Even Detroit Hates Nickelback!

[slackin@dabass]

I like nickelback. I think they write good music that pounds and they write some groovin riffage. Follow you home has such a laid back groove to it. How can anyone love AC/dc and hate nickelback? They're the same band a generation apart. I think people hate nickelback cuz they write hits.

[ToonaRockGuy]

I like nickelback. I think they write good music that pounds and they write some groovin riffage. Follow you home has such a laid back groove to it. How can anyone love AC/dc and hate nickelback? They're the same band a generation apart. I think people hate nickelback cuz they write hits.

Nickelback has no soul, I think that's why people hate them. Most musical artists grow and evolve over time. Nickelback hit the big time and completely locked in to the formula to make them a financial success:

Every Nickelback Record:

1. Radio friendly uptempo rocker, preferably with heavy sexual overtones ("Figured You Out", "Something In Your Mouth").

2. Mid-Tempo pseudo-ballad for the ladies ("How You Remind Me", "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good").

3. Ballad with teary imagery built in for sales ("Photograph", "Someday")

4. Angry song, if possible, for the ladies ("Never Again"), if not, as radio-friendly as angry can be ("Burn It To The Ground")

5. Filler.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat. It's like what happened to Creed after the "My Own Prison" record...every album after that was all teary, bullshit power ballads and Scott Stapp on some mountain somewhere doing the Christ pose. Nickelback shows no signs of growing and evolving, and to musicians, that makes them lame as all fuckin' hell.

[slackin@dabass]

I like nickelback. I think they write good music that pounds and they write some groovin riffage. Follow you home has such a laid back groove to it. How can anyone love AC/dc and hate nickelback? They're the same band a generation apart. I think people hate nickelback cuz they write hits.

Nickelback has no soul, I think that's why people hate them. Most musical artists grow and evolve over time. Nickelback hit the big time and completely locked in to the formula to make them a financial success:

Every Nickelback Record:

1. Radio friendly uptempo rocker, preferably with heavy sexual overtones ("Figured You Out", "Something In Your Mouth").

2. Mid-Tempo pseudo-ballad for the ladies ("How You Remind Me", "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good").

3. Ballad with teary imagery built in for sales ("Photograph", "Someday")

4. Angry song, if possible, for the ladies ("Never Again"), if not, as radio-friendly as angry can be ("Burn It To The Ground")

5. Filler.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat. It's like what happened to Creed after the "My Own Prison" record...every album after that was all teary, bullshit power ballads and Scott Stapp on some mountain somewhere doing the Christ pose. Nickelback shows no signs of growing and evolving, and to musicians, that makes them lame as all fuckin' hell.

Oh well. They still write songs that make me wanna get hammered... And I don't even drink, really. I think people hate 'em cuz they're successful. Like a7x. Plenty of metal heads give em Shit but they still rip and make a lot of $$$$.

[autumnsky]

Okay, I have a question. Why does every band have to be the same as all of the other ones that you may like? The fact that some one may love a band for one reason and hate another or whatever reason doesn't mean they are less talented or musical crap. You may just have different tastes, doesn't really make any one right or wrong. If everyone liked the same thing, wouldn't the music world be so boring that no one would listen any more?

[Merge]

I like nickelback. I think they write good music that pounds and they write some groovin riffage. Follow you home has such a laid back groove to it. How can anyone love AC/dc and hate nickelback? They're the same band a generation apart. I think people hate nickelback cuz they write hits.

Nickelback has no soul, I think that's why people hate them. Most musical artists grow and evolve over time. Nickelback hit the big time and completely locked in to the formula to make them a financial success:

Every Nickelback Record:

1. Radio friendly uptempo rocker, preferably with heavy sexual overtones ("Figured You Out", "Something In Your Mouth").

2. Mid-Tempo pseudo-ballad for the ladies ("How You Remind Me", "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good").

3. Ballad with teary imagery built in for sales ("Photograph", "Someday")

4. Angry song, if possible, for the ladies ("Never Again"), if not, as radio-friendly as angry can be ("Burn It To The Ground")

5. Filler.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat. It's like what happened to Creed after the "My Own Prison" record...every album after that was all teary, bullshit power ballads and Scott Stapp on some mountain somewhere doing the Christ pose. Nickelback shows no signs of growing and evolving, and to musicians, that makes them lame as all fuckin' hell.

