10 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
Wait, when did Rick-Rolling become a big meme? I I was 11 at the time of this and it was around when I got my first iPod Touch so I guess I kind of started to get exposed to memes, but I didn't know the word and what they truly were until I moved to Kansas City, went to public school instead of private, and spent my highschool years shortly after every single person acquired a touchscreen smart phone.
I remember things from AlbinoBlackSheep.com that my older brother would show me, like the Lord of the Rings "Potatoes/Taters" song/meme or Leroy Jenkins' charge while i was playing wow in elementary school, but mass-spread ubiquitous memes weren't really things within my realm or reality.
Am I to understand this was this significant and massive of a meme that it would take over the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade by 2008? Maybe just not having a phone until 13 and it being a flip phone at that and growing up in conservative Kentucky and attending a tiny cult-like private school really sheltered me early on.
Comment by demo706 at 18/02/2022 at 12:19 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
4chan had been doing this for a long time - at least 2005 or so. It was an off shoot of "duckrolling" iirc. Maybe that term has a more clear origin date.
Comment by Tossyjames at 18/02/2022 at 12:00 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I guess it became a big meme when someone didn't read the instructions and started putting rick-pics and/or the lyrics in memes or whatever and thought they were rickrolling people. Which was uh... <insert random time here> ago? Idk.
Comment by Scribblr at 18/02/2022 at 18:32 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It ramped up about a year before this.
It’s cute looking back now because it’s classic and nostalgic, but I remember it already feeling dated and pretty cringey at the time when they did it at the parade.