Because I Can Save on My Power Bill Now

September 9, 2010 6:42 PM

Earlier this summer, a little-known '80s singer named R.P. Astley, responsible for a few blips on the radar such as "Eternally Conjoined" and "Under No Circumstances Will I Ever Release You" (the latter of which created a brief meme in which one would "PaulTumble" one's friends by pretending to point them to the video, but instead sending them to something quite interesting and novel instead) has released *fist clench, drawing-in gesture aimed at camera* a new track, "Lights Out," his first new song in 17 years *hand gesture at camera*.

*hand gesture at camera*

posted by WCityMike (89 comments total)

4chan has been working to try and ensure its success.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:46 PM on September 9, 2010

He has a guitar and a scarf now. This time it will be different.
posted by wabbittwax at 6:49 PM on September 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

What? No Auto-Tune? No rap dude breakin' it down for the bridge? What is this, 1987?
posted by briank at 6:51 PM on September 9, 2010 [6 favorites]

Yes, Pope, it was actually seeing this on redditmag one morning that first alerted me to the fact he had come out with a new song. It's actually not a bad song, which is why I'm sharing it here ... it's sort of like a Top 10 Hit Song From an Alternate-Universe's Eighties Decade ... even if I'm taking the opportunity to tease him a bit for ... wait a minute ...

*hand gesture at camera, first clench, happy head-nodding to the beat of Pope Guilty's comment, slaps chest above heart several times*

Okay, sorry, where I was I? Ah, I was here:

... teasing him a bit about his gesturing.
posted by WCityMike at 6:51 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

1. definitely autotuned. hard.
2. is he pretending to play the guitar? can it even be called pretending?
3. this is an awesome post
posted by radiosilents at 6:52 PM on September 9, 2010

What? No Auto-Tune?

Did we listen to the same song?
posted by uncleozzy at 6:55 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

One has to wonder how much Rickrolling has done to encourage him in the revival of his career.
posted by erstwhile at 6:55 PM on September 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

xWhat? No Auto-Tune?

Did we listen to the same song?

Sorry, the music my tween daughter listens to has a whole different sound that I recognize as "Auto-Tune". I will gladly defer to your discernment.
posted by briank at 6:58 PM on September 9, 2010

If you watch this with the sound off, it's a docu-drama about the world's most intense weatherman.
posted by oulipian at 6:59 PM on September 9, 2010 [32 favorites]

I think a couple of you have confused Autotune as a "treatment" and Autotune as an "effect." Not all Autotune sounds like T-Pain and is usually so subtle the listener doesn't catch it.
posted by sourwookie at 6:59 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

You know, I never thought there would ever be a time in my life where I'd use the phrase "excited by" and the phrase "Rick Astley comeback" in the same sentence. How pleasant to be proven wrong.
posted by Joey Michaels at 7:02 PM on September 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

Also, I actually feel a little cheated by this song. There's no there there, as it were. It somehow has even less substance, seems more phoned-in, than most pop. Successful pop might not mean much, but it's got some meat, something you can hang onto. After three minutes of this, it still felt like one of those 30-second sample clips of N'Sync they put into Happy Meals in the late 90s.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:03 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I thought he was worried about embarrassing his teenage daughter. Now the truth comes out!
posted by maxwelton at 7:12 PM on September 9, 2010

I take it that, when he said he would never let me down, that was a misrepresentation.

Also, a note to all producers everywhere:

There's this thing called Melodyne. It's a lot better than Autotune at fixing pitchy vocal tracks. There are some people who are really good at using it. If you're not one of them, hire one of them. If you don't know anyone who is really good at it, drop me a line. I know people. Those pop and dance tracks you hear on the radio where the singer sounds good? Yeah, they used Melodyne. Seriously, it's not that expensive.
posted by The World Famous at 7:17 PM on September 9, 2010 [8 favorites]

Man, I really wanted this to be good. I always had a soft spot for Rick Astley - he was such a dork. Even at his most popular he was a total dork! But he had a decent voice and I was hoping this time he might use it on some better music. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. I am an unabashed pop music lover, but this is a terrible song. It's repetitive and boring. Poor Rick. Still can't hang with the cool kids.
posted by yawper at 7:19 PM on September 9, 2010

Can anyone provide some insight into what's going on with Rick's hairline in the Together Forever video? There seems to be a half inch or so of hair that looks like it's—I don't know—glued onto his forehead?
posted by edw at 7:28 PM on September 9, 2010

It's a lot better than Autotune at fixing pitchy vocal tracks.

