Rick Astley doesn't have an attitude about Rickrolling — anymore

In 1987, Rick Astley became a global pop sensation with massive hits like Never Gonna Give You Up and Together Forever. But by 1993, at the age of 27, he decided he was done and quit the music business for good.

"I hated sort of what I'd become," Astley says in a recent interview with Q's Tom Power. "The songs are bigger than you are. The videos are way bigger than you are…. I'm looking at it going, 'I'm not sure who that guy is, but I'll just pretend to be him for a while.'"

That could have been the end of the story, but the internet had other plans for Astley. In 2007, he became the subject of the viral internet meme known as Rickrolling — an online bait-and-switch prank that unexpectedly leads to the Never Gonna Give You Up music video.

At first, Astley didn't get it. He wasn't sure if he should be offended or if he was the butt of the joke, seeing as the video was 20 years old at that point. Luckily, his teen daughter was able to explain it to him and give him some advice on how to navigate viral fame.

"She's just like, 'Don't sweat it. It's got nothing to do with you,'" Astley recalls. "I'm like, 'Ex-squeeze me? What do you mean it's got nothing to do with me? I'm the dude in the video! It's my song.' And she's like, 'Yeah, but that's the internet. It's got nothing to do with you.'"

The videos are way bigger than you are…. I'm looking at it going, 'I'm not sure who that guy is.'- Rick Astley

Astley says his daughter's somewhat dismissive way of telling him to get over himself helped him realize that the meme could have easily emerged from any song deemed "cheesy enough" by the internet.

"It could have been anyone's tune," he says. "So maybe you should be thinking this is a good thing and be grateful about it. Don't embrace it too much because that would be a bit too corny as well."

As big as Rickrolling became, it's just one chapter of Astley's strange and incredible life. Now, at 59, he's released a new memoir, Never, in which he opens up about his experience with fame.

"[Writing a memoir is] a weird thing to do," he tells Power. "You just get to say what you want to say — and I've never 100 per cent been in that position. I've had great interviews over the years … but it's just a different thing when you're doing your book."

Astley's memoir Never is out now.

The full interview with Rick Astley is available on our YouTube channel and on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Rick Astley produced by Ben Edwards.