Big point here. Personally I've been finding the Nickleback hate more and more obnoxious over the years. I find it very similar to the guy at the party that needs to find several ways to drop the fact that he's straight into every conversation. The desire for people to let others know that they like a certain type of music bothers me.
Secondly, the argument against them gets weaker and weaker every year as we move away from a forced media stream and into a customized one. I used to hate bands I heard on the radio 5 times a day. Over the past 5 years I probably haven't listened to radio for more than 10 hours in total. In all honesty, I have heard 1 Bieber song in my life. The last Nickelback song I heard in its entirety was at the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics. It's just not hard to avoid music that isn't your thing.
Totally agree that this "hate culture" seems to be getting more prevalent, when it has never been easier to avoid!
I personally am not a fan of Beiber, Nickelback, Starbucks or Walmart, but certainly don't hate them or begrudge their success.
People need to relax and not be sheep. The icepick comment above..? Change the f'in station if it impacts you that much!
Yeah, but there are bands that are far less successful than Nickelback with far fewer fans at their height that will still be remembered decades later and discovered by kids who were barely alive when they were at their peak.
I am a 40 year old male ...grew up on Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Judas Priest, Hip, and whole bunch of other man music.
I have no problem with Nikki Minaj, Nickleback, Bieber, CeeLo, Bruno Mars and other commercially successful performers. In fact they are all on my active playlist.
Haters gonna hate. I like music for what it is, ear candy. I don't get the music snob scene.
One of my closest friends is an elementary school music teacher and when I caught her bashing Bieber, I asked her to consider how proud she would be if one of her students was able to reach that level by being an entertainer. Yes, he may not have the best voice or maybe even has it enhanced, but how many people could do what he has done, even with the industry pimping him out.
Sorry, just enjoy what the world offers and don't worry if its cool to bash it.
As Long as You Love Me, Stop the Alarm and Marry Me!
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I used to hate Nickelback, then I heard Lil Wayne and Kesha and realized that music could suck so much harder than what Nickelback created. I just hope that Nickelback realizes that when you shamelessly promote yourself 24/7 people are going to hate you, even if a band like Tool did it people would hate them just because it tarnishes the product when you are out for the money all the time.
Bands like Hanson, the Jonas Brothers, Simple Plan, and Hootie and the Blowfish and wrote their own songs and all are/were hugely successful. But no one will remember them in 20 years
lol Hanson was popular almost 20 years ago now and you're still talking about them.
Radiohead has sold 30 million albums, Nickleback has sold 50 million. They're both overwhelmingly successful bands.
I think people hate Nickleback because they feel residual guilt over allowing so many ####ty Nirvana/Pearl Jam knock off bands to become popular in the 90's.
Nickelback has sold 50 million records, Radiohead 30 million. Say yeah, amazingly Nickelback has been far more succesful. And its not a little. 20 million records is a ton, Nickelback has sold 66% more records than Radiohead. Big difference there.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
Yeah as far as pop radio goes I'd agree. Radiohead has had 3 songs enter the Billboard Hot 100 and they've been active for a lot longer and sold around the same amount of cd's (most of nickelbacks existence has been in the mp3 age as well).
I still don't know if they'll be remembered by kids though. I'm sure if you go to most junior high's and high schools you'll be hard pressed to find many people who know who Radiohead is. They haven't had a hit since 2008 and before that 2003. Plus again, you'd only hear it on rock stations.
I guess it depends on what you mean by "remembered"..?
If you think in 20 years when a radiohead song is played at a bar you'll have all the young people singing the lyrics to Creep I think you'll be disappointed. Will they be hounered and held in high regard by those with a real interest in music? Yes, for sure.
I'm not a fan but I give the guy props for succeeding despite rock being at an all time low and the air waves being dominated by corporate manufactured, disposable pop and country music.
There is no video here, but this is the best live recording of a great band at its peak that I've ever heard. I'm sure I've listened to this album from end to end at least 50 times over the years. And although I've only recently started paying attention, Rush is another amazing live band.
Nickelback has sold over 50 million albums, so pretty much anyone who's sold less than that but is actually any good. There are hundreds of artists that fit that bill who are or will be influencing people for decades after their peak. Here's a few off the top of my head:
The Clash
The Doors
Bob Marley & the Wailers
Radiohead
The Pixies
The Band
Tom Waits
Arcade Fire
Miles Davis
NWA
Elvis Costello
Velvet Underground
Ray Charles
Modest Mouse
The Ramones
Talking Heads
Beastie Boys
There are a lot of acts that have had more success then Nickelback in that approximate time frame (late 90's early '00s) that will most likely be remembered in a positive light (unlike Nickelback).
Eminem, Rihanna (although I don't think she writes her own music so maybe not), Jay Z, Black Eyed Peas (well, they started off good at least), Alicia Keys, Coldplay... etc.
But I guess the "genius" about Chad Krueger is he took one formula and managed to turn it into a mini-empire.
I don't think anyone can doubt Kroeger's success at exploiting the nature of most music fans. He's smart enough to realize generic, dumbed down rock will always sell if it has catchy hooks and melodies. So in that regard he deserves credit for understanding that most music fans are interested in hearing something comfortable rather than something challenging.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
I tend to believe that any artist who has "made it" has worked really hard to get there. Bieber, Britney Spears and Nickelback included. I also believe there is a large amount of luck in making it.
I don't know if I would use the word Genius for Kroeger because I still think there is a large amount of luck involved in even maintaining such stardom. The best example I can think of is Paris Hilton. A lot of people didn't buy the bimbo blonde act instead saying it's an act and she is a marketing genius. I even read the same thing on this forum. Well unless it was her genius plan to fall off the face of the entertainment industry then maybe luck played a larger role than genius.
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Nickelback has sold 50 million records, Radiohead 30 million. Say yeah, amazingly Nickelback has been far more succesful. And its not a little. 20 million records is a ton, Nickelback has sold 66% more records than Radiohead. Big difference there.
It's all in the same ballpark in my opinion. 10's of millions probably puts you into the .5% of artists for record sales. Of course 20 million record sales puts more millions into your already bloated bank account, but they are both massive bands.
Yeah as far as pop radio goes I'd agree. Radiohead has had 3 songs enter the Billboard Hot 100 and they've been active for a lot longer and sold around the same amount of cd's (most of nickelbacks existence has been in the mp3 age as well).
I still don't know if they'll be remembered by kids though. I'm sure if you go to most junior high's and high schools you'll be hard pressed to find many people who know who Radiohead is. They haven't had a hit since 2008 and before that 2003. Plus again, you'd only hear it on rock stations.
I guess it depends on what you mean by "remembered"..?
If you think in 20 years when a radiohead song is played at a bar you'll have all the young people then singing the lyrics to Creep I think you'll be disappointed. Will they be hounered and held in high regard by those with a real interest in music? Yes, for sure.
Being remembered means people who weren't around for these artists' heydays will discover their music and enjoy it. People still get into bands like the Velvet Underground 40 years after they broke up despite the fact that their highest charting album was a #171.
As for the bolded, that's really all there is to it. The opinions of people that don't actually have an interest in music don't really matter because they'll just move on to something else and that's my point. By and large the people who like Nickelback aren't discerning music fans. Obviously that's a broad brush to paint with and there are many exceptions, but I think for the most part it's true. And I'm not putting that down or being smug, it's just a fact. Some people have a deep interest in music while others do not. It's no different than a hardcore hockey fan who understands the nuances of the game vs a bandwagoner who follows whoever happens to be good at the time.