As a non-musician, I have to admit I'm a little baffled by the existence of "pitchy" as an adjective. Don't all musical sounds have the quality of pitch? It makes about as much sense as saying "Gotta say, the hot tar you're applying to that driveway looks a little pitchy, dawg."
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:32 PM on September 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

yawper: Poor Rick. Still can't hang with the cool kids.

Hey, that's not true, he hangs out with them plenty!
posted by WCityMike at 7:32 PM on September 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

If after 17 years his arthritis is that bad, someone should buy the man a clapper...
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:33 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Fuckin' comebacks, how do they work?
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:33 PM on September 9, 2010 [8 favorites]

I'm a little baffled by the existence of "pitchy" as an adjective. Don't all musical sounds have the quality of pitch?

Sure. But when a singer is supposed to be hitting one pitch but instead wobbles between several wrong ones, it can fairly be described as "pitchy." That's not really the reason for the term, probably. It's just a colloquialism. Lots of colloquial terms don't make much sense if you dig too deep at them.
posted by The World Famous at 7:35 PM on September 9, 2010

And another link that I should have incorporated into that sentence.
posted by WCityMike at 7:35 PM on September 9, 2010

Yup. It would have been fun if he would have done something that acknowledged his new jokey status, kind of done a Shatner, if you will. Or really gone rocky or something. But noooo.

It's hand gestures all the way down.
posted by Trochanter at 7:41 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Kinda cool guitar though. Is that a jag?
posted by Trochanter at 7:48 PM on September 9, 2010

Jazzmaster.
posted by The World Famous at 7:54 PM on September 9, 2010

Am I going to have to arrange this for the banjo as well?
posted by The White Hat at 7:58 PM on September 9, 2010 [5 favorites]

<picard>"Oh, he can turn the lights out, but it's too late. I've seen everything."</picard>
posted by zippy at 8:15 PM on September 9, 2010 [13 favorites]

This makes me feel like I'm in my favorite FPS circle-strafing Rick Astley!
posted by themadjuggler at 8:25 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

If, in 1982 you predicted that a vast system of connected computers would be the sole responsible reason for a one-hit wonder's comeback along with a gallery full of disturbing sex jokes you'd be dismissed as a freak.

Yet here we are.
posted by The Whelk at 8:25 PM on September 9, 2010 [24 favorites]

Jazzmaster


that's actually a cordless jazzmaster. We'll all be playing them... in the FUTURE!
posted by dubold at 8:25 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have to imagine that the video's producer must have sent the following memo to his production team:

Hey guys. We just spent a bloody fortune renting that camera crane you requested. Try to make use of it in every shot, or similar requests will be denied in the future.

--X

posted by schmod at 8:28 PM on September 9, 2010 [5 favorites]

I found that strangely enjoyable.
posted by pised at 8:37 PM on September 9, 2010

I like how the song was about lights going out and then at the end of the song the lights went out. I never expected that.
posted by iconomy at 8:42 PM on September 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

If, in 1982 you predicted that a vast system of connected computers would be the sole responsible reason for a one-hit wonder's comeback along with a gallery full of disturbing sex jokes you'd be dismissed as a freak.

If, in 1987, you predicted that I would one day be watching a Rick Astley video on a telephone that I carry in my pocket, I would have made a joke about how your vest looks like a life preserver. And then I would have demanded that you tell me who the President of the United States is in 2010 and scoffed at your response. And incredible adventures would have followed. Damn. That would have been awesome.
posted by The World Famous at 8:47 PM on September 9, 2010 [26 favorites]

*points sarcasm meter at iconomy*
* * * EXPLOSION * * *
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:49 PM on September 9, 2010

What the fuck. How did I get older than that guy?
posted by padraigin at 8:54 PM on September 9, 2010 [5 favorites]

His voice was amplified and recorded on multitrack digital equipment and amplified again! Mixed! Synched to video! Broadcast and downloaded!

Also, this comment was typed and spell-checked. On a computer.
posted by pracowity at 8:56 PM on September 9, 2010

How did I get older than that guy?

He was a wunderkind. That was part of the deal. Like 16 or 17 when he broke.
posted by Trochanter at 8:56 PM on September 9, 2010

He was a wunderkind. That was part of the deal. Like 16 or 17 when he broke.

Please, the guy's eight years older than I am. I need better lighting.
posted by padraigin at 9:13 PM on September 9, 2010

Also, I actually feel a little cheated by this song. There's no there there, as it were. It somehow has even less substance, seems more phoned-in, than most pop.

But that was the whole thing with "Never Gonna Give You Up". The song was so awful, so phoned-in, commercial, cynical, and what-have-you that it was actually appealing to listen to, like watching a slow-mo video of a five-way locomotive crash or something. You just had to revel in the supreme mediocricity of it.
posted by dunkadunc at 9:18 PM on September 9, 2010

That "Together Forever" video is like every John Hughes movie thrown in a pot and boiled down to a thick, cloying syrup.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 9:28 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

You just had to revel in the supreme mediocricity of it.

The thing is -- in 1987 it was just standard Stock Aitken Waterman pop music, not supreme mediocrity. It wasn't any more or less mediocre than "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" or Bananarama's remake of "Venus."

And, it was everywhere, inescapable and inevitable. And now, all these years later, he's just as inescapable and inevitable, for totally unrelated reasons. He's some kind of warlock, frankly.
posted by blucevalo at 9:28 PM on September 9, 2010 [8 favorites]

Physically, he's aged well. He looks damn good in that video. But similarly, the Jazzmaster guitar here is a metaphor for the song, and ultimately for Rick Astley at this point. It's the one vintage Fender that really looks better than it sounds. Next to a Telecaster, it looks like The Future! but, ultimately, it just doesn't sound that great.

And yeah, they don't use Autotune to generate fake intervals and arpeggios that he didn't sing in the first place, but on the sustained notes, it pretty well slams his voice onto the calculated frequency.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:29 PM on September 9, 2010

He dances just like the bad dancing robot featured in a recent FPP.
posted by binturong at 9:30 PM on September 9, 2010

I like Rick Astley, think his voice is sexy in a pop music kind of way. Wish he'd had a proper music career.

It's funny to hear Lights Out now, since it really sounds as if it should have followed Never Gonna Give You Up in 1987.
posted by nickyskye at 9:41 PM on September 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

All this time, he didn't think they would pick him. The wheel of fortune sometimes makes me smile.
posted by Xoebe at 9:44 PM on September 9, 2010

erstwhile: One has to wonder how much Rickrolling has done to encourage him in the revival of his career.

You don't have to wonder.
posted by flatluigi at 10:01 PM on September 9, 2010

Oh no: you are NOT going to get me to click on those links in the OP.

I've been tricked too often.
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 10:49 PM on September 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I never thought I'd say this, but some of the YouTube comments on the 'Lights Out' video are pretty funny.
posted by Wroksie at 1:04 AM on September 10, 2010

What's up with the Duran Duran lyrics? It's definitely not a coincidence, as no person ever would use the phrase "the ghost of you" under basically any circumstance.
posted by DoctorFedora at 1:30 AM on September 10, 2010

I'm fucking dizzy.
posted by a non e mouse at 2:01 AM on September 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

I wonder if Rick Astley has an account on Mefi.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:17 AM on September 10, 2010

The comments (which smell like 4chan) are great:

My friend has been having alot of girlfriend problems lately and he was very depressed for a while. She ended up leaving him.. he was days away from asking her to marry him.

The other night he OD'd, and cut his wrists. Police found his body, but luckily during the autopsy, the laptop from forensics was playing this video, his wounds healed, and he instantly was rid of the toxins, if it wasn't for this song my friend would still be dead, thank you Rick Astley!

I've been a nazi my whole life.

I killed black people, joined the KKK and had Hitler and Swastika posters in my whole room.

I was about to kill a jew but then his phone rang and this song came on.

Suddenly all the people I killed magically appeared around me and I let the jew go.

I felt peace and harmony like I never did in my life before.

I invited the black people and the jew for a beer and when I came home all my posters had turned into love and peace flags.

Thanks for everything, Rick!

