Users of 4chan, an anonymous and somewhat adult website, began the rick-roll before Rockstar Games released trailers for Grand Theft Auto IV. It was a true hit, but the song’s legacy wouldn’t truly be written until 2007 when it became one of the original modern memes. Astley reached number one in the American, UK and South African charts. This song wasn’t a damp squib by any definition either. The true origin of rick-rolling has to be July 1987, when Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” was released.
Grand Theft Auto IV: Origin Of Rick-rolling Considering YouTube only counts a view after 30 seconds, this would suggest billions more have hit back almost immediately on the video in a rick-roll-rage. The popularity of this switch up is clear when you look at the view count of Astley’s video coming up on one billion views.
