Ashley Tisdale: Smells like teen Rickroll

Perez Hilton found a YouTube video with that contains the complete audio of Ashley Tisdale doing a cover of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." 

The Perez-linked video looks like it's unauthorized, but a post by Idolator has links to authorized excerpts. Turns out the song is a cut from Tisdale's new Disney album, "Degree Girl: OMG! Jams." As in, the album is an advertisement for deodorant. I don't know what Ashley thinks of being subliminally associated with sweat and body odor, but somehow I doubt she cares.

As for the song itself, I am unable to call it terrible (disclosure: I like "Never Gonna" way more than I should after having listened to it 5,000 times when I was writing about it). I listened to the Tisdale version all the way through, and even noticed my foot moving several times. It might have just been twitching.

The Regeneration Tour is holding a poll to see which '80s and '90s pop artists should be in their 2009 career-rejuvenation concert, and Rick Astley is one of them. Astley is now leading the race with more than 2,500 votes; Tears for Fears and the Thompson Twins each have about 1,000 votes. Less successful so far are such Gen X ex-stars as Echo and the Bunnymen, the Bangles and Level 42, while that period's one-hit wonders (aside from Astley) are getting dusted. Wang Chung, the Psychedlic Furs and Men Without Hats have but 1,300 votes combined.

If Astley continues to dominate, just think of it -- hundreds of thousands of Americans could be RickRolled -- live.  Think of all the piggy banks that would break, and cash flowing into local economies. It would be its own Astley-esque economic stimulus. I voted for him unreservedly (and Echo, and Wang Chung). So should you!

This year's Regeneration Tour has a slightly less ambitious grouping, headlined by former Go-Go Belinda Carlisle, ABC and Flock of Seagulls. The nationwide tour gets underway in August.

According to FishBowlNY, the NYT's piece on the Rickrolling of an Eastern Washington University hoops game a few weeks ago was apparently based on, er, some dubious evidence. In other words, some guy made it all up.  I cited the NYT's story in my RickRoll piece from yesterday, and even watched the video, so no fair playing the neener game, but ...

If the video was really the only source for the story, that might be classified as a bit of an oopsie, not just because everything on the Internet is a hoax until proven otherwise, but because the video indeed looks like it was heavily edited, set to music, etc -- not a document but a piece of entertainment. 

And so it was ...

I have to share of few of the comments on the Digg entry for yesterday's Rickrolling story.  (Ethical spidey sense says it's no good to link to a Digg of my own story, so I'll just excerpt.)  For whatever reason, though, this story seemed to bring out the funny in people:

• If I were Rick Astley, I would run up behind random people in the street and rickroll them live........You could use it in so many different ways!!!

• I spent about 5 minutes just debating if I was going to click the link [to the interview] or not. I finally went for it - with my wife watching me like I was trying to defuse a grenade.

-- I wish i could defuse a grenade....

--- i wish i had a wife......

---- Lets start with a girlfriend first.
---- Or goldfish.

• This video is relevant to the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

-- The only time I'll digg this up is for this article.

• The absolute end-all be-all RickRoll.... Have Mr Astley himself stop the SuperBowl halftime show with an authentic performance of the song. That would be it. No one could ever top it. It would be the best ever.

-- What if everyone tries to raise enough money to buy ad time for the Super Bowl to rick roll    millions of people at the same time.It could be the biggest waste of money ever!

--- Jesus Christ...we need to make this happen!

-- Someone register a website for donations!

--- I'm not even kidding, we need to get on this.

--- I'm totally down for it. Get 30 million people to donate $1 or 15 million $2 or 6 million $5. I think it could happen! Super Bowl commercial was about what 29.5 million? Although an actual Rick Roll during the half time would top a commercial.

--- Dear god, we should start a movement!

-- That is quite possibly the most epic idea I've ever heard.

Astley in London in November 2007. (Photo courtesy of TD Promotions)

Astley talks about discovering the "Rickroll"

On a frosty Canadian morning, a masked crusader tromps across a parking lot, over a snow bank and onto the sidewalk. He has a loudspeaker strapped ominously to his chest.

He halts, aiming the speaker toward the building across the street. “This is a song by some dead guy,” he says. And then, music booms forth:

“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.”

It’s an anti-Scientology protest, and across the street, a dozen or so warmly dressed young people begin to dance and sing along, waving their picket signs in rhythm to the familiar tune.

