How Rick Astley’s "Never Gonna Give You Up" Took Over the 80s—Then the Internet

It’s the story of an 80s mega-hit song that topped the charts in at least 25 countries. But it almost never happened. While a young Rick Astley was looking for his big break, he got picked up by one of the UK’s premiere production teams. Stock Aitken and Waterman (SAW)... Only instead of letting him record an album, they had him doing chores around the studio… assigning him to make tea for the crew. When they finally gave him a chance, they hated his future hit a song called Never Gonna Give You Up and refused to release it. It was only by chance it started to get airplay. But when it did, it stormed the charts and nobody even knew who this mystery man was. After he blew up and had 7 hits , he decided to quit music and he pretty much vanished from the public eye. Decades later this iconic track was resurrected and became the mother of all pop culture tracks, the Rick Roll. Never Gonna Give You up even after hitting #1 in the 1988 It trounced its former glory in the 80s. The story’s… NEXT on the Professor of Rock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .