Rickroll prank featuring Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, and Ministry goes viral overnight
On April 1st, we published our annual April Fools’ article, in which we claimed that Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, and Ministry had come together to form a new supergroup called Steel Harmony. We announced that their debut single, “Metal Lullabies,” was now available. The article quickly gained traction, and as of today, it has received over 81,000 visits. More than 61,000 people clicked on the video link, which led them directly to “Never Gonna Give You Up” by English singer Rick Astley.
In short, thousands upon thousands of people were (intentionally) rickrolled. We use the term “intentionally” because many readers checked out the article knowing it was a joke of course.
We’re sorry
However, we received a single email from a fan of all three bands who was extremely disappointed that the news was an April Fools’ prank. This individual sent us a very, very angry email. We sincerely apologize, Scott, for the distress we caused.
For the sake of transparency, we’ve included the anonymized email below, with spelling and grammar errors corrected: “As a fan of Ministry, Nails, and Rammstein, your article about the groups’ merger, which linked to the Rick Astley video, was the most ridiculous prank idea-if that’s what you’d call it. If this is your standard of musical value to the world, you should hire karaoke DJs to write your articles. While you’re engaging in such nonsense, why not write and post an exposé arguing that Miley Cyrus had her song ‘Jolene’ stolen from her by Dolly Parton? At least now everyone knows that you’re nothing more than a colossal jerk, and like Biden, nobody should take anything you say seriously.”
Once again, we apologize.
What is Rickrolling exactly?
Rickrolling, or a Rickroll, is an internet meme that involves the surprise appearance of the music video for the 1987 song “Never Gonna Give You Up” by English singer Rick Astley. This video has amassed over 1 billion views on YouTube. The meme functions as a bait-and-switch tactic, typically employing a disguised hyperlink redirecting users to the music video. When individuals click on an apparently unrelated link, they are taken to the video instead of the expected content, and in doing so, they are “Rickrolled.”
The phenomenon of Rickrolling began to gain mainstream attention in 2008. A SurveyUSA poll from April 2008 estimated that at least 18 million US adults had been rickrolled that year alone. Since then, the number of ‘victims’ has only continued to grow, reaching hundreds of millions.
About Rammstein
Rammstein formed in Berlin, Germany, in 1994. Guitarist Richard Kruspe, who had fled East Germany for West Berlin in 1989 and later returned to form a project with bassist Oliver Riedel and drummer Christoph Schneider, recruited singer Till Lindemann after hearing him sing. The four-piece won a Berlin battle-of-the-bands contest in 1994, with the prize of a week of professional studio time; guitarist Paul Landers and keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz completed the six-member lineup shortly after. The band’s name derives from “Rammstein-Flugschau,” a reference to the 1988 Ramstein air show disaster, with an extra letter “m” added to the spelling.
The band signed to Motor Music after the 1994 contest and released its debut album, “Herzeleid,” in September 1995. “Sehnsucht” followed in August 1997 and debuted at number one in Germany. From “Mutter” (April 2001) onward, Rammstein has recorded for Universal Music. Subsequent studio albums include “Reise, Reise” (2004), “Rosenrot” (2005), “Liebe ist für alle da” (2009), an untitled seventh album (May 2019) that reached number one in 14 countries, and “Zeit” (April 2022). The band’s lineup – Lindemann, Kruspe, Landers, Riedel, Schneider and Lorenz – has remained unchanged since 1994.
Richard Kruspe has fronted the side project Emigrate since 2007, and Till Lindemann has recorded as Lindemann, with Peter Tägtgren, since 2015. Rammstein won the Revolver Golden God Award for Best Live Band in 2011, its first US award, and has received two Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance, for “Du hast” (1999) and “Mein Teil” (2006). Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry are unrelated acts referenced together in this story.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
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