“It’s a bit spooky, innit?” said Rick Astley, the singer who made the song famous in 1987 and who is not dead. With considerable help, including assists from RCA Records, the webmaster of Astley’s U.K. fan site, and his manager at Sony BMG, I tracked down Astley at his home in London last weekend. He spoke for the first time about the phenomenon called Rickrolling, best described by example: You are reading your favorite Hollywood gossip blog and arrive at a link urging you to “Click here for exclusive video of Britney’s latest freakout!!” Click you do, but instead of Britney, it’s a dashing 21-year-old Briton that pops onto the screen. You, sir, have been Rickroll’d.

Over the last year or so, Astley has watched with puzzled amazement as “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been mocked, celebrated, remixed and reprised, its original music video viewed millions of times on YouTube, all by a generation that could barely swallow its Gerber carrots when the song first topped the pop charts.

“I think it’s just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it,” Astley said. “But that’s what's brilliant about the Internet.”

Saying he thought "Anonymous" Rickrolling Scientology was "hilarious"

Globalisation rules!  Yes, I used the British spelling -- the one without the zed.

How about a version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" from an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments?  Can anyone translate the text at the beginning so we can find out who these guys are and see if they've done any Sabbath, Whitesnake or Yes? 

(Thanks EarthGoat).

Then there's the Indian version of "Sweet Child O' Mine," apparently from News Corp.'s Channel [V] India.  I agree with one YouTube commenter that this is sitar shredding at its finest.

Send along any other awesome international (non-bedroom) rock covers. Maybe we can package them all and sell them on late-night TV...

Help bring Rick Astley back to the United States!

The Regeneration Tour is holding a poll to see which '80s and '90s pop artists should be in their 2009 career-rejuvenation concert, and Rick Astley is one of them. Astley is now leading the race with more than 2,500 votes; Tears for Fears and the Thompson Twins each have about 1,000 votes. Less successful so far are such Gen X ex-stars as Echo and the Bunnymen, the Bangles and Level 42, while that period's one-hit wonders (aside from Astley) are getting dusted. Wang Chung, the Psychedlic Furs and Men Without Hats have but 1,300 votes combined.

If Astley continues to dominate, just think of it -- hundreds of thousands of Americans could be RickRolled -- live.  Think of all the piggy banks that would break, and cash flowing into local economies. It would be its own Astley-esque economic stimulus. I voted for him unreservedly (and Echo, and Wang Chung). So should you!

This year's Regeneration Tour has a slightly less ambitious grouping, headlined by former Go-Go Belinda Carlisle, ABC and Flock of Seagulls. The nationwide tour gets underway in August.

According to FishBowlNY, the NYT's piece on the Rickrolling of an Eastern Washington University hoops game a few weeks ago was apparently based on, er, some dubious evidence. In other words, some guy made it all up.  I cited the NYT's story in my RickRoll piece from yesterday, and even watched the video, so no fair playing the neener game, but ...

If the video was really the only source for the story, that might be classified as a bit of an oopsie, not just because everything on the Internet is a hoax until proven otherwise, but because the video indeed looks like it was heavily edited, set to music, etc -- not a document but a piece of entertainment. 

And so it was ...

I have to share of few of the comments on the Digg entry for yesterday's Rickrolling story.  (Ethical spidey sense says it's no good to link to a Digg of my own story, so I'll just excerpt.)  For whatever reason, though, this story seemed to bring out the funny in people:

• If I were Rick Astley, I would run up behind random people in the street and rickroll them live........You could use it in so many different ways!!!

• I spent about 5 minutes just debating if I was going to click the link [to the interview] or not. I finally went for it - with my wife watching me like I was trying to defuse a grenade.

-- I wish i could defuse a grenade....

--- i wish i had a wife......

---- Lets start with a girlfriend first.
---- Or goldfish.

• This video is relevant to the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

-- The only time I'll digg this up is for this article.

• The absolute end-all be-all RickRoll.... Have Mr Astley himself stop the SuperBowl halftime show with an authentic performance of the song. That would be it. No one could ever top it. It would be the best ever.

-- What if everyone tries to raise enough money to buy ad time for the Super Bowl to rick roll    millions of people at the same time.It could be the biggest waste of money ever!

--- Jesus Christ...we need to make this happen!

-- Someone register a website for donations!

--- I'm not even kidding, we need to get on this.