A couple of weeks back my doctor told me i only had a few weeks to live. I went into shock and set off on a infinite self realization journey. Among other things i've always wanted to try gay sex but i've never really dared to try it. Just the other night walking home after an evening with barrelloads of cheap wine i heard this song coming from a metro passage way. The sweet sounds sort of pulled me in to what became the night of my life. Thanks Rick for showing me the glory of "brotherly love".


posted by Sebmojo at 3:21 AM on September 10, 2010

That's a good song. I like good pop songs.
posted by jbickers at 4:15 AM on September 10, 2010

I wonder if Rick Astley has an account on Mefi.
posted by Meatbomb at 10:17 AM on September 10

Actually, I am Rick Astley but don't spread it around. I'm a very private person and I've found the whole meme thing a bit embarrassing.
posted by Decani at 4:37 AM on September 10, 2010

But that was the whole thing with "Never Gonna Give You Up". The song was so awful, so phoned-in, commercial, cynical, and what-have-you that it was actually appealing to listen to

I'll give you some of that--an uninspired vocal performance, certainly--but at least it had vaguely-interesting production and a memorable hook. This is a blur of faux-modern and faux-throwback elements that would have sounded corny even in 1987.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:43 AM on September 10, 2010

The part where 445,770 people overcame their fear of being rickrolled to view this new video brought a tear to my eye.


I then punched that tear for being such a pussy.
posted by orme at 5:57 AM on September 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Thank you, WCityMike, for the well-crafted post.

I don't mind Astley. It can't be easy, being a musical punchline. And, the new tune isn't all that bad... although as mentioned above, the comments on it are almost better than the song itself.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:22 AM on September 10, 2010

This song made my life better. I was unemployed and it went out and found me work--AS A SUPERHERO! Then it gave me cancer. AND THEN IT CURED CANCER. Thank you rick ashley.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:24 AM on September 10, 2010

I really like this song, but then I unironically like "Never Gonna Give You Up".
Haters gonna hate, I guess.
posted by Memo at 6:35 AM on September 10, 2010

.... on the sustained notes, it pretty well slams his voice onto the calculated frequency.

The sheer kensho I experienced in reading this sentence cannot be overstated. After wondering and googling for years, I finally totally and completely and absolutely "get" what Autotune does. Kudos sir, much obliged!
posted by the cydonian at 6:46 AM on September 10, 2010

I really like this song, but then I unironically like "Never Gonna Give You Up".
Haters gonna hate, I guess.

It's all good -- I like that a-ha song with the cartoon video.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:48 AM on September 10, 2010

Is it just me, or is this video about how famous Rick Astley thinks he is?
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:13 AM on September 10, 2010

<gucci mane>Cut the lights on; cut the fuckin' lights on ...</gucci mane>

I must see "Lights Out" by Gucci Mane ft. Rick Astley.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:24 AM on September 10, 2010

Actually, I am Rick Astley but don't spread it around. I'm a very private person and I've found the whole meme thing a bit embarrassing.
posted by Decani at 7:37 AM on September 10 [+] [!]

Impossible. I am Rick Astley.
posted by grubi at 7:44 AM on September 10, 2010

The Whelk: "If, in 1982 you predicted that a vast system of connected computers would be the sole responsible reason for a one-hit wonder's comeback along with a gallery full of disturbing sex jokes you'd be dismissed as a freak.

Yet here we are."

Pedobear is no mere joke.
posted by symbioid at 7:48 AM on September 10, 2010

Oh god, he even does the hand motions in his live show. (I gotta say, though, the live performance is much, much better than the recorded version.)

Some friends of mine, when they saw the video: "who let him into that minor league hockey arena? maybe he works there? excuse me rick. i'm not sure why you would need that guitar to show people to their seats in section 126. leave it in your car, please."
posted by uncleozzy at 7:59 AM on September 10, 2010

I was just fuckin' with y'all, I'm Rick Astley.
posted by Meatbomb at 8:09 AM on September 10, 2010

We are all Rick Astley.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:22 AM on September 10, 2010

There's a little Rick Astley in all of us. Near the colon. It's vestigial.
posted by Trochanter at 8:28 AM on September 10, 2010 [4 favorites]

Not sure where some of these AutoTune comments are coming from. I'm sure there's pitch correction happening here, but this vocal sounds pretty natural relative to other stuff on pop radio. Acting like you can hear exactly which software package was used is a little silly.

