Birdsall Social Media

A Rickroll is a prank played on an unsuspecting web surfer. To be Rickrolled is when browsing a website (especially a discussion forum or comment board – a TWITTER fave), one comes across a link expecting it to lead to one thing, but finds something completely different when the link is clicked.The name Rick refers to 80s pop singer Rick Astley. The standard Rickroll generally involves someone posting a link claiming it leads to something quite interesting (e.g. hot chicks in panties), but actually linking to a video of Mr. Astley singing “Never Gonna Give You Up.” This is usually considered a major let-down.

Here is a classic link that you might send someone to. Of course, you’d want to disguise the link with a URL shortener. This cheesy video has over 18 million hits, so it’s surprising some clever ad agency hasn’t figured out how to snip in a product placement.

Here is a classic “You’ve Been Rickrolled” moment caught on TV (April Fool’s Joke):

Kurt Cobain is Probably (Rick)Rolling in His Grave

Today, Mashable updated the classic (Rick)roll with a great post

We all know that the still-popular but amazingly annoying art of the Rickroll jumped shark a while ago, but we simply couldn’t pass up a new remix of “Never Gonna Give You Up” that the Interwebs delivered to us.

The music video remix, created by DJ Morgoth of Germany, combines the lovey-dovey lyrics of Rick Astley with the instrumentals of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The beats and the lyrics match up almost perfectly. The video editing combining Kurt Cobain’s guitar prowess with Astley’s giant puffball of hair is just extraordinary.

It’s eerie just how well these two songs match up, and we have to credit DJ Morgoth on his excellent music mash-up skills. However, I’m pretty sure Kurt Cobain would kick our asses for enjoying this remix if he were still alive.