--- I'm totally down for it. Get 30 million people to donate $1 or 15 million $2 or 6 million $5. I think it could happen! Super Bowl commercial was about what 29.5 million? Although an actual Rick Roll during the half time would top a commercial.

--- Dear god, we should start a movement!

-- That is quite possibly the most epic idea I've ever heard.

Astley in London in November 2007. (Photo courtesy of TD Promotions)

Astley talks about discovering the "Rickroll"

On a frosty Canadian morning, a masked crusader tromps across a parking lot, over a snow bank and onto the sidewalk. He has a loudspeaker strapped ominously to his chest.

He halts, aiming the speaker toward the building across the street. “This is a song by some dead guy,” he says. And then, music booms forth:

“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.”

It’s an anti-Scientology protest, and across the street, a dozen or so warmly dressed young people begin to dance and sing along, waving their picket signs in rhythm to the familiar tune.

“It’s a bit spooky, innit?” said Rick Astley, the singer who made the song famous in 1987 and who is not dead. With considerable help, including assists from RCA Records, the webmaster of Astley’s U.K. fan site, and his manager at Sony BMG, I tracked down Astley at his home in London last weekend. He spoke for the first time about the phenomenon called Rickrolling, best described by example: You are reading your favorite Hollywood gossip blog and arrive at a link urging you to “Click here for exclusive video of Britney’s latest freakout!!” Click you do, but instead of Britney, it’s a dashing 21-year-old Briton that pops onto the screen. You, sir, have been Rickroll’d.

Over the last year or so, Astley has watched with puzzled amazement as “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been mocked, celebrated, remixed and reprised, its original music video viewed millions of times on YouTube, all by a generation that could barely swallow its Gerber carrots when the song first topped the pop charts.

“I think it’s just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it,” Astley said. “But that’s what's brilliant about the Internet.”

Saying he thought "Anonymous" Rickrolling Scientology was "hilarious"

Globalisation rules!  Yes, I used the British spelling -- the one without the zed.

How about a version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" from an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments?  Can anyone translate the text at the beginning so we can find out who these guys are and see if they've done any Sabbath, Whitesnake or Yes? 

(Thanks EarthGoat).

Then there's the Indian version of "Sweet Child O' Mine," apparently from News Corp.'s Channel [V] India.  I agree with one YouTube commenter that this is sitar shredding at its finest.

Send along any other awesome international (non-bedroom) rock covers. Maybe we can package them all and sell them on late-night TV...

NYT (and me by proxy, sorta) get TRickrolled

According to FishBowlNY, the NYT's piece on the Rickrolling of an Eastern Washington University hoops game a few weeks ago was apparently based on, er, some dubious evidence. In other words, some guy made it all up.  I cited the NYT's story in my RickRoll piece from yesterday, and even watched the video, so no fair playing the neener game, but ...

If the video was really the only source for the story, that might be classified as a bit of an oopsie, not just because everything on the Internet is a hoax until proven otherwise, but because the video indeed looks like it was heavily edited, set to music, etc -- not a document but a piece of entertainment. 

And so it was ...

I have to share of few of the comments on the Digg entry for yesterday's Rickrolling story.  (Ethical spidey sense says it's no good to link to a Digg of my own story, so I'll just excerpt.)  For whatever reason, though, this story seemed to bring out the funny in people:

• If I were Rick Astley, I would run up behind random people in the street and rickroll them live........You could use it in so many different ways!!!

• I spent about 5 minutes just debating if I was going to click the link [to the interview] or not. I finally went for it - with my wife watching me like I was trying to defuse a grenade.

-- I wish i could defuse a grenade....

--- i wish i had a wife......

---- Lets start with a girlfriend first.
---- Or goldfish.

• This video is relevant to the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

-- The only time I'll digg this up is for this article.

• The absolute end-all be-all RickRoll.... Have Mr Astley himself stop the SuperBowl halftime show with an authentic performance of the song. That would be it. No one could ever top it. It would be the best ever.

-- What if everyone tries to raise enough money to buy ad time for the Super Bowl to rick roll    millions of people at the same time.It could be the biggest waste of money ever!

--- Jesus Christ...we need to make this happen!

-- Someone register a website for donations!

--- I'm not even kidding, we need to get on this.

--- I'm totally down for it. Get 30 million people to donate $1 or 15 million $2 or 6 million $5. I think it could happen! Super Bowl commercial was about what 29.5 million? Although an actual Rick Roll during the half time would top a commercial.

