History JustForFun / Rickroll

The first ''victim'' of the Rickroll is commonly believed to be Music/KylieMinogue -- but in a very {{meta}} sense. She and Astley were both members of the Music/StockAitkenWaterman hit factory back in {{the eighties}}. Apparently, they rushed through the production of her song "I Should Be So Lucky" because Astley was supposed to use the studio to record later that day. Looking at the production dates, it's not impossible to believe she was the first person to have been sidelined by a performance of "Never Gonna Give You Up". Despite the popularity of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQPUpSjzYkQ this video]], the first Rickroll victim was ''not'' Creator/BillOReilly.[[note]]In fact, what caused him to walk off his set was a video by [[Music/ThePolice Sting]], which is probably much more poetic, but less meme-tastic.[[/note]]

How did it become so popular? It's simple, it's mostly harmless, and the song itself is pretty catchy. That said, several have found ways of avoiding it -- they either simply checked the UsefulNotes/{{copyright}} info on the Platform/YouTube link to see if it featured the song (or "content from Rick Astley Official Channel"), or memorized the [=YouTube=] link for it.

How did it become so popular? It's simple, it's mostly harmless, and the song itself is pretty catchy. That said, several have found ways to avoiding it -- they either simply checked the UsefulNotes/{{copyright}} info on the Platform/YouTube link to see if it featured the song (or "content from Rick Astley Official Channel"), or memorized the [=YouTube=] link for it.

How did it become so popular? It's simple, it's mostly harmless, and the song itself is pretty catchy. That said, several have found ways to avoiding it -- they either simply checked the UsefulNotes/{{copyright}} info on the Website/YouTube link to see if it featured the song (or "content from Rick Astley Official Channel"), or memorized the [=YouTube=] link for it.

* When the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem U.S. House of Representatives]] launched its Website/YouTube channel, Speaker Nancy Pelosi invoked the Rickroll. More interestingly, the Oregon State Legislature managed to do something similar [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZi4JxbTwPo&feature=player_embedded without anybody noticing]]. More recently, the Nebraska State Legislature invoked one to [[https://twitter.com/NebPubMediaNews/status/1395420745740791810?s=04&fbclid=IwAR3R48bqA1cIkcjT5LwRbogM1lVB72G7ZievaigAju2vzKUrT7Fh6aZDkqA break up a filibuster]].

* In the song "Fugue State" from ''Theatre/{{Octet}}'', Toby sings a Website/YouTube link, claiming that it's where "the secret" lies. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/musicals/comments/ed3ilx/omg_this_is_an_actual_lyric_in_dave_malloys_octet/ If one were to type out said link]], it would inevitably lead to a Rickroll.

* WebVideo/{{Kitboga}} is a scambaiter popular on Website/YouTube and Website/{{Twitch}}.

It grew to be more than just an Internet meme, though; it was one of the few memes to [[AscendedMeme break out of the Internet]] and into general popular culture. People were trying this in RealLife, trying to foist the video (or even a live performance of the song) on large public gatherings. Newspaper articles were even written about the phenomenon, to the point where discussions of the song on its own merits as a song were very rare. It also means that Rick Astley himself was very much aware of the meme; at first, he was quite baffled by it and started to get really annoyed that [[IAmNotSpock it's all anyone ever wanted to ask him about]], but he eventually grew to accept and embrace it.

* The TV Tropes page Laconic/SchmuckBait contains one as part of a SelfDemonstratingArticle.