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Never Gonna Give You Up

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This article is about the Rick Astley song. For other uses, see Never Gonna Give You Up (disambiguation).
"Never Gonna Give You Up"
Song

"Never Gonna Give You Up" is a song written by Stock, Aitken & Waterman and sung by English singer Rick Astley. The song was released as the first single from Astley's multi-million selling debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody. The song was a worldwide number-one hit, initially in the singer's native United Kingdom in 1987, where it stayed at number one for five weeks and was the best-selling single of that year.

The song won Best British Single at the 1988 Brit Awards. The music video for the song has become the basis for the "Rickrolling" Internet meme.

In 2008, Rick Astley won the MTV EMA awards for "Best Act Ever" with the song "Never Gonna Give You Up", as a result of collective voting from thousands of Astley enthusiasts and rickrollers.

Music video

In the "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video, directed by Simon West,[1] a smiling Astley sings and dances to the song in various outfits and venues in West London, sometimes accompanied by backup dancers. A bartender played by Clive Clarke gradually shifts from casually noticing Astley's singing to being fully engrossed in the song with energetic acrobatic moves. The athletic exertion of many of the other dancers also becomes more intense over the course of Astley's performance.

Rickrolling

Main article: Rickrolling

"Never Gonna Give You Up" is the subject of a popular Internet prank known as "rickrolling" involving misleading links redirecting to the song's music video. By May 2007, the practice had achieved notoriety on the Internet, and it increased in popularity after its use as a 2008 April Fool's Day joke by various media companies and websites, including YouTube rickrolling all of its featured videos on that day and a website allowing people to Rickroll their friends' phones.[2]

In 'a couple of weeks', about 13 million people had been 'rickrolled' into watching Astley's video, the BBC reported on 1 April 2008. "I think it's just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it," Astley told the Los Angeles Times in late March 2008, adding: "That's what's brilliant about the Internet." [3][4]

Rick Astley also appeared in the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade interrupting a song performed by those on a float promoting the Cartoon Network program Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends with a lipsynched performance of "Never Gonna Give You Up".[5]

In several of its protests against Scientology, Anonymous has employed The Rickroll[6].

2008 Christmas Facebook Campaign

Also known as the "Ultimate Rickroll". On December 1, 2008, a campaign was started on Facebook in an attempt to make the song the 2008 Christmas #1 in the UK as an attempt to "rickroll" the country during Christmas. The campaign's purpose was to stop the X-Factor from gaining the #1 Christmas spot, thereby ending the show's chain of success. The group attracted nearly 30,000 people in its first week active. Campaigners were encouraged to get as many people as possible to download the song from iTunes between the 15th and 20th of December 2008. The song only managed to peak at #73; however, this was later found to be a deliberate lowering of the song's place (having reached #3 a week before it came to its finish) due to the company's belief that "the songs [sic] ranking was ridiculous and rigging a contest was unfair on other artists".[7] The campaigners, Jon and Tracy Morter, were ultimately successful the following year with a Rage Against The Machine campaign that hit the No.1 spot in December 2009

Cover versions

The Rickrollerz

"Never Gonna Give You Up"
Song

The Rickrollerz is a pseudonym used by a group of London dance producers that made a house music cover version of Rick Astley's 1987 song "Never Gonna Give You Up" on the day, and in honor of, the London Liverpool Street Station rickmob on April 11, 2008. In May 2008, the track entered the UK Club Charts at number 22.

On Friday 11 April, 2008 at 6 PM, a group of people made a "Rickmob" on the Liverpool Street station, inspired on the rickrolling Internet phenomenon. The song was remixed at the same studio as 20 years earlier, the same day.

The "Rickmob" was a spontaneous gathering where hundreds of people dressed as Rick Astley joined on Friday 11 April 2008 in Liverpool Street Station for a short rendition of the 80's superhit and then quickly dispersed.

They released their own single of "Never Gonna Give You Up" the same day.[13]

Track listings

Personnel

  • Written and produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman
  • Engineer : Mark McGuire, Mike Duffy
  • Mixed by :
    • Escape from Newton mix : Mixmaster Pete Hammond
    • Escape to New York mix : The Extra Beat Boys

Charts and certifications

Successions

Preceded by Top selling single of the year (UK)
1987 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number one single
29 August 1987–September 26, 1987 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Swedish number-one single
30 September 1987–11 November 1987 		Succeeded by
"Oh Mama" by Lili & Sussie
Preceded by Australian Music Report Singles Chart number-one single
30 November 1987–11 January 1988 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Brilliant Disguise" by Bruce Springsteen
 Norwegian VG-Lista number-one single
Week 43, 1987 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single
16 January 1988 		Succeeded by
Preceded by New Zealand RIANZ number-one single
5 February 1988 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
12–19 March 1988 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ Simon West (I)
  2. ^ PrankDialer.com - A website (www.prankdialer.com) allowing people to Rickroll phone numbers.
  3. ^ Rickrolling and the league of web fame, BBC News entertainment reporter Mark Savage, 01-04-2008. Accessed 04-05-2008.
  4. ^ Web Scout exclusive! Rick Astley, king of the 'Rickroll,' talks about his song's second coming, Los Angeles Times blogs, 03-25-2008.Accessed 04-05-2008.
  5. ^ « Rick Astley's unexpected comeback », peoplestar.co.uk, 4 December 2008.
  6. ^ Michaels, Sean (19 March 2008). "Taking the Rick: Twenty years after Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley became an internet phenomenon - and an unlikely weapon against Scientology". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  7. ^ a b http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/c/uk/single_charts.html
  8. ^ "Toujours là pour toi", French and Belgium (Wallonia) Singles Charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved 14 February 2008)
  9. ^ Discogs album listing for Super Eurobeat 149
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ О Томасе Андерсе - взгляд из России. # www.thomas-anders.ru #
  12. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Songs-Eighties-Barry-Manilow/dp/B001HUBFPG
  13. ^ Fraser McAlpine (14 April 2008). "Please, Give Me Up, GIVE ME UP!". BBC. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
  14. ^ David Kent (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970 - 1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up" (in French). Retrieved 14 February 2008.
  16. ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40, week 41, 1987". Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  17. ^ "Suchergebnis" (in German). Retrieved 6 April 2008.
  18. ^ "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Retrieved 14 February 2008.
  19. ^ Scapolo, Dean (2007). The Complete New Zealand Music Charts, 1966-2006: Singles, Albums, DVDs, Compilations. Maurienne House. ISBN 1-877443-00-X.
  20. ^ "Top 40 Hits of Late August 1987". Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  21. ^ a b c "Rick Astley". Retrieved 2 September 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |ASTLEY&sql= ignored (help)
  22. ^ "1987 Swiss Singles Chart" (in German). Retrieved 1 August 2008.
  23. ^ "Top 50 Singles 1988". Retrieved 1 September 2008.
  24. ^ Canada certifications cria.ca (Retrieved 2 September 2008)
  25. ^ French certifications Chartsinfrance.net (Retrieved 2 September 2008)
  26. ^ German certifications musikindustrie.de (Retrieved 1 September 2008)
  27. ^ Dutch certifications nvpi.nl (Retrieved 9 December 2008)
  28. ^ Swedish certifications Ifpi.se (Retrieved 11 September 2008)
  29. ^ UK certifications Bpi.co.uk (Retrieved 2 September 2008)
  30. ^ U.S. certifications riaa.com (Retrieved 2 September 2008)

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