| The Real Wizard 01.11.2010 14:58 |
I've always wondered, does anyone outside of Canada take them seriously? They sell millions of records, but I've never seen them revered for having any musical talent or relevance. But of course it's not their fault for existing on a grand scale - the music industry did that part for them and their lowest-common-denominator style of pop-rock. Newspapers and magazines often carry disclaimers like "Love 'em or hate 'em, they're popular." That's definitely not the sign of someone who's respected for their work. They won a few Juno awards a couple years ago, which has disgraced the once-proud term "Juno." Now it's all about fads, short-term sales and politics., as opposed to long-lasting art - just like the Grammys, Oscars, and just about everything else. Canada has a very rich music culture, but outside of the country, very few artists are well-known - Rush, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Paul Anka, Daniel Lanois, etc. Are Nickelback part of this group according to the rest of the world, or are they shunned? I'm very curious to hear people's opinions on this one. |
| Gregsynth 01.11.2010 15:09 |
People hate them in the US! |
| pma 01.11.2010 15:38 |
I have vague memories of Nickelback being played on the radio here in Finland. However, I think they were moderately popular over here back in the 1990s when we still had a tv program, which was based on a Much Music-format. I am too lazy to check with google, but I do believe they came here once, or even twice. Unfortunately, I cannot remember any of their songs, or what day it is today... |
| Mr Mercury 01.11.2010 15:41 |
Every band has their fair share of haters. Nickelback are no different. I saw them a couple fo years back in concert and I have to say I thought they were excellent and they do have a large following here in Scotland. Radio here does play them, but its mainly the same old hits they play, which is kind of a shame in a way but not entirely untypical of radio these days. |
| GratefulFan 01.11.2010 15:57 |
Nickelback is the kind of band that lots of people actually do hate, and the kind of band that lots more say they hate because they think taste demands it. They're the second selling foreign band in the US behind the Beatles in the last decade. That's nothing to sneer at when you consider how difficult it is for most Canadian artists to break the US market in any real and lasting way. Our most significant artists usually end up with small cult followings or end up performing for expats: Barenaked Ladies, Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, so many others. To me, they create simplistic, forumulaic hook driven rock and roll with lyrical content that couldn't really be any more facile. But...but. If you can listen to stuff like their cover of 'Saturday Night..' or 'Burn it to the Gound' without cranking the stereo or car radio and rocking out, you may not have a pulse. On a pure gut level, some of their stuff just works. It's not anything people will be listening to reverentially in 20 years, but it will be part of the soundtrack of the lives of a large part of a generation. |
| Amazon 01.11.2010 17:32 |
I like Nickelback a lot. I own a couple of their albums (one of which I've barely listened to as I've lend it to a friend who is yet to return it), and I wouldn't mind seeing them in concert next time they visit Australia. I understand why people don't like them; they're repetitive, not particularly creative, a little nasty at times, and they are not among the most creative groups around. But they do what they do very very well. They'll never make the Hall of Fame, and they won't be remembered as greats, however it ultimately doesn't matter. They're extremely fun! :D BTW, when mentioning well known Canadian artists, Leonard Cohen shouldn't be forgotten. :D |
| Holly2003 01.11.2010 19:40 |
Are they still around? Or just 'big in Belgium' these days? |
| GratefulFan 01.11.2010 20:02 |
Their 2008 album Dark Horse has not left the charts in both Canada and the US since it's release 2 years ago. It's still in the top 10 in Hard Rock in Canada, and has never been out of the Top 100 in the US. Crazy but true. |
| GratefulFan 01.11.2010 23:49 |
Amazon wrote: BTW, when mentioning well known Canadian artists, Leonard Cohen shouldn't be forgotten. :D ======================================== I'd add Neil Young, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain, Celine Dion and Bryan Adams to the well known list as well. |
| Rick 02.11.2010 04:27 |
I know them as 'worst band ever', which is quite an achievement. |
| spandan 02.11.2010 10:09 |
Nickelback is actually pretty popular here in Nepal... I definitely know more Nickeback fans than Queen fans here (but of course Queen is more popular in general - who hasn't heard of 'We Will Rock You'?). I personally haven't got into listening Nickelback though, a lot of friends recommend it so I'll probably eventually get to it. Any suggestions of a good Nickelback song? |
| GratefulFan 02.11.2010 10:51 |
This is one of their more recent: it's a ridiculous song aimed at a demographic that maxes out at about 16 years old and is all about getting drunk and stupid. It's repetitive, simplistic and predictable. And it rocks. Heh heh. |
| spandan 02.11.2010 11:10 |
