ViralWorld

Rickrolling

You might remember it as Rickroll, Never Gonna Give You Up bait

Viral classics10 of 40

2007·Early YouTube

The bait-and-switch that made a 1987 pop single the internet's longest-running joke.

At a glanceThe facts

Remembered as
Rickroll
Spread in
2007
Format
Phenomenon
Era
Early YouTube
The song
Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley, released as a single on 27 July 1987
Where it started
4chan, as a variation on an earlier prank called the duckroll
Origin
Origin not yet established
Available
Playable from the source

What this wasThe story

A link promises one thing and delivers Rick Astley singing Never Gonna Give You Up, a 1987 single most of the people being tricked were too young to have heard first time. It began on 4chan on 15 May 2007, when a user posted the music video in place of a Grand Theft Auto IV trailer, and it replaced duckrolling — the same bait-and-switch built around an image of a duck on wheels, which existed because a word filter turned eggroll into duckroll.

Why it matteredWhat changed

It is the bait-and-switch everybody agreed was harmless: a link that promises one thing and delivers a 1987 pop video. It gave the internet a prank it could play on anyone, including itself, and it revived the career of the man it was played with.

TimelineIn order

  1. Made

    Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up is released as a single.1

  2. Made

    The duckroll appears on 4chan, after a word filter there turns “egg” into “duck”. It is the bait-and-switch the rickroll is a variation on.1

  3. Posted

    Shawn Cotter uploads the Astley video to YouTube as “Rickroll’D” and it is passed off as a link to the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer. This is the first known rickroll.1

  4. Mainstream

    Anonymous protesters outside the Church of Scientology play the song. It is the first rickroll to get mainstream attention.1

  5. Took off

    Every featured link on YouTube’s homepage leads to the video. It is watched 6.6 million times that day.1 What else happened on 1 April

  6. Mainstream

    Astley rickrolls the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person, from a cartoon float, and is voted Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards without attending.1

  7. Record

    The video passes one billion views on YouTube.1

What people misrememberSet straight

Commonly remembered asRick Astley wrote the song.

ActuallyIt was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman.1

Commonly remembered asThe meme made Astley rich.

ActuallyHe had received twelve US dollars in YouTube performance royalties as of 2010. One of the songwriters, Pete Waterman, said in 2009 that he had been paid eleven pounds.1

LegacyWhat it left behind

More from hereIn this collection

Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · a moment that changed what the internet did next · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast · still being watched and quoted years later

This is the copy ViralWorld can show you. Whether it is the first is not established.

Where it came fromWhat we know

Original source uncertain. This is the earliest copy currently known.

View this upload on YouTube

No original upload has been established for this record. The index is showing the earliest copy it currently knows about, and says so rather than guessing.

Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.

When
The sources below date the original to 2007-05-15. ViralWorld records this as a cited claim rather than an established publication date, because it holds no copy to check it against.

More from 2007You were there

ConnectedFollow it further

SourcesWhat was read

  1. Wikipedia — Rickrolling

Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things

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