty formidable earworm.

It started around 2007 when someone uploaded the ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ music video on YouTube, since which it’s reached more than 60 million views. Thanks to the imageboard website 4chan, and a process known as ‘bait-and-switch’ (a trick where you’re made to think you’re following a link somewhere and it takes you somewhere else), Internet users all over the world got rickrolled. Getting rickrolled is a fiendishly simple trick — it involves tricking someone into clicking on a link which takes them to the ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ music video. And of course, once a song like ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ gets into your head, you’re hearing that tune wherever you go until you get something to replace it with.

Even the White House got into the groove, replying to a tweet about fiscal policy with a link on its Twitter feed that it promised would be “more fun” (a link which, obviously, led to the ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ music video).

But what’s the point,  I hear you plaintively asking, to which all I can say is: It’s the Internet. It gave us AOL, social media and lolcats, so it’s certainly capable of giving us rickrolls.

Waste of time or not, this particular earworm has found itself a solid spot in internet culture, and has spawned numerous memes, including but not limited to these marvels:

The name’s Roll. Rick Roll.
(Image source: http://bit.ly/ZPwXMp)

The name’s Roll. Rick Roll.

Image source: http://bit.ly/ZGbsiE

Admit it. You’re singing along.

 

And of course, if you know this song, you’ve probably got it stuck in your head now, too.

Happy earworming!