Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley reaches one billion views [video] | Hacker News Reader

Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley reaches one billion views [video]

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290 pointsSea-n135 comments

Rick is one of the loveliest people in the business. I've had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times when we've worked on shows together (as well as various members of his band) and he takes a genuine interest in everyone's lives, insists that his band and crew are put up in the same luxury hotels as him, etc. A rare gem in the industry!

Rick did a great AMA four years ago. A redditor asked him "Will you ever give me up?" and he said "Go fuck yourself." https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/56cdgm/ama_im_really...

He seems like a neat person. His success is well-deserved.

The commenter first said to Rick Astley “tell me to go fuck yourself” and then edited his comment.

Is that true? The comment is edited, but according to this (https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/56cdgm/ama_im_really...) OP edited their comment to thank someone for gold and grandstand, so presumably they edited it back.

You could be right, I've just never heard that.

Im going from memory (yes, I’m on reddit too much). I think Rick explained it in a later AMA.

I remember the same story.

Yep, can confirm.

Probably happens a lot.

I can tell you that I "won" a KFOG call-in contest, where I almost had all the answers right, and they told me what to say to get them all. Then they edited out their prompt.

The highlight of Rick Astley on reddit was when he got rickrolled.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/haucpf/ive_found_a_fe...

In the same thread, another user points out that the Time magazine wrote a piece on Astley getting rickrolled on reddit: https://archive.is/YH6tf

I knew what was coming but 10/10 did not disappoint.

Amazing

Neat!

From that same reddit:

> Really Rick Astley: "I'm rereading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy AS WE SPEAK." ...

Ok, from now on I won't complain anymore if someone rickrolls me.

Not to steal views, but the 4k enhanced version is crazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YBDTqX_ZU

There's actually an 8k version out as well although the interpolation is a bit funky in some places: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Well played...

I see the YouTube link, I see it is grayed out, I know that I am in a thread about Never Gonna Give You Up, and STILL I managed to get myself Rickrolled.

This meme will live forever.

You sure this other meme about Einstein won't surpass it: https://youtube.com/watch?v=OcL3wJCE1w8&t=54

I just got Rickrolled by a Rickroll?

That's my third time getting rickroll'ed in the comment section of a rickroll thread.

Agreed. Crazy. Was this just created from the 720 version??

That is interesting. Some shots appear to have been done with modern equipment, like a new iPhone. In some shots the backgrounds give off that deep dream vibe.

Presumably all older media will eventually get updated to whatever contemporary standard exists. For example, the entire series of Saved by the Bell in 4k using the latest AI.

I wonder how long until we have 2D media that is turned into fully 3D experiences where you can go into the scenes and watch them from any angle.

Or to go further, the characters are aware of your presence and will go off script based on your actions. Seems almost within reach.

It looks like there is an increase of depth of field, which might make it look more like it is from a phone than cinematic (small sensor = increased depth of field)

That’s backwards.

Nope. Circle of confusion is smaller.

Smaller sensor means less depth of field. Look at what you can do with a medium format camera

For the same field of view, a smaller sensor requires a decrease in the focal length; this leads to a greater depth of field. Moving to a medium-format camera will give less depth of field (and a large-format camera even less). Different sensor sizes using the same focal length will give the same depth of field, but the field of view will vary.

This explains it nicely: https://fstoppers.com/education/understanding-how-sensor-siz...

I just thought it was the 90s

> Presumably all older media will eventually get updated to whatever contemporary standard exists.

I'd rather something come out than can turn 4:3 into 16:9. This article explains why even with the original film that's not really possible now without remaking a lot of scenes.

https://treknews.net/2017/02/02/why-ds9-voyager-not-on-blu-r...

This video gives me some serious uncanny valley-like vines. It looks like all moving characters have been photoshopped on top of their environment.

Gives me hope that some day we can give the ST:TNG treatment to other 90s Sci-Fi that was unfortunately shot on tape and Video Toaster'd.

I read an interesting article about problems upsacaling, I think it was, babalon5. One of the issues they had was that while the original film/video was ahead of it’s time, and could be extended to letterbox relatively easily, but all the CG scenes were rendered 4:3. Led to some unfortunate compromises and some scenes weren’t the same.

Wasn't it remastered and upscaled recently ? The netflix version looks decently good IMHO

ST:TNG got a full re-editing from original film and almost all of the CGI was actually re-created. IDK how it comes across on Netflix but the Blu-ray rips on my Plex are incredible. It wasn't a show I had an urge to watch again but I did it just to nerd out on the editing work.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Remaster#Star_Trek:_The...

Astley still has pipes. This is him singing Never Gonna Give You Up with a choir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJRsWJqDjFE

Not any choir, but choir! choir! choir!

That's actually so sweet! Imagine a whole room full of people who are all good at singing and they are singing your song with you and looking at you and enjoying singing your song with you. I think and hope that even as a famous person with lots and lots of fans all over the world, something like singing his song with those people still felt like a special moment.

