Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring
Decoder Ring Presents Endless Thread: The Rickroll
Hi Decoder Ring listeners! Right now we’re in-between seasons and starting to work on some new stories, but in the meantime we wanted to share something from another podcast we think you’d love: Endless Thread from WBUR, where hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dig into online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other stories from the internet.
Right now they are just coming off of a huge, multipart series on memes: the Overly Attached Girlfriend, Slender Man, that image of the Taylor Armstrong from the real housewives yelling at a cat, and more. But today’s episode is probably more famous than all of those: It’s one of the oldest and longest lasting memes on the internet: The Rickroll. Who invented the Rickroll, what’s kept it going, and what does the unsuspecting 80s pop star at the center of it make of it all? Subscribe to Endless Thread wherever you get your podcasts.
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