Deco is a group from London with a passion for creating ’80s synth-pop fusion. And recently their music has caught fire for a mashup, which was released on February 26th. The cover is a version of Wheatus’ pop-punk song “Teenage Dirtbag”—except done in the style of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
Have we all been Rick-Rolled? Yes. Is it a great cover? Absolutely.
The beginning of this “Teenage Dirtbag” cover has the exact same texture and melody as “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Now it sounds like Noelle is a prom queen from the ’80s. The band has only shared a clip of their mashup/cover on social media. While this isn’t an official/full release yet, the band’s fans are begging for one with comments like “Um is this getting released?” and “I’m not even gonna lie, this song would probably be on my Spotify Wrapped.”
This isn’t the band’s first rodeo when it comes to going viral. They’ve previously released other unconventional covers, like a Bowie-style “Murder on the Dancefloor” and an 80’s version of Coldplay’s “Yellow.”
You can watch the Rick-Astley style video clip (avec 1980’s style dance moves!) and cover down below.
Even if you didn’t grow up on Long Island in the ’80s, if you are a true-crime aficionado of a certain age (a horrific classification but here we are), you are likely to be familiar with the case of Ricky Kasso, who murdered Gary Lauwers (both 17) in June of 1984. And if you did grow up there like Wheatus’s Brendan B.Brown (and myself), the whole story is firmly and forever embedded in your psyche, especially if you were a kid or teen at the time. It was both tragic and terrifying.