That was amazing. How does it have only 62k views?!?

2.5M actually, 62K likes :)

That was... phenomenal. So much joy. Thank you so much.

... also it's a link that goes to what it says it is!

The thing I love about rickrolling is that I genuinely love the song too. It's so catchy I end up listening to it through anyway.

and so do I

A full commitment is what I'm thinking of.

A full commitment eh? That’s a pretty big thing - are there any circumstance where you’d be willing to break that commitment and give up?

You wouldn't get this from any other guy.

And my bow

and my axe!!

I'm surprised it took this long. How many seconds do you have to watch a video before YouTube counts it as a view? There are definitely a lot of frustrated people out there who would have closed the tab immediately after getting rickrolled.

I do think "views" in the title and story should be scare-quoted.

They ought to special-case the rickroll video because of this and count any page load for the rickroll URL as a view for the video :D

Afaik zero. YT assumes autoplay is always enabled and counts a view as soon as link is visited.

Would have been a quality submission even if it hadn't actually reached a billion views.

To my surprise and amazement, 1 billion still isn't enough to reach the top 30 List of most-viewed YouTube videos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-viewed_YouTube_vi...

Highlights:

In December 2012, "Gangnam Style" became the first video to reach one billion views.

1. "Baby Shark Dance" Pinkfong Kids' Songs & Stories 9.04 billion

Baby shark is arguably the most played song ever.

Played on YouTube, yes. But has it been sung more than happy birthday?

Wow, Take On Me doesn't even hit that list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914

Maybe it's because it's the 4k remaster, only out for 11 years? Nonetheless, it's got a couple of hundred views from this household - but tuning more into the acoustic one now which is a masterpiece - and was also featured in Deadpool 2 (sadly not prominently in the Disney Plus version). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xKM3mGt2pE

Sorry a bit OT; it's kind of my lullaby for getting daughter to sleep, (trying to) sing along with Morten.

I'd guess a lot of these older music videos were posted by many people and the views don't all get aggregated.

Interestingly, (yahoo) launchcast could let you watch music videos for free on demand, but couldn't let you pick a song to listen to for audio only because music videos had less onerous licensing.

And then of course there's "Never Gonna Give Your Teen Spirit up"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN75im_us4k

Of all the random internet memes and love affairs. I am always grateful that the internet chose this one early on. It just as easily could have landed on Selena Gomez, or insert other artist who has catchy ear worms - but might not have aged so gracefully.

My daughter has recently discovered the joys of Rickrolling. She finds it hilarious. Especially when she managed to get her granddad recently. He didn't have a clue what was going on though..

Is the video monetized? And if so, how much has one billion views brought in?

Does the one billionth rickroll recipient receive an award of sorts, like an MP3 player that plays Never Gonna Give You Up on repeat?

A new car. They had a flashing banner, but it went unclaimed for some reason. https://xkcd.com/570/

And as xckd is always relevant, if you go forward 3 comics you get one referencing rickrolling!

https://xkcd.com/573/

I can't remember the exact number any more, but I was some big round number like a billion or something'th person to ever enter Disneyland, in I think 1989. They gave me a Sony Walkman.

I* was the 100,000th graduate of my univeristy.

*And everyone else who graduated that year.

And after 7 rickrolls it plays 1 "It's not unusual" before continuing on.

Reference: https://youtu.be/Mw7Gryt-rcc

The sad irony of the link is that it no longer rickrolls anyone because of the mandatory pre-roll ad. You have plenty of time to see what video you're about to see.

Wait, YouTube has ads? Haven't seen one in years.

Sarcasm or adblock?

Not OP, but I subbed to Premium as soon as it was available.

Money well spent!

ad blocker

Rick Astley headlined a festival in the UK over the weekend. A couple of nights before appearing on the main stage he randomly appeared unscheduled in another tent to do a small set. I choose to believe this counts as rickrolling.

my favorite rick roll, and I'm not even sure how to find it, was this long elaborate story / post. It was about a guy accidentally picking up a prostitute and confusing her offer for a pb&j sandwich and getting pulled over and trying to explain this all to the cop. At the end, you are told to go read the first word of every line (or sentence, I forget).... "never gonna give you up...". Got me good.

When I moved house literally the first post I had sent to me at my new address was Rick Astleys album. Took me years to find out who Rickrolled me IRL too.

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/INUws

Think I found it.

Haha! That's it!

I like this one from a Christian call-in show.

“When will people learn that God will never give them up?”

https://youtu.be/FnQVkGcn7Vo

I have been Rickrolled countless times; I have willingly watched it many times, I'm surprised it isn't the most watched video on YouTube

Would you be willing to watch it all day every day like Baby Shark?

In middle school I set the video as my AIM status, then someone in a grade above me messaged me with a rant about how it wasn't funny.

Was anyone here around when the song was first released?

Always wondered what people thought of it back then

It was one of many pop hits of the time.

If I remember right, I mildly enjoyed it.

Eh yeah! The charts were full of that kind of thing so seemed kind of normal.