Sir GH wrote: Canada has a very rich music culture, but outside of the country, very few artists are well-known - Rush, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Paul Anka, Daniel Lanois, etc. Are Nickelback part of this group according to the rest of the world, or are they shunned? I've only heard of Rush and Nickeback. Rush is actually one of my favourite bands. Brian Adams is also from Canada, right? "Summer of '69" is pretty popular here. Not that I care much about this but I do remember Brian Adams mention in "South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut" where "Terrance and Philip", a Canadian film causes controversy: Interviewer: But Mr Minister, it isn't like this film is the first troublesome thing to come out of Canada - let us not forget Brian Adams. "Canadian Minister for Movies": No, no, the Canadian government has apologised on Brian Adams on several occasions! LOL |
| Amazon 02.11.2010 23:01 |
GratefulFan wrote: "I'd add Neil Young, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain, Celine Dion and Bryan Adams to the well known list as well." Absolutely. :D They are all terrific, especially Alanis who is (along with Tammi Terrell) one of my two female solo artists. Recently though I've been on this Leonard Cohen kick, so I immediately thought of him. |
| john bodega 03.11.2010 09:13 |
"If you can listen to stuff like their cover of 'Saturday Night..' or 'Burn it to the Gound' without cranking the stereo or car radio and rocking out, you may not have a pulse." One might just have standards. A song has to be pretty damned kicking before I'm going to crank any stereos over it. Nickelback are truly a pustulant example of a modern band. I can't be entirely specific about the things I find so nauseating about them, but if you read the book "Mixerman" then you might get a better idea of why I have such feelings of despair with the state of popular music these days. |
| GratefulFan 03.11.2010 11:52 |
I need very little excuse to crank my stereo/radio, and I do it a lot . I understand why most musicians abhor Nickelback, but I can' t personally think of any band in history that actually picked up instruments and played them over which I felt anything like rage or despair. I don't own any Nickelback, I'm not a fan of Nickelback, but at the same time I don't feel any pressing need to deny I find myself responding at some level to the pounding rhythms and hooks in some of their songs. Kid Rock is another artist I think of like this: you're aware you're being fed something unsophisticated and derivative - even manipulative. But for me at least that doesn't always preclude enjoyment of it in the moment for what it is. Nickelback is a post grunge version of any number of wildly successful nonsense 80's bands that my generation survived just fine. People get much more discriminating as they age about they things they seriously embrace whether it's friends or music or books or whatever. Nickelback has a gazillion young fans. That's a gazillion young people developing a relationship with music, integrating it into their lives and their souls. The refinement will come later. It's all good. That Mixerman book looked cool though...I've put it on my Amazon wish list. |
| thomasquinn 32989 03.11.2010 14:23 |
They were a really, really big name in the Netherlands for a year or two, I think, and then just sank into oblivion. I'm not very sure about the precise time this was because I didn't take much notice of them, but I distinctly recall their name being household for a very short period. |
| john bodega 04.11.2010 09:36 |
"I don't feel any pressing need to deny I find myself responding at some level to the pounding rhythms and hooks in some of their songs. Kid Rock is another artist I think of like this: you're aware you're being fed something unsophisticated and derivative - even manipulative." That philosophy works for some people and that's cool. For me, life is just too damned short to listen to shite music. If something is unmitigated crap, I turn it off** as soon as my hands can move to do so. Nickelback have got some sort of widespread appeal going for them, but I find nothing memorable or vital in their musical output. Every time someone tells me about something stupid that the lead guy has said or done, I feel a bit of vindication for my vague mistrust of them that was seeded when I heard the first lousy note of the first lousy song of theirs to hit my eardrums. Manufactured music. ** (I even turn my own damned songs off. We were previewing the end-of-year compilation CD that our college puts out - songs from students, etc etc. My contribution has been getting a lot of love throughout the campus, but when they played mine I begged them to shut it the hell off. I appreciate that they picked up on the sincerity of the song and the manner in which it was made, but if one is to evaluate the end product ... I mean it's not very good). |
| Kezza 04.11.2010 22:30 |
I've seen 'em twice on the west coast, didn't mind them. I can think of much worse acts to watch. |
| its_a_hard_life 26994 05.11.2010 15:40 |
I dislike their music. |
| Lady Nyx 07.11.2010 16:30 |
somewhere there was a site that showed 3 of their songs sounding very very similar. proving theyre a boring unoriginal band. sorry, i dislike them. if they were one hit wonders, they wouldve done just as well. |
| Amazon 08.11.2010 00:22 |
Lady Nyx wrote: "somewhere there was a site that showed 3 of their songs sounding very very similar. proving theyre a boring unoriginal band." Well, the site may have proven that they are unoriginal, but it can't prove that they're boring. It's entirely sujective. |