15 Unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman Singles

1. Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ Released: August 1987. UK Chart Peak: #1. Oz Chart Peak: #1. US Chart Peak: #1. He was the 21-year-old ginger from Lancashire, a tea boy who made good at the PWL studios (or at PWL on work experience, depending which story you believe). More than anything, he was the unknown white guy whose rich, soulful voice belied his age, ethnicity and experience as a performer. He wasn't especially rhythmic either. Never Gonna Give You Up is, perhaps, the definitive SAW track and certainly the best known song they ever wrote. It went to #1 in 20 countries and into the top five virtually everywhere else. It was the highest selling single in the UK for 1987 and in the top five sellers in the US and Australia in 1988. The Whenever You Need Somebody album went on to sell in huge numbers all over the world, as did the title track which was its immensely successful second single, followed by two more worldwide hits including a second US #1 single. At the time, and for many years afterwards, Rick's style - as epitomised by the Never Gonna Give You Up video - was both mocked and mimicked. The sartorial elegance of head-to-toe chambray and stonewash blue denim, or high-waisted trousers with buttoned up shirt and a blazer, was difficult to ignore, as was Rick's rhythmic ability; to describe him as either 'fluid' or 'natural' would be massive overstatements. In the 21st century, the song has inspired myriad internet memes, not least of which the 'Things Rick Astley would never do' pie-chart craze and the 'Rick-rolling' phenomenon. For a 25 year old song to take on a life of its own and still be so popular, even with ever-ageist Generation Y - speaks volumes about the quality of every aspect of the song. SAW should be rightly proud of Never Gonna Give You Up.