Several years ago a mad genius mashed up Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with Rick Astley’s viral smash “Never Gonna Give You Up,” and it was crazy when that DJ dropped it that one time at that party during the Obama presidency.
Over the weekend, the song hit the live stage, as Foo Fighters decided to RickGrohl (hat tip YouTube comments section) everyone watching their set at Japan’s Summer Sonic Festival.
The Foo — who have a new album called Concrete And Gold coming out September 15 — introduced Astley on stage, and the good-natured pop singer dropped a well-time “motherfucker” before the band broke into what appeared to be the Nirvana classic. But then Astley reminded us that we are all no strangers to love, and it was clear he’d never gonna give us up.
Well played, Dave, Rick, and everyone else.
If anything, though, it does remind us how well these two songs go together. We hope to hear more about this collab on a future installment of Sonic Highways.
Watch the performance below.
Featured photo by Aaron Tan via YouTube.
And in case there was any doubt…