this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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It is a great song. I think that is one reason it works so well for the meme.
Great song
Very distinctive and ear catching drums to start the song
The first time you see the video, you're probably surprised that he's a smallish white guy
His dancing in the video is... extremely white?
I think if it was actually a bad song, it would never have caught on as a meme, and that the people who hate the song are either overexposed to it or their opinion of the song is heavily influenced by how it's been presented to them. You know, like how if you tell a child that some bit of food is gross, then they often won't like it when they taste it.
Very good analysis, because I always wonder "Why THIS song?"
Like, is there an alternate universe where it's like "OMG the thing you've been waiting for! (link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914
...okay maybe the lead up takes a lot longer. Never Gonna Give You Up hits you immediately with those drums and a dance that can easily be repurposed as a taunt. Lol
I dont know if that a rick roll or just a random music video, but at this point I'm to afraid to click it.
Hey you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, amigo!
But don't worry it's...
A-Ha! Take On Me . Another shining example of a basically perfect and immortal pop song. :pI mean, it's probably just up to whoever first started doing it. They chose that song, so it's that song. Other songs may have also worked.
But there is one thing that I think gave Rick Astley an advantage over specific other groups like A-ha. And that's his name. If you look up the history of Rickrolling on Wikipedia, it says it replaced a meme called "duckrolling", which was used the same way as Rickrolling, but it was just a picture of a duck with wheels. So the advantage is that "Rick" is his name and it's an easy drop-in replacement for the word "duck".
There's other artists who have names that would work. Who knows? In another universe, they might have "Beckrolling" or something.
Edit: I was just reading farther into the Wikipedia article, and the guy who made the first Rickroll said he chose it because it came out in his birth year of 1987.