The Astley iPhone Virus: Whatever Must It Be Like To Be Rick Astley?
Life with technology in the 21st century is weird for everybody. But it must be double-plus ridicu-crazy for Rick Astley, who is now ten times more famous than he ever was at the peek of his performing career, some 22 years ago. The fact that the first "worm" virus to affect iPhones displays a photo of Astley shouldn't even be surprising at this point. But what about poor Rick? What must it feel like to become a symbol of something that's hard to put a word on, and harder to understand, so huge, but so completely outside of one's own control. If ever there was anyone justified in asking "why me?," it is him. To his credit, he seems to be handling it all pretty well. As he told the L.A. Times last year, "I just think it's bizarre and funny. My main consideration is that my daughter doesn't get embarrassed about it." What a nice guy. My head would fall off.
I always liked that song.
I'd be trying to figure out how to monetize the situation.
With the licensing fees he must have made–providing he secured a good deal with his management–he should be rolling in it around now. And the 'rickroll', presumably meant to humiliate both the victim and Astley, actually increases awareness of his music and proves the adage about 'no such thing as bad press'.
I still get warm fuzzies remembering how, when that song first came out, everyone went from assuming that he must look like Barry White to wondering if he really is that dude that was in Grease 2.
I don't know why, but every time I see something about Rick Astley, it makes me miss Terence Trent D'Arby.
He calls himself Sananda Maitreya, now!
Huh!
"He proclaimed in an interview that "Terence Trent D'Arby was dead…he watched his suffering as he died a noble death…"
RIP then, TTD.
At what point do we declare the 4chan actually has "won the Internet"? Would this be like crossing beams (memes?) in Ghostbusters, causing the Internet to then implode?
you've been balk bear'd