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While my job here at Brit Music Scene is to champion British music artists, I have to draw the line somewhere. That line is without doubt Rick Astley. So it’s with great astonishment that I report to you how Rick Astley is nominated as the Best Act Ever at this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards.
I’m not denying that Rick was good in the day, as like every other pubescent teenager, I used to stand in front of the mirror mimicking the sad dad dance moves he displayed in the video for Never Gonna Give You Up. But come on, best act ever? That’s surely a wind-up of epic proportions.
Astley is nominated for the award alongside Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Green Day, Tokio Hotel and U2. Now that is a motley bunch of acts for this kind of award if ever I saw it. Rick Astley stands out as a “what the hell?” but then I wouldn’t put U2, the other British band present, in there either.
And what about the others? Tokio Hotel are German… that says it all really. Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera may have performed a few fine pop ditties in their time, but best act ever? Get stuffed. Which leaves Green Day as the only possible winners. Or Rick f***ing Astley.
Rick f***ing Astley (f***ing is his official new middle name, I just decided) hasn’t had a chart hit for 15 years, and even then a chart hit only means hovering around the edges of the top 40. And he’s up for an MTV award? Are they mad? Have they lost their minds?
There’s only one reason that Rick Astley’s name has been thrown in to the bucket of excrement that contains this set of nominees, and that is Rickrolling. This Internet meme, that was fun for at least a few days, saw Web users tricked in to watching the video for Never Gonna Give You Up. And it’s put Astley back on the map.
YouTube killed Rickrolling for good when it used the phenomenon to play an April Fools Day joke on its users in 2008. That’s it, end of, 25 million people were fooled, but it’s now game over. We all had a laugh but the frivolity has got to end somewhere.
If Rick Astley wins the award for Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards, being held in Liverpool on November 6th, I’m going to burn my whole collection of his albums. Oops.
[Photo Source: michelleoshen at Flickr]
You’re an idiot. He was not a one hit wonder. He had several big hits, including “Together Forever”. As if even being a one-hit wonder (were it the case) is such a shameful thing to add to your lifelong accomplishments. What do you have to show for yourself? In the words of Janet Jackson, “What have you done for me lately”.
“If Rick Astley wins the award for Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards, being held in Liverpool on November 6th, I’m going to burn my whole collection of his albums. Oops.” you can start he won.
A brilliant job on doing your research for this article, I am truly impressed. MTV didn’t nominate him, he was written into the nomination ballot by millions of people. MTV had to add him to the list, because otherwise they would not be abiding by their own rules.
Furthermore, what you don’t seem to realise is that Rickrolling did not cause anybody to suddenly decide that Astley is a great artist of any kind. This is a gigantic middle finger to MTV and the corporate industry by us, the disgruntled masses, those who understand that this is not the Serious Fucking Business people like you believe it to be. We sir, are doing it for the lulz.
In conclusion, congratulations on your large, steaming pile of ignorance.
Love and Kisses,
Anon
Rick is GOD.
His nomination is just as much of a joke as all the other nominees put together, in all categories.
Britney Spears is not ‘best’ anything except waste of time.
it was because people from various online communities (the chans, somethingawful etc) made a program to exploit mtv’s “vote as many times as you want” policy. i think he got something like 700+ million votes.
you are just too old to understand