Nickelback is still considered the ”most hated” rock band in the world. Why actually? Our author embarks on a very personal search for clues.
We saw the band together in Cologne 22 years ago. It was 2002, my first real rock concert and perhaps the reason why over the years I have kept a special place in my heart for Nickelback that other people no longer wanted to give to this band. Nickelback is considered the most hated band in the world today and we, that is me, have come to find out why that is.
Nickelback were the most promising representatives of post-grunge, a genre hated in the scene but quite popular in the mainstream around bands like Creed, Puddle Of Mudd and 3 Door Down (whose drummers would later target Nickelback). Nickelback was the only band in this pool that everyone could agree on. Hard, almost metallic guitar riffs, a special groove and a talent for catchy choruses. And a self-confidence that led the band to go into debt with friends and family The State register first. The commercial success did not meet the record company’s expectations, as did their album Silver side upthat they are presenting now, it was something like their last chance to prove that they could still make the breakthrough. They played like this at E-Werk.
Nickelback was successful – and hated
Much has changed since then. Certainly not so much for me and Kevin, we still write about the really important things of our time, i.e. music, and well, one of us is preparing presentations today, which his younger punk self would have at least laughed at, but maybe Kevin also just didn’t want to spend that much time with Nickelback and was too nice to tell me so. However, a lot has happened with the band. Nickelback has released ten albums and sold 50 million records worldwide, making them one of the most successful rock bands of all time. And they are hated. Hated fanatically. If you search for the terms “Nickelback” and “Hate” on YouTube, you will find videos that have millions of views. Two years ago, a documentary on the phenomenon of hatred for Nickelback (“Hate To Love: Nickelback”) was even released.
Instead of in front of the E-Werk we are now in front of the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. Things can’t get bigger in this city, 20,000 people can fit here and the concert isn’t complete, but it is. it’s practically sold out. Here the band plays a fairly predictable set, including all the hits and some songs from their latest album Start spinning be sprayed. Everything is practiced, there are no more surprises. The audience is too old and the lineup is too pleasant for the obligatory mosh pit celebration at E-Werk. Chad Kroeger shoots Nickelback merchandise at the crowd with a T-shirt cannon. And he sings – well, perhaps surprisingly – Oasis. Yes, really. Nickelback are on stage and singing Don’t look back in angerand it’s terrible and it’s the only moment of the night where I wonder if the hate this band receives isn’t somehow justified.
Nickelback and hate
But what really lies behind hatred? Why are Nickelback so despised? On the one hand, probably because their music has become the epitome of irrelevant radio mainstream rock. Nickelback songs are something like Michael Bay movies made into sound. Well crafted products aimed at entertaining the masses. Kroeger’s lyrics are explicit, often banal, too often embarrassing, sometimes downright despicable (a song like Something in the mouth it’s about, well, exactly what the title describes I understand you Kroeger leans very close to rape fantasies), yet most of the songs, in their lyrical simplicity, offer not only relatable potential, but also some edginess for the average radio listener.
And I love your disrespect for yourself / While you’re passed out on the bridge / I love my hands around your neck
When Nickelback arrives Rockstars fantasize about what they would do as rock stars (women, drugs and even more women, of course), even if at that point they were already the emblem of the super-rich mainstream rock star, then you understand how the songs aim at the audience with a affinity for the target group. The experimental depth that existed in previous works has been sacrificed, Nickelback are somewhere in the middle Silver side up and the All the right reasons they’ve found the perfect formula for the ultimate radio rock song.
But this is only part of the truth. If you listen to the band’s albums in their entirety, you’ll be surprised to find that they’re much harder, much more metal-oriented than you’d expect. This is probably the band’s great recipe for success: reaching the masses with the singles, but still finding enough fans of the genre who can agree on the rest of the mostly gigantic albums.
Reviewers are always amazed by this other side of the band when forced to engage with the band outside of their radio singles. Of course, true connoisseurs know that Nickelback are talented craftsmen. It is no coincidence that Jerry Cantrell, guitarist of the legendary Alice In Chains, ennobled the band in the aforementioned Silver Side Up tour of 2002 by joining them on stage It’s not like that executed. At the time it was difficult to imagine a greater proof of authenticity.
Another reason for Nickelback’s hatred is certainly their frontman Chad Kroeger, who personifies the archetype of the simple rock’n’roll chav. He’s probably the Canadian equivalent of Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, as some call him toxic man would call. In the scene that the band grew out of, you don’t like to see something like that. Kroeger has repeatedly attracted attention with drunk driving, sexist statements and, well, the mentality of an immature adult, such as when he bragged in an interview that he himself <a target="_blank" class="is-link c-block-items__link c-link–rich-text-renderer" href="https://www.metalsucks.net/2008/03/10/nickelbacks-chad-k
In reality, Nickelback is a perfect zeitgeist phenomenon. They’re barely enough to offend people to talk about, but they don’t actually offend anyone. As a result, Nickelback hatred is probably not really Nickelback hatred, it’s more of a meme, an act of confidence that you’re on the right side if you don’t like a band like Nickelback (or a band like Coldplay). , because the general public likes these bands. Hating Nickelback is the internet generation’s taste test, the little man’s taste order.
They don’t deserve this. Nickelback proves how you can get the most out of, at worst, solid rock music. To date they haven’t released an album that’s truly bad. But there are some that are really, really good. But it is precisely the hatred that makes them even greater, because Nickelback has managed to cultivate perceived outsiders in a system in which they are perfectly integrated. It is precisely this type of outsiderism that the mainstream loves most. And well, the band has managed to prepare for the role of outsiders long enough. They got their first contract with Roadrunner Records. A metal label that they were actually too soft for. It is said that Slipknot, Roadrunner’s leading figure at the time, was “not amused” when they were signed as Nickelback. Harmless enough. Limp Bizkit’s colleagues are Slipknot At the time he received death threats several timesT.
When the concert ends and we leave the arena we meet a lot of very normal people. When I saw Kiss at the same location a few months ago, you could tell from the audience that you were at a Kiss concert when Metallica played in Hamburg, Metallica fans dominated the cityscape. This was also the case with Taylor Swift. At Nickelback, the audience could have been gathered at random from the center of Cologne. Normal people for a normal concert. Played by a great band. As exciting as the presentation Kevin was supposed to ruin the next day.
The “Live in Nashville” album from the Get Rollin’ tour featured in the text was released this week via BMG.