During a White House town hall event on Wednesday, one follower of the discussion was intorduced to an oldie-but-goodie Internet prank. David Wiggs, a self-described energy tech enthusiast, voiced his boredom with the day's chatter by Tweeting: "This WH correspondence briefing isn't nearly as entertaining as yesterday's." Sure enough, the White House had this response a few minutes later: "Fiscal policy is important, but can be dry sometimes. Here's something more fun." The link included in that Tweet resurrected a Web practical joke that became popular 13 years ago: Rickrolling. It directed the user to the YouTube page with the video for Rick Astley's 1987 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up."
The song was released in 1987 and spent 23 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, even climbing to No. 1. Web pranksters began using the excessively cheesy and uncool video for laughs about ten years later by claiming to direct friends to important information or sites but instead sending them to Astley's video. The prank got plenty of coverage on all the major news networks, even though the country is focused on the ongoing debt limit drama. For those who've never had the pleasure, Click Here to get Rickrolled.