Peaked at #1

https://www.billboard.com/music/rick-astley/chart-history/HS...

I was more into Duran Duran and the Thompson Twins at the time, but it was a catchy song, and I would find myself humming along. I was amazed as everyone else when it got a second life via the internet.

Back then I was a teenager and I would have told you exactly what I thought of it.

This song was always way better than the other SAW output IMHO. Great song, endearing performance - it's not just audio of <someone> singing it's this video of cheerful Rick singing and bopping around.

Yep, I was 17. I thought it was super-cringey manufactured trash. Well, it was written/produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, who cornered the market in super-cringey teen-pop trash.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_Aitken_Waterman

It was received as a typical Stock, Aitken and Waterman product, very, very, very similar to Jason Donovan, Mel&Kim, Kylie Minogue and the likes. It was like a train of one hit wonders: one smash hit, a few less popular songs and then forgotten. By the end of the eighties, most people had enough of the Stock, Aitken and Waterman formula. And then for some reason, Rickrolling happened.

While I was a teenager in the latter half of the eighties, Stock, Aitken and Waterman totally dominated mainstream music on radio in Ireland (and presumably Britain). In the summer of ‘87, I spent a week painting an uncle’s house with only a battery-powered “transistor radio” for company. During this time, “Never Gonna Give You Up” was played about once every 90 minutes or so – and I grew to really hate it.

I blame Stock, Aitken and Waterman for putting me off pop music and turning me into something of a music snob which lasted until well into my twenties. Having said that, I had a soft spot for Mel and Kim’s “Respectable” as a guilty pleasure and I thought “Roadblock” was a genuinely good tune (though I preferred “Pump up the volume” by MARRS).

I was but punk and metal were more my thing, so I ignored it along with Tiffany, Poison, and Belinda Carlisle...

No one seemed to play it anywhere in Seattle that I went to, for whatever it's worth.

I thought it was "cheesy" but the cute girl who sat behind me in homeroom loved it so I didn't give her too hard of a time about it.

I was 14, in France, and as others said it was a hit like many others, even if a catchy one. I also don't know why Rickrolling took off but I distinctly remember the feeling of surprise, then joy the first times it happened to me. Being tricked plus the nostalgia feeling gave me really good vibes about this, I guess it was the same for many people and why it worked so well.

Nice try.

Seems like just the other day when Psy overflowed the int32 counter.

nice rickroll in python3:

https://gist.githubusercontent.com/matiasmorant/f57885972721...

Scary Pockets' laid-back version in 3/4 with Reeve Carney singing is worth a watch, very relaxed and very intense at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQnoZUR6fvY

Would have been so good if this link went to literally any other youtube video

Denim pants and shirt at the same time. Ahh the 80's

Also known as the Canadian tuxedo.

The ID of this video starts with "dQw". I'm not falling for this because I've fallen for this way too many times in the past.

I was there for the first duck roll. Good times

Interesting I even saw Ads on youtube that play this song. I wonder if someone was paying for them!

And still not enough to make the top 250 most viewed videos, YouTube really did get big.

Whoever took the Nuremberg marching scenes from Triumph of the Will on YouTube and matched the tempo to Never Gonna Give You Up has a reserved seat on the first train straight to hell (à la Grim Fandango)

link?

God help me: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2vw0rn

The Charlie bit my finger got sold as a NFT.

Even though the rumor about this has been circulating for quite long now, I hope this video never does that.

Assuming op found this via this, so odd they’re not posting as well:

https://pudding.cool/2021/07/rickrolling/

> Assuming op found this via this

Anyone can look at the view count on YouTube.

It was also on the front page of reddit this morning, after Rick posted a video to youtube just amazed about the number of views.

It's going around everywhere, wouldn't make any assumptions about where OP found it.

Damn, should have seen that coming - i just got Rickrolled!

1 billion and 1 now. And I listened to the whole thing!

That's amazing for pop culture.

More likely due to techie culture.

Today, 4chan was referred to as "techie culture."

It started on Slashdot IIRC. Maybe 'nerd culture' works better to include 4chan.

Today, 4chan was referred to as "nerd culture."

Are they not nerds?

I suspect the growth has slowed a lot in the last 5-7 years.

I don't think so. No way people gave up.

How much income would this generate for Astley?

Since Rick Astley was a Stock, Aitken and Waterman product, not that much, I'm afraid. Stock, Aitkan and Waterman are the writers - and most likely have other credits related tot the song, so most of the money goes to them.

Thanks Reddit for that! :)

They don’t count because they were gotten under false pretenses.

It should be noted that this means a billion views on YouTube. There are no metrics to track how many times it was viewed collectively. It's actually around 300 billion views.

How would you know that if there are no metrics?

I'm curious, where'd you get the 300b figure?

I've been tracking it since it's inception: bit.ly/IqT6zt

I see you know the rules, but so do I.

Welcoming it into 1B views club, but it's certainly not the first one.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2dYtIo39JJAruGK-vZTw...

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