--- Dear god, we should start a movement!

-- That is quite possibly the most epic idea I've ever heard.

Astley in London in November 2007. (Photo courtesy of TD Promotions)

Astley talks about discovering the "Rickroll"

On a frosty Canadian morning, a masked crusader tromps across a parking lot, over a snow bank and onto the sidewalk. He has a loudspeaker strapped ominously to his chest.

He halts, aiming the speaker toward the building across the street. “This is a song by some dead guy,” he says. And then, music booms forth:

“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.”

It’s an anti-Scientology protest, and across the street, a dozen or so warmly dressed young people begin to dance and sing along, waving their picket signs in rhythm to the familiar tune.

“It’s a bit spooky, innit?” said Rick Astley, the singer who made the song famous in 1987 and who is not dead. With considerable help, including assists from RCA Records, the webmaster of Astley’s U.K. fan site, and his manager at Sony BMG, I tracked down Astley at his home in London last weekend. He spoke for the first time about the phenomenon called Rickrolling, best described by example: You are reading your favorite Hollywood gossip blog and arrive at a link urging you to “Click here for exclusive video of Britney’s latest freakout!!” Click you do, but instead of Britney, it’s a dashing 21-year-old Briton that pops onto the screen. You, sir, have been Rickroll’d.

Over the last year or so, Astley has watched with puzzled amazement as “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been mocked, celebrated, remixed and reprised, its original music video viewed millions of times on YouTube, all by a generation that could barely swallow its Gerber carrots when the song first topped the pop charts.

“I think it’s just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it,” Astley said. “But that’s what's brilliant about the Internet.”

Saying he thought "Anonymous" Rickrolling Scientology was "hilarious"

Globalisation rules!  Yes, I used the British spelling -- the one without the zed.

How about a version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" from an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments?  Can anyone translate the text at the beginning so we can find out who these guys are and see if they've done any Sabbath, Whitesnake or Yes? 

(Thanks EarthGoat).

Then there's the Indian version of "Sweet Child O' Mine," apparently from News Corp.'s Channel [V] India.  I agree with one YouTube commenter that this is sitar shredding at its finest.

Send along any other awesome international (non-bedroom) rock covers. Maybe we can package them all and sell them on late-night TV...

Some funny comments from Rickroll readers -- Rick at the Superbowl?

I have to share of few of the comments on the Digg entry for yesterday's Rickrolling story.  (Ethical spidey sense says it's no good to link to a Digg of my own story, so I'll just excerpt.)  For whatever reason, though, this story seemed to bring out the funny in people:

• If I were Rick Astley, I would run up behind random people in the street and rickroll them live........You could use it in so many different ways!!!

• I spent about 5 minutes just debating if I was going to click the link [to the interview] or not. I finally went for it - with my wife watching me like I was trying to defuse a grenade.

-- I wish i could defuse a grenade....

--- i wish i had a wife......

---- Lets start with a girlfriend first.
---- Or goldfish.

• This video is relevant to the subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

-- The only time I'll digg this up is for this article.

• The absolute end-all be-all RickRoll.... Have Mr Astley himself stop the SuperBowl halftime show with an authentic performance of the song. That would be it. No one could ever top it. It would be the best ever.

-- What if everyone tries to raise enough money to buy ad time for the Super Bowl to rick roll    millions of people at the same time.It could be the biggest waste of money ever!

--- Jesus Christ...we need to make this happen!

-- Someone register a website for donations!

--- I'm not even kidding, we need to get on this.

--- I'm totally down for it. Get 30 million people to donate $1 or 15 million $2 or 6 million $5. I think it could happen! Super Bowl commercial was about what 29.5 million? Although an actual Rick Roll during the half time would top a commercial.

--- Dear god, we should start a movement!

-- That is quite possibly the most epic idea I've ever heard.

Astley in London in November 2007. (Photo courtesy of TD Promotions)

Astley talks about discovering the "Rickroll"

On a frosty Canadian morning, a masked crusader tromps across a parking lot, over a snow bank and onto the sidewalk. He has a loudspeaker strapped ominously to his chest.

He halts, aiming the speaker toward the building across the street. “This is a song by some dead guy,” he says. And then, music booms forth:

“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.”

It’s an anti-Scientology protest, and across the street, a dozen or so warmly dressed young people begin to dance and sing along, waving their picket signs in rhythm to the familiar tune.