AC/DC has written the same album 15 times, and I know some people that worship them. I've heard my friends say "I don't like _____, all of their music sounds the same". This statement has been made about countless bands, and my response is always "If you want something that sounds different, listen to a different band". I don't expect U2's next album to sound like anyone other than U2. Bon Jovi tried to "do something different", and were labeled sell outs for it. The minute a band tries to evolve and do something different, they're called sell outs. Nickelback, just like every other band out there, has their way of doing things. The same people that say "I dislike Nickelback, there's nothing technical about their music", are the same people that say "I love AC/DC, it's the simplicity that makes them great". I like Nickelback's music, I always have. And I don't care who knows it.

[ToonaRockGuy]

@Autumn, it's not about being the same, it's about growing and evolving. If a band gets stuck doing the same thing year after year, record after record, it gets formulaic and boring. The challenge of being a musician is finding ways to challenge yourself and come up with new ideas and evolving styles and sounds. Nickelback in 2011 sounds the same as Nickelback in 2004. Rush in 2011 sounds completely different than Rush in 1982. Stagnant can be very bad, depending on the band.

For example, AC/DC was brought up in this thread. I loves me some AC/DC, but my feeling is that one of the reasons that they will never ever equal "Back In Black" is that it was so different, due in major part to the unfortunate passing of Bon Scott, but if you listen to the production of that record and the guitar sounds, it was so different from their older records. And for the most part, every record they have put out since has had less and less sales. You gotta give the band their props for a 35 year career based on 3 chords and 2&4 drums, but it's showing in declining sales. Still a great live band, though.

And for the record, I never said that Nickelback wasn't talented. Daniel Adair is one of the most badass drummers out there, and I admire him greatly. Love it or hate it, Chad Kroeger does what Slackin' said: write hits, and he's extremely good at it. The band is tight as hell from playing tons of live shows, and yeah, they are making money. But it gets a bit tired when you know exactly what is coming when they go in the studio for a new record. Same old same old. That's my issue with Nickelback.

[Jim Price]

Music critics were having this same conversation in the '80s about Poison and Warrant (and even to a degree, Bon Jovi). Yet more than two decades later, their hits have become canons of the '80s hair/party band era, are still played on the radio, "spun" at dances by deejays and covered by dance/party bands in bars.

I suspect that this will be the case with Nickelback as well. Love them, hate them...their songs still have hooks that people remember, and in the end, memorable song hooks usually result in song longevity.

I'm on the middle ground regarding Nickelback. I like some of their songs; others never connected with me. I saw them once live at Rolling Rock Town Fair just when "How You Remind Me" was becoming a hit, and I thought their live show was good. To each his/her own...

[Drum-Wolf]

I like Nickelback & own several of their cd's. They've got some really good rockin' songs. That band displays dynamics, power, & emotion...& that is part of the reason that they are mega-successful.

[f.sciarrillo]

I like Nickelback and I like this song from them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0VRj2uw9L0

[bassist_25]

I also like Nickelback. I'm continually impressed with their vocal arrangements (which makes their stuff harder to cover than you realize until you try one of their songs), which from what I understand, they also nail live.

I do agree that they have been stuck on a formula, though. But honestly, that's been pretty par for the course for any mainstream bands signed to a major label. Really, the one of the only mainstream artists that I've heard who has actually evolved has been John Mayer. Sadly, the concept of artist development no longer exists. It's all about shuffling in some marketable artist, milking them for a few singles, and then throwing them out on their asses after two albums.

[moxham123]

It could be much worse. At least they did not book The Black Eyed Peas.

Just to play devil's advocate here. If somebody asked me if I would prefer to play hook laden rock songs to sold out arena crowds and sell over 50 million records to date while making tens of mllions of dollars for myself or play to a handful of people and chairs in local bars, where do I sign up?

[autumnsky]

Well then, I guess I won't be the only one anxiously waiting for November 21st when the next Nickleback CD comes out! Don't worry, if it "sucks", I'm sure that we'll hear about it from some one here!!!

[gibson980]

Kroeger is worth $50 million. I'd say he is doing something right.....

[Drum-Wolf]

It could be much worse. At least they did not book The Black Eyed Peas.

Just to play devil's advocate here. If somebody asked me if I would prefer to play hook laden rock songs to sold out arena crowds and sell over 50 million records to date while making tens of mllions of dollars for myself or play to a handful of people and chairs in local bars, where do I sign up?

Well said, Duaine!