Songoftheday 11/5/15 - We're no strangers to love, you know the rules and so do I...

"Never Gonna Give You Up" - Rick Astley
from the album Whenever You Need Somebody (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's song of the day comes from Rick Astley, who grew up in blue-collar northern England, deciding to pursue a music career with some gigs in some local bands. This exposure led him to the production team of Stock, Aitken, and Waterman, who first hired him on as an apprentice around the studio to gain more confidence in performing. They finally got to the point in 1987 to record his debut album Whenever You Need Somebody, which suddenly exposed the world to this deep-voiced red-haired young man, whose freckled face belied the amount of gruff power in his voice. The first single, "Never Gonna Give You Up", is probably the pinnacle of SAW's writing/production prowess, and with that voice contrast and undeniably infectious melody, the single went to #1 for five weeks in Rick's homeland before crossing over the Atlantic by the end of 1987...

"Never Gonna Give You Up" climbed to the top of the American pop charts for two weeks in March of 1988. The single also made it to #1 on both of Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart (for three weeks) and Dance Club Play lists. Internationally, the single went to the top of the charts all over the world, like in Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and #2 in Ireland, #3 in Italy, and #6 in France. It would end up the biggest song of 1987 in the UK.

Rick would end up getting nominated for the Grammy for Best New Artist, fitting since his debut album is one of the best dance-pop records of all time. He ended up losing to his polar opposite, Tracy Chapman.

Years later in 2007, the song would become one of the first big popular memes on the burgeoning internet, with a link that cleverly hid the "Never Gonna Give You Up" video so people would share it to unwitting recipients everywhere, and even popped up on the British sales chart again in 2008 at #73.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's Rick making his television appearance on Top Of The Pops in 1987...

...and a concert appearance in 1987 in London...

...and a year later at the Prince's Trust, where's he's got a live band instead of a backing track, and not just a live band, but Phil Collins, Brian May of Queen, Midge Ure of Ultravox, and Howard freakin' Jones. This is my absolute favorite performance of his....

In 1997, French boyband 2be3 released a French-language version called "Toujours là pour toi" which went to #4 in their native country and #12 in neighboring Belgium...

Rick went a little acoustic with the song in 2005 (along with a couple more SAW nuggets)..

A club version of the song reached the British dance charts in 2008 under the moniker the Rickrollerz...

That same year, Barry Manilow included the song in his top-20 80s covers album...

Fast forward to Rick's gig at the Rewind Festival in Britain in 2012...

In 2014, X Factor finalist and future Celebrity Big Brother fodder Stevi Ritchie absolutely massacred the song to karaoke hell...

Finally, the 12" single hit the top of the dance chart in 1988. Here's the "Escape To New York Mix"...

...and the "Escape From Newton" flipside done by SAW master Pete Hammond..

Up tomorrow: A former British heartthrob has some daddy issues.