let me start off this post by revealing a shameful and harboured secret of mine: i used to be in love with rick astley. there, i’ve said it. i’ve come to terms with those lost years of my erstwhile existence. hmm, but most of you probably don’t even know who rick astley is. (sacrilege!) so let me divulge to you his greatness.
rick astley was a british pop superstar from the eighties whom i loved immensely; i think this is when i first became an anglophile. everyday when i was around five years old, i would put in his cd (which was a revolutionary commodity at the time) and listen to tracks like “never gonna give you up” and “together forever”. in those years of astley-addiction, i was transformed into a bubbly, dancing, sing-songy child — it is something i would cease to be circa 1994. when i look back on that time in my life, i realize that rick astley was my first passionate interest in music. although he mostly hit the top 40s with his cheery pop tunes, i still adored his semi-ballads like “it would take a strong strong man”. to my five year old self, no one could sing a song like rick astley.
rick astley was the epitome of prep, with his “smart-casual” suit jackets, white dress shirts, and clean-cut good looks. i loved that about him. his career basically died out with the emergence of nineties pop groups like the new kids on the block, a group i bought into very easily, casting my beloved rick astley aside. he was only to be remembered amidst my discussion about pop icons with alan the other night.
people tend to forget just how big rick astley actually was… rick walked away right at the height. people look at other artists like simply red and say they were big, but he out-sold them two to one.so i leave all of those who don’t know about rick astley, and those who are my kindred spirits, with four of my favourite tracks. feel free to get up and shake your booty or sit there and laugh your ass off:
pete waterman