Timeless Piece
Never Gonna Be Forgotten
How Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” has never left the spotlight
The infamous beat,
The cheerful ginger,
That damn shoe.
Rick Astley’s music video for his song “Never Gonna Give You Up” has become a staple of internet pranks. Sending gullible friends a link, leading them to Rick Astley’s happy boogey as the song starts to play.
(You can learn how easy it is to pull this prank here)
Many 80s and 90s pop songs can sound nostalgic. Even to those born after their spotlight. The songs have lost relevance as the genre evolved.
Not Never Gonna Give You Up.
It is the musical definition of the word Timeless.
The song kept its relevancy by adapting from the culture of the 80s & 90s, to modern culture.
July 27th, 1987
British singer-songwriter Rick Astley’s debut album Whenever You Need Somebody including the pinnacle of his career, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” This song skyrocketed to the top of the USA, UK, and 23 other countries’ billboards. It was an international hit. This is the song that made Rick Astley a household name even though he didn’t even write the song’s lyrics. The rhythm is unique, almost like it is switching back and forth. The lyrics dive into a promise.
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
This song promises forever devotion. The tone sounds almost comforting in a sense, like it is attempting to relax and assure the person these promises are being made to. This sentiment was easily relatable to many, especially teens. It could make a connection with them how they would never want to hurt someone they love. How they wouldn’t want them to worry about that. The song also confesses a long known love —
We’ve known each other for so long
Your heart’s been aching, but you’re too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what’s been going on
People of all ages can connect to these fears; anxiety and shyness can make people hide their true feelings, even when they know the other person may feel the same. By connecting with people and being so joyous, this song gained its popularity.
This music video’s production was not as simple as it seemed though. Rick Astley as mentioned earlier didn’t even write the song. Instead, three songwriters by the names Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman wrote it together. This group of guys also wrote a handful of other wildly successful pop songs from that era — “Nothings Gonna Stop Me Now” (Samantha Fox), “2 Venus” (Bananarama), “Together Forever” (Rick Astley), and the LEGENDARY “You Spin Me Round” (Dead or Alive). This trio gave Rick Astley, and many more success in the music industry.
How did this evolve over the years and stay relevant?
Rick Astley’s song eventually faded out from the spotlight but it came back. How could the SAME song with NO DIFFERENCES have a resurgence in popularity?
The Internet
In 2007 on a website called 4chan, there was a prank called “duckroll.” It involved tricking a user to click on a link that brought up an image of a duck on wheels.
This evolved into what is now known as “rickroll” in March of that year when a trailer was released for the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. It was so popular, the website with the video on it crashed. Internet pranksters decided to claim they had the video on a private website. They would then send a link that would redirect to Rick Astley’s music video for “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
This prank would spread off 4chan. The song became a trick, a joke. It became something new that entertained a new generation. To this day the prank is still being played. These pranks have given the song’s music video over a billion views (that’s like 9 zeros!!!) since it was published. The internet is worldwide too, so the song is still popular worldwide as these pranks continue to play out.
I myself have been trapped more times than I can count. My friend had sent me the link to a YouTube video I needed to watch for a Biology quiz the next day. After I clicked on it I was greeted by the all too familiar British ginger dancing and singing.
I felt like a fool after falling for it, but then I wanted to inflict that foolishness onto someone else. I then tricked more of my friends into seeing that damn shoe tap around with the snazzy rhythm of rickroll. That’s how it spread now, and how it did originally. People fell for the prank and wanted to trick others to have the same feat.
People have heard the song so frequently, it doesn’t sound the same as other old songs do. Serious profit and popularity came from a joke. It endured time. It became relevant to a younger, different generation. The song managed to stay relevant in the digital age.
Adaptation allows all things, to become timeless.
