Retro Spins: Rick Astley - Whenever You Need Somebody

Rick Astley
Whenever You Need Somebody
1987

Poor Rick Astley. He went from 80's superstar to internet joke in 2007 and remains the ever mocked persona of rickrolling people. Oh...He's also been a successful radio personality, has returned to a successful singing career, is married to producer Lene Bausager and worth an estimated sixteen million dollars. Dang. Poor Rick Astley, nothing.

Astley made his debut in 1987 with the album Whenever You Need Somebody and with it came a whole lot of success. Unfortunately for the singer, the money he should have been making for three top ten hits, two of which went to number one, was going to someone else. Why? Because he didn't write them and as such was only getting Performance Royalties.

For those of you who don't know how this works, let me break it down for you. Songwriter Royalties (or Mechanical Royalties as it's known in the music business) is money paid to the songwriter every time a physical or digital copy of an album is (legally) purchased. A Performance Royalty on the other hand is the money paid to the singer (possibly also the writer) every time the song is played - Such as on the radio, in bars or at sporting events. Another way writers and performers are paid are through Synch Fees which are when a song is used for television or movies. Last, there's the record label who takes a "fair" chunk of the money for themselves.

Now that you know how it works, you can see that while Astley's music career was lucrative (hello, 16 million dollars), it could have been more so had his name been associated with the writing credits for his most popular songs.

Never Gonna Give You Up was his first number one hit. It first hit the charts in December 1987 at number seventy-one. It reached the number one spot by March of 1988. His second number one hit, Together Forever, entered the charts at number sixty-two in April of '88 and reached number one by June of that same year. Though It Would Take A Strong Man would be the last hit from the album, it was by far Astley's last hit in general. The song charted in July 1988 at number seventy-eight and peaked at number ten in September. By then, hits from his follow up album, F*%k You, I'm Rick Astley Hold Me In Your Arms began charting. That's a post for another time though.

As a whole...Meh...The album is kind of boring. The hits, and I use that term lightly from my perspective, are the only stand out tracks to be found. I could honestly feel just as fulfilled in my life if I never heard them or the album in general ever again. Astley may have his fans out there, but I don't think I'm going to be one of them. Considering I picked up the album for a buck on a secondary market, I don't think he'd personally care or miss me that much anyway.

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