Of course, the song is a total MOR throwaway, but so was Never Gonna Give You Up, which only had a kind of campy enjoyment-factor in hindsight.
posted by JohnMarston at 8:50 AM on September 10, 2010

I'm sure there's pitch correction happening here, but this vocal sounds pretty natural relative to other stuff on pop radio. Acting like you can hear exactly which software package was used is a little silly.

There is egregiously ham-fisted pitch correction happening here that is painful to listen to. It sounds pretty natural relative to the even more egregious examples that are on pop radio and elsewhere (I'm looking at you, Glee), which is to say that it doesn't sound anywhere near natural, but there are worse examples. If Melodyne was used, rather than something more clumsy like Autotune, it was used incompetently. Or, alternatively, maybe Rick Astley is so bad that it's impossible to bring his vocals anywhere near pitch without sounding like this (I'm looking at you, Ewan McGregor).
posted by The World Famous at 9:08 AM on September 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

painful to listen to

Yeah, this is not what a human singing voice sounds like. Every time I hear something as bad as this, I'm astounded that so many people can't hear it, don't get a sort of skin-crawly feeling from the uncanny-valley-ish voice. It's not robotic, but it's also clearly not human.

mrs ozzy was watching Glee in the living room a few weeks ago while I was working on something in the office, and I actually had to put some headphones on because all I could hear were piercingly-loud tuning artifacts. And now I made the mistake of checking out some Glee on Youtube... and it's worse than I'd imagined. Seriously, how do they get away with this shit?
posted by uncleozzy at 9:26 AM on September 10, 2010

I saw the post and managed to avoid clicking those first two links. But then again, I enjoy making up overwrought new titles for songs. My favorite of all time may be "This Celebration Is Held In My Honor And I'll Be Lachrymose If I Choose".
posted by norm at 9:40 AM on September 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yah the YouTube comments are pretty funny on this one. And I'm dizzy. And I'm pretty sure that there hasn't been such use of fake audience screams in a video since Bon Jovi.

And is it just me, or did they do one of those video post production things where they fix the wrinkles in his face, y'know, like they do to Meg Ryan these days? Cause his face has that subtle gaussian blur thing going on in a few shots.
posted by daHIFI at 9:41 AM on September 10, 2010

Yeah, this is not what a human singing voice sounds like. Every time I hear something as bad as this, I'm astounded that so many people can't hear it, don't get a sort of skin-crawly feeling from the uncanny-valley-ish voice. It's not robotic, but it's also clearly not human.

Well, I'm not saying anything about the subjective qualities of Rick Astley's singing, but I don't think it sounds all that different on Lights Out than it did in Never Gonna Give You Up, which of course predated AutoTune.
posted by JohnMarston at 9:57 AM on September 10, 2010

I saw the post and managed to avoid clicking those first two links. But then again, I enjoy making up overwrought new titles for songs. My favorite of all time may be "This Celebration Is Held In My Honor And I'll Be Lachrymose If I Choose".

Ah, reminds me of my old favorite, Escalatory Structure to Valhalla.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:39 AM on September 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

I love Rick. I think this song is sort of cheesy, and I had to minimize the video window pretty quickly because it was giving me major vertigo. But I think cheesy suits him.

I sometimes think I'm the only one who has never minded being Rickrolled (sorry, Paultumbled). I listened to Whenever You Need Somebody every time I mowed the grass (in my Outback Red shirt and Sebago camp mocs) in the summer of 1988. I think I still know all the lyrics to all the songs on that album. It always made me a little sad that I thought most of the Stock Aiken Waterman songs on it were better than those penned by Astley (except "You Move Me" - that one's pretty good), and that his songs were confined to the b-side of the album.

I'm thrilled that Rickrolling and teh interwebz have given him a second stab at the charts. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. But I really, really want to know how he has managed to still look about 23. My theory is that they cryogenically froze his hair...maybe his whole head. I mean, nobody heard word one from him for most of the 90s.
posted by jocelmeow at 10:49 AM on September 10, 2010

I don't think it sounds all that different on Lights Out than it did in Never Gonna Give You Up, which of course predated AutoTune.

