Rick Rolled

In 2008, Rick Astley saw an enormous boost in his popularity by people making false videos on YouTube that would eventually show is music video for the song "Never Gonna Give You Up."

The music video itself was taken off of Youtube, but then Vevo put up the same video but more high def.  I for one know how frustrating it was when "RickRolling" was in its prime popularity.  On April 1, 2008 it got even more out of hand.  YouTube.com linked every video on their home page to the Rick Astley music video.  I used to basically live on YouTube during my senior of high school, so needless to say, I did not appreciate that April Fool's joke.

The Rick Rolling videos are hilarious though.  People would put them on videos that are in high demand, and you never knew if the video you were clicking on was actually the real thing.  The first video that started the trend was a trailer for the high anticipated Grand Theft Auto video game.  It was suppose to be the first trailer released of the new game, and ended up being a prank on millions of people that probably have never seen or heard of the song.

Rick Astley benefited greatly because of this even in video history, and has even seen more opportunities to perform.  His newfound popularity has gotten his song played at large sporting events, and even holiday parades.  Even though Rick has been happy with the whole situation, there have been certain groups that are extremely upset with people creating Rick Roll videos.

In 2008, a group of people decided it would be a good idea to Rick Roll the Church of Scientology.  The Scientologists did not find it entertaining, and found it quite offensive.  I think the Rick Rolling should just stay with flash mobs or internet videos.  That way it stays funny, and doesn't really attack people personally like that.  I think its hilarious when people go to show you a video and it happens to be a Rick Rolled video.  It has been about 6 years now since the initial video, and popularity has died down.  Viral videos don't tend to be around really long time, but I do like being reminded every once in a while when I click on a video and get a blast from the past.