{"slug":"rickroll","name":"Rickroll","url":"/templates/rickroll.jpg","w":600,"h":431,"top":"NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP","bottom":"NEVER GONNA LET YOU DOWN","alternateFormats":[{"slug":"rickroll-gif","label":"GIF Version"},{"slug":"rickroll-captioned-gif","label":"With Caption GIF"}],"description":"Rick Astley at a vintage microphone, stained glass behind him, about to ruin someone's day with \"Never Gonna Give You Up.\" The bait-and-switch that defined internet pranking. Make your own Rickroll meme and send it to anyone who still falls for suspicious links.","keywords":"rickroll meme, rick astley meme, never gonna give you up meme, rick rolled meme, bait and switch meme","year":2007,"origin":"The Rickroll started in 2007 on 4chan, where users disguised links to Rick Astley's 1987 music video \"Never Gonna Give You Up\" as something else entirely. Clicking a promising link only to hear that iconic synth intro became the internet's most enduring prank. The practice evolved from an earlier \"duckroll\" meme (same bait-and-switch concept but with a duck on wheels). By 2008, Rickrolling had jumped from imageboard culture to the mainstream, with YouTube, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and even the White House getting in on the joke. For a similar \"gotcha\" energy from the same era, see Troll Face (the face of deliberate provocation). For another music video turned meme format, see Drake Hotline Bling (preference over prank).","format":"classic","sourceVideo":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ","howToMake":["Open the Rickroll template. Rick Astley stands at the mic, stained glass window behind him, ready for your top and bottom captions","Top text is the setup: what the link promised, what someone expected, or the \"never gonna\" lyric. Bottom text delivers the punchline or the betrayal","Classic overlay drops white Impact text directly on the still from the music video. Classic Bars frame it above and below if your bait-and-switch story runs long","Crank the font size for a two-word gut punch or scale it down for a longer narrative. White text with black stroke pops against the dark blazer and stained glass","Link disguised, bait set. Download the PNG and drop it where nobody expects Rick Astley to appear"],"exampleCaptions":["CLICKED A LINK THAT SAID FREE WIFI PASSWORD","NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP"],"exampleAltText":"Rickroll meme about clicking a link promising free wifi and getting Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up instead","exampleRefreshDate":"2026-03-10","seo":{"aliases":["Rick Astley Meme","Never Gonna Give You Up Meme","Rick Rolled Meme","Rick Roll Meme","Astley Prank Meme","Duckroll Successor"],"description":"A young Rick Astley in a dark blazer over a black-and-white striped shirt, standing at a retro silver microphone. Behind him, an ornate stained glass window glows with soft blue and purple light. His expression is earnest and slightly intense, mid-performance of the 1987 hit \"Never Gonna Give You Up.\" This single frame became the most recognized bait-and-switch image on the internet. If you have seen this face unexpectedly, you have been Rickrolled.","definition":"A still from Rick Astley's 1987 music video for \"Never Gonna Give You Up,\" used as the punchline to the internet's longest-running prank. Rickrolling means tricking someone into watching or hearing the song when they expected something else. The meme format adds captions to the iconic frame, usually playing on the bait-and-switch or quoting the lyrics for comedic effect.","useCases":[{"category":"Link Bait-and-Switch","examples":["Clicked \"leaked trailer for the new Marvel movie\" / Never gonna give you up","Followed a QR code at a restaurant expecting the menu / Got Rick Astley instead","Someone sent \"here's the answer to the exam\" in the group chat / It was the YouTube link","Opened a shortened URL labeled \"important work document\" / Rick Astley at the mic","Teacher projected what was supposed to be the homework answers / Class got Rickrolled"]},{"category":"Promise & Betrayal","examples":["Said I'd stop procrastinating this semester / Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down","Told myself I'd go to bed early tonight / The YouTube algorithm at 2am: never gonna let you down","My diet plan after seeing a dessert menu / Never gonna give you up","Swore I wouldn't check my phone first thing in the morning / Never gonna run around and desert you","Promised to unsubscribe from marketing emails / Never gonna say goodbye"]},{"category":"Workplace & Email Pranks","examples":["Sent the whole office a \"mandatory policy update\" link on April 1st / Rickrolled 200 people","Embedded the video in slide 47 of a 50-slide presentation and waited","Set a coworker's default homepage to the YouTube video / They didn't notice for 3 days","Hid a hyperlink to the song in the footnotes of a quarterly report / Someone actually clicked it","Replied to a Slack thread asking for the meeting link with dQw4w9WgXcQ"]},{"category":"Lyric-Based Captions","examples":["When your friend asks if you'll help them move / Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down","My commitment to this terrible Netflix series / Never gonna run around and desert you","How I feel about the last slice of pizza / Never gonna give you up","My relationship with the snooze button / Never gonna say goodbye","Me to my New Year's resolutions by January 3rd / Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye"]},{"category":"Internet Culture & Meta Humor","examples":["Rick Astley himself getting Rickrolled on Reddit in 2020 and taking it gracefully","When someone says \"Rickrolling is dead\" and you send them the link / It's never dead","The fact that the original video has over a billion YouTube views, mostly from people who didn't choose to watch it","Every April Fools' Day, the internet collectively pretends it won't happen again / It always happens again","When a legitimate link to the actual song feels like a trap because of years of conditioning"]},{"category":"School & Campus Trolling","examples":["Submitted the YouTube URL as my bibliography source / Professor clicked it","DJ played it at prom without warning / Half the gym groaned, the other half danced","Someone put a QR code on the bulletin board labeled \"free textbook PDFs\" / Rickroll","The school announcements played the opening bars before the morning news / 800 students groaned in unison","Typed the lyrics into the shared Google Doc during a group project / Nobody deleted them"]},{"category":"Holiday & Event Rickrolls","examples":["Wrapped a gift box with nothing inside except a printed QR code linking to the video","Played it as the first dance song at a wedding reception / The couple was in on it","Set it as the hold music for a company phone line on April 1st","Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade actually Rickrolled the entire nation on live TV in 2008","Sent a \"Happy Birthday\" link to a friend / They heard the synth intro and knew immediately"]}]}}