Some people have an ear for it and some don't. That's ok. Be glad you can't hear pitch correction. The world of popular music is inhospitable for those who can.
posted by The World Famous at 11:25 AM on September 10, 2010

Been thinking about this Rick Astley thing. About the stamina it takes when a person becomes a celeb, for whatever reason.

He looks so sad in the video, wounded. Maybe being a 1987 one hit wonder (well, actually several), good looking young guy with a masculine voice who became a bait and switch 4chan take-off on duck-rolling internet meme was not fun for him. He must be human.

I noticed that a bunch of discussion boards are trying to buoy up the song, spread its popularity. That seems kind of adorable. Is it rickrolling remorse? Meme make-up support or something?

And now this new meme trying to get web legs, the xxxx trials and tribulations now miraculously healed, Thanks to Rick one. He's going to need to lighten up and smile a bit to get through the next stage of his musical career. Suck up the rickroll Rick.

Oooh, good phrase, daHIFI, gaussian blur. It all went by in a gaussian blur, describes the 80's exactly.
posted by nickyskye at 11:28 AM on September 10, 2010

Some people have an ear for it and some don't. That's ok. Be glad you can't hear pitch correction.

A+++, would be patronized again!!!!1

I'm a musician, I've got plenty of recording experience on both sides of the glass, and I've used pitch correction software, but thanks for your advice.
posted by JohnMarston at 11:49 AM on September 10, 2010

Copernicus, you can now rest in peace. We have concluded that Rick Astley is at the center of a rapidly rotating universe.
posted by simms2k at 1:02 PM on September 10, 2010

A+++, would be patronized again!!!!1

Oh for crying out loud. Sorry if I offended you. But you're the one who said you couldn't hear the difference between Astley's new vocal track and the ones recorded before the invention of pitch correction. I didn't say you're not a musician or that you don't have lots of recording experience, etc. I just repeated what you said about yourself.
posted by The World Famous at 1:28 PM on September 10, 2010

I saw the post and managed to avoid clicking those first two links. But then again, I enjoy making up overwrought new titles for songs. My favorite of all time may be "This Celebration Is Held In My Honor And I'll Be Lachrymose If I Choose".

Bill Compton sings the classics!
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:47 PM on September 10, 2010 [2 favorites]

The World Famous:

My point was that it's rather presumptuous to make such specific and conclusive statements about how a track was made if you had no direct involvement with the recording process. I don't think the vocals sound hugely different between the two tracks, tuning-wise. You apparently hear it differently. Ok. But if you weren't there in the studio, you're just speculating. Implying that somebody else has tin ears because they disagree with your speculation is really obnoxious, and your comment was awfully condescending no matter how you read it.

I hope this explanation was helpful to you and will enable you to improve your comment quality in the future. Have a nice day.
posted by JohnMarston at 2:03 PM on September 10, 2010

Implying that somebody else has tin ears because they disagree with your speculation is really obnoxious, and your comment was awfully condescending no matter how you read it.

I'm not implying that you have tin ears. I thought I was echoing your own statement that you can't hear the pitch correction software in action on a particular Rick Astley track. However, now that you've restated that assertion, but added "tuning-wise" to it, I see that maybe we're talking past each other. I agree with you that, on "Never Gonna Give You Up," Rick Astley's vocal track sounds more or less in-tune, and that his vocal track on "Lights Out" sounds similarly more or less in-tune. I was not referring to how the two tracks compare "tuning-wise," but instead to the painful artifacts of pitch correction software evident in the latter of the two tracks. Sorry for the confusion and for any offense I may have caused.
posted by The World Famous at 2:16 PM on September 10, 2010

Ai ai ai, I was a rickrolled virgin until today. A dear MeFite friend, who read my comment here about liking Rick Astley, pulled a phone prank. Yup, I got rickrolled.
posted by nickyskye at 7:53 PM on September 10, 2010

For a vinyl-enthusiast friends recent birthday I posted him a gen-yoo-ine Whenever you need somebody LP. Postal rickroll!
posted by Iteki at 10:32 AM on September 12, 2010

Pedobear is no mere joke.

Damn right.
posted by homunculus at 11:01 AM on September 12, 2010