I found this at wiki...
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Rickrolling
Main article: Rickrolling
"Never Gonna Give You Up" is the subject of a popular Internet prank known as "rickrolling" involving misleading links redirecting to the song's music video. By May 2007, the practice had achieved notoriety on the Internet, and it increased in popularity after its use as a 2008 April Fool's Day joke by various media companies and websites, including YouTube rickrolling all of its featured videos on that day and a website allowing people to Rickroll their friends' phones.
In 'a couple of weeks', about 13 million people had been 'rickrolled' into watching Astley's video, the BBC reported on 1 April 2008. "I think it's just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it," Astley told the Los Angeles Times in late March 2008, adding: "That's what's brilliant about the Internet."
Rick Astley also appeared in the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade interrupting the Cartoon Network song by Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, rickrolling America. More than 13 million people have watched the video for Rick Astley's Eighties classic Never Gonna Give You Up over the past fortnight thanks to Rickrolling.
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What did Rick say?
"I think it's just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it," Astley told the Los Angeles Times in late March 2008, adding: "That's what's brilliant about the Internet."
So, he doesn't seem to mind people rickrolling, but I still need to find the owners of the rights.
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2008 Christmas Number 1 Campaign
On December 1, 2008, a campaign was started on popular Social Networking site, Facebook, to get Rick Astley To Number 1 at Christmas. The group attracted nearly 30,000 people in its first week active. The campaign has also been named "The Ultimate Rickroll". The campaign's main objective is to not only rickroll Christmas itself, but to protest the Christmas Number 1s in the past which have been dominated by such competitions as the UK's X-Factor. The campaign is actively advertised on many websites from forums to mass social networking sites such as Bebo, Myspace and Facebook as well as having its own YouTube channel. Campaigners are encouraged to get as many people as possible to download Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' from iTunes between the 15th and 20th of December 2008.
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Here is a really good reason aquire those song rights before the 15th.
(they will make a small fortune this x-mas off it so rickrolling is good for them)
It's also a good reason to offer the model now Bond without the song so everyone getting the song from iTunes can help make it #1.
Well #1 again I should say...
UK number one single
August 29, 1987 - September 26, 1987 (5 weeks)
Swedish number-one single
September 30, 1987 - November 11, 1987 (8 weeks)
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single
January 16, 1988 (1 week)
New Zealand RIANZ number-one single
February 5, 1988 (1 week)
Billboard Hot 100 number one single
March 12, 1988 – March 19, 1988 (2 weeks)
You know he beat out artists and bands like...
Michael Jackson
The Pet Shop Boys
Bruce Springsteen
SuperTramp
Tiffany and
George Michael
...to take those spots.
It's quite impressive.
The group that wrote and produced it then, Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), probably still own the rights.
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In 1988-89, SAW recorded three tracks with Judas Priest. These tracks were never released, and are said to be in Judas Priest's possession. "
LOL They must have never paid that bill.
Wouldn't you love to have those?
Oh my, I wonder if this is true...
Quote: "They [SAW] incurred the wrath of the British music press when they strong-armed the group M/A/R/R/S into a legal settlement over a 7-second sample of someone moaning the single word "hey" that M/A/R/R/S had taken from SAW's own recording, "Roadblock", and used in their surprise hit "Pump Up the Volume". Pete Waterman wrote an open letter to the music press calling such things "wholesale theft". The press fired back that Waterman was currently using the bassline of Colonel Abrams's "Trapped" in Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". "
Was part of the song 'borrowed' in the first place????
Interesting.
I went and reviewed that other song and then examined them both.
That bass is identical, only a slightly slower tempo. WOW
"I'm so confused, I can't deny"
