4/1/2008 - You've been Rickrolled

I wouldn't be doing my job as the YouTube Addict if I didn't inform you about the whole "Rickroll" phenomenon, and today being April Fools, there's no better time. Have you ever been enticed by a link to a YouTube video by an interesting or even titillating title or description, and all you got was a video of a cheesy 80's music video? Well, you've been "Rickrolled", my friend. The music video is actually of Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up" and it certainly hasn't aged well.

I don't know who started the trend, but it has suddenly exploded as an internet meme. It has all culminated to this day, when all of the technology websites out there collectively pull their April Fools pranks out of their bag and unsurprisingly most are using the Rickroll in some way. YouTube itself got into the act earlier this week by stating that the Rickroll phenomenon has eaten up so much of their bandwidth that they were going to pull all of Astley's music video. Well what did they decide to do this morning? They linked all of their featured videos on the front page to the music video. Yes, they set everybody up to take the fall. It was probably one of the better April Fools pranks I've seen to date.

So what is all the hubbub about? What does it really mean to be Rickrolled? Well, here's the video:



Oops, did I just fool you? You weren't Rickrolled... you were bitchslapped! :)