X

Good thing Rick Astley doesn't mind Rickrolling, cause we're never gonna give it up

The singer whose 1980s video is at the heart of a recurring internet joke says he knows it's not personal.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
See full bio
Gael Cooper
2 min read

When Rick Astley spoke to Rolling Stone for a recent story, he discussed his US concerts, new album, impressive hair and the fact that Melania Trump seems to have quoted him in her infamous Republican National Convention speech. ("There's still a part of me that's not 100 percent sure that's what she was doing," he said.)

But of course, the reporter had to ask the namesake of Rickrolling, the internet trend of fooling someone by sending them Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video, what he thought about the whole thing. He just wants to tell you how he's feeling, gotta make you understand.

"I have no problem with it," Astley told the magazine. "It's done me a lot of good, probably. The thing is it's not personal to me, even though I know it is me and it's my name in the title of Rickrolling. It's that video that I'm in, it's that song that's mine, but it could have been anybody."

The singer agreed that the trend has introduced him to a new generation, and he appreciates that the goofy video wasn't altered as part of the joke. That's the truth -- he's never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you.

Related stories

"If someone had messed around with it and cut it all up and made me look stupid -- I mean I look pretty stupid anyway in that video -- if it was nasty, then I'd be probably a bit pissed off, but it's not," he said. "It's like, 'We're choosing that video because it's a full-on Eighties, cheesy video.' There's no getting away from it now and I've got to own it because if I don't, it's like being petty."

Sadly, he no longer owns the long white raincoat he wears in the video. It ran around, and deserted him.

"Somebody stole it off me in Northern Ireland," Astley said. "We [played] a radio broadcast outside and it got swamped. There were a couple of policemen, but it all went just a bit mad. Everyone was grabbing hold of me and before I knew it, it just went off of me."

Damn thief. He probably knew the rules, but figured he wouldn't get this coat from any other guy.