Anyone with a computer has probably been RickRolled by now—even if you don’t know what that is.

Don’t worry, your computer isn’t broken, but it is a little more awesome.

In short, RickRolling is what happens when you click a link, but instead of getting the webpage you expected, you are greeted with the 1987 music video of Rick Astley’s hit song, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” See the video here, if you haven’t already.

For its part, the song is a silly bit of disposable dance-pop. It’s really not anything special, and Astley was something of a one-hit-wonder in the ‘80s. The fact that the song has been resurrected in this way is random and weird and, most of all, entertaining (for now).

This online fad was born once net-dorks rediscovered the video and recognized the inherent comedic value in the (unintentionally) funny video and catchy song. It’s endearing because it’s such a weird bit of harmless fun (yeah, who knew “hacking” could be harmless fun? Go figure).

In a recent interview with the LA Times, Astley seemed confused and reluctantly flattered by the trend, but seems to have a sense of humor about it.

In fact, today the featured video section of YouTube has been hacked so that all of the video links lead to Astley.

Which, let’s face it, this silly video is probably better than most of YouTube’s videos of kids falling off of their skateboards anyway.

And for the record, Astley, now 42, is still a working musician—that might be the most surprising part of this whole story. Check out his website. Oh, and his hair is still fantastic.

In honor of Astley and RickRollers everywhere, we present today’s list:

The Most Awesome Things about Rick Astley

Super-sweet dance moves
While his big, booming voice is radio-gold, Astley’s dance moves are not. This may be the key to the whole video. In short, this must be where Napoleon Dynamite copped all of his dance moves. Awkward, nerdy, stiff and utterly devoid of rhythm, Rick Astley is a monument to bad dancing—and we love him for it.

Buy at AllPosters.com

Hair
As evidenced by the now inescapable video, Astley has the biggest, shiniest pompadour since Elvis. You want to touch it, but you really shouldn’t.

Sunglasses
Over-sized ‘80s sunglasses? Yeah, he’s rockin’ em. So what?

Cheesy ‘80s synth music
This is after all, dance music. So cheesy keyboards are mandatory—and hilarious.

Buy at AllPosters.com

Fashion
A particularly suave wardrobe choice finds our star dressed in head to toe denim, all one color, all bleached/stonewashed. And his high-wasted pants practically come up to his nipples. Classy.

Incompetent backing dancers
Blond girls with big, um, hair, in tight dresses dance around Astley in several scenes of the video, and while Astley himself is no Fred Astaire, these ladies are worse than any Dancing with the Stars cast-off. The dancing bartender is also awesomely awful.

Hair, again.
Seriously, watch the video. This guy’s hair is beyond human. Perfectly sculpted and shellacked, it is surely indestructible and a wonder to behold. But, much like the sun, it is probably best not to stare directly at it.

Fun Fact:
In 1989 Astley was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the Grammys, but lost to Tracy Chapman. Yeah, well, who is laughing now, Tracy? Well, Tracy probably isn’t laughing, but then again, she doesn’t seem like much fun.

And…
Astley’s other hit song, “Together Forever” is almost as sweet as “Never Gonna Give You Up.” If that one catches on, Astley’s revived 15 minutes of fame might just last a little longer.

Your turn…
What’s the most awesome thing about Rick Astley? Leave a comment and tell us!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Free Music, 80s Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.