MEMES, Bonus: A Billion Ricks

Endless Thread

WBUR

Reddit, Technology

4.2 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2021

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, we explored the origin of the “Rick Roll,” a meme that evolved from Rick Astley’s 1987 hit song, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Since the music video resurfaced as the meme in 2007, the internet has also never given up on Rick – so much so that the video recently hit a billion views on YouTube. This bonus episode dives deeper into Rick’s childhood, how he was discovered, and how he dealt with not only his fame in the late 80s, but with his more complicated identity as a meme.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Destination Canada.
0:03.7	Sometimes life just gets overwhelming.
0:05.7	It's time to take a breath.
0:07.7	Unwind and relax in breath taking Canada.
0:10.4	The rugged western coastline is hung to ancient rainforests and incredible wildlife, while
0:15.1	the Rockies are home to lakes and majestic mountains.
0:18.1	Further east, discover sweeping parkland in Ontario, or Serene countryside life in Canada's
0:23.7	Francophone culture.
0:48.5	Produced by the I-Lab at WBUR Boston.
1:01.4	How did you hear about Rick Rowling?
1:05.3	I have a friend who lives in America.
1:08.1	He's been there a long time now.
1:09.8	He's a record producer and writer.
1:11.6	He Rick rolled me a couple of times.
1:13.6	I had no idea what he was doing.
1:15.6	I just thought he was just being an idiot, right?
1:18.2	This is Rick Astley.
1:19.2	And in the end, I must have emailed him back or something and said what are you doing?
1:23.1	And in the end, I just called him.
1:24.6	He said, what, you have no idea about this yet?
1:27.0	And I said, what, what is this?
1:33.1	If you are wondering, Rick Rowling, what is this?
	...

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