Today is the birthday of the man behind a meme. Rick Astley is a British singer best known for "Never Gonna Give You Up" a 80's pop track about how Astley is ready to commit to his relationship. The song received a major second wind online as a viral prank known as Rick Rolling. Instead of sending someone to an unpleasant shock site, this missing link prank faced your prank victim with an over the top 80's pop song.
As I mentioned back in November, the first time I heard about Rick Rolling was during the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where Astley appeared in person to interrupt a with a sudden performance of his signature song, but the reference was lost on my pre-teen self and I was just confused about who this man was singing about love on the Cartoon Network parade float. That being said, I imagine it was even more surreal if you knew what was going on.
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