“It’s a bit spooky, innit?” said Rick Astley, the singer who made the song famous in 1987 and who is not dead. With considerable help, including assists from RCA Records, the webmaster of Astley’s U.K. fan site, and his manager at Sony BMG, I tracked down Astley at his home in London last weekend. He spoke for the first time about the phenomenon called Rickrolling, best described by example: You are reading your favorite Hollywood gossip blog and arrive at a link urging you to “Click here for exclusive video of Britney’s latest freakout!!” Click you do, but instead of Britney, it’s a dashing 21-year-old Briton that pops onto the screen. You, sir, have been Rickroll’d.

Over the last year or so, Astley has watched with puzzled amazement as “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been mocked, celebrated, remixed and reprised, its original music video viewed millions of times on YouTube, all by a generation that could barely swallow its Gerber carrots when the song first topped the pop charts.

“I think it’s just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it,” Astley said. “But that’s what's brilliant about the Internet.”

Saying he thought "Anonymous" Rickrolling Scientology was "hilarious"

Globalisation rules!  Yes, I used the British spelling -- the one without the zed.

How about a version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" from an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments?  Can anyone translate the text at the beginning so we can find out who these guys are and see if they've done any Sabbath, Whitesnake or Yes? 

(Thanks EarthGoat).

Then there's the Indian version of "Sweet Child O' Mine," apparently from News Corp.'s Channel [V] India.  I agree with one YouTube commenter that this is sitar shredding at its finest.

Send along any other awesome international (non-bedroom) rock covers. Maybe we can package them all and sell them on late-night TV...

Web Scout exclusive! Rick Astley, king of the 'Rickroll,' talks about his song's second coming

Astley in London in November 2007. (Photo courtesy of TD Promotions)

Astley talks about discovering the "Rickroll"

On a frosty Canadian morning, a masked crusader tromps across a parking lot, over a snow bank and onto the sidewalk. He has a loudspeaker strapped ominously to his chest.

He halts, aiming the speaker toward the building across the street. “This is a song by some dead guy,” he says. And then, music booms forth:

“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.”

It’s an anti-Scientology protest, and across the street, a dozen or so warmly dressed young people begin to dance and sing along, waving their picket signs in rhythm to the familiar tune.

“It’s a bit spooky, innit?” said Rick Astley, the singer who made the song famous in 1987 and who is not dead. With considerable help, including assists from RCA Records, the webmaster of Astley’s U.K. fan site, and his manager at Sony BMG, I tracked down Astley at his home in London last weekend. He spoke for the first time about the phenomenon called Rickrolling, best described by example: You are reading your favorite Hollywood gossip blog and arrive at a link urging you to “Click here for exclusive video of Britney’s latest freakout!!” Click you do, but instead of Britney, it’s a dashing 21-year-old Briton that pops onto the screen. You, sir, have been Rickroll’d.

Over the last year or so, Astley has watched with puzzled amazement as “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been mocked, celebrated, remixed and reprised, its original music video viewed millions of times on YouTube, all by a generation that could barely swallow its Gerber carrots when the song first topped the pop charts.

“I think it’s just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it,” Astley said. “But that’s what's brilliant about the Internet.”

Saying he thought "Anonymous" Rickrolling Scientology was "hilarious"

Globalisation rules!  Yes, I used the British spelling -- the one without the zed.

How about a version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" from an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments?  Can anyone translate the text at the beginning so we can find out who these guys are and see if they've done any Sabbath, Whitesnake or Yes? 

(Thanks EarthGoat).

Then there's the Indian version of "Sweet Child O' Mine," apparently from News Corp.'s Channel [V] India.  I agree with one YouTube commenter that this is sitar shredding at its finest.

Send along any other awesome international (non-bedroom) rock covers. Maybe we can package them all and sell them on late-night TV...

International cover artists rock YouTube

Globalisation rules!  Yes, I used the British spelling -- the one without the zed.

How about a version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" from an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments?  Can anyone translate the text at the beginning so we can find out who these guys are and see if they've done any Sabbath, Whitesnake or Yes? 

(Thanks EarthGoat).

Then there's the Indian version of "Sweet Child O' Mine," apparently from News Corp.'s Channel [V] India.  I agree with one YouTube commenter that this is sitar shredding at its finest.

Send along any other awesome international (non-bedroom) rock covers. Maybe we can package them all and sell them on late-night TV...