Nickelback's Greatest Crime Was Success

So, I'm going to level with you.

I've never actually listened to all of Silver Side Up and, if I'm being completely honest, I can only vividly recall that big-arse hit, How You Remind Me.

I probably know all the words.

Because we all do.

Just admit it, fuckers.

You won't lose your cool badge because you know a Nickelback song.

I have a very diverse taste in music, as I've spoken about plenty of times before.

That doesn't mean I'm not picky.

I never really got into Nickelback. They just didn't gel with me. They never floated my boat. They always felt a bit safe dressed up as something dangerous.

That said, How You Remind Me is a genuinely good song, and Rockstar, despite itself, is a lot of fun. They also did a surprisingly solid cover of Metallica's Sad But True, which might seem odd until you remember they were signed to Roadrunner Records.

Go figure.

Despite all my disdain and general dislike for Nickelback, the level of hatred they've received has always dwarfed anything they've actually done to deserve it.

Aside from Bryan Adams, they're one of Canada's biggest musical exports. Silver Side Up sold in astonishing numbers and turned them into one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.

We can be annoyed by that all we like.

It won't change the numbers.

I'm not a numbers guy.

But numbers don't lie.

To understand why they deserve less hate, we first need to understand why people love them.

Big Fat Riffs and Bigger Fat Choruses

How You Remind Me, Photograph and Rockstar all have something in common.

They're memorable.

You see those titles and there's a good chance you can already hear the chorus in your head.

On what planet does that not register as something good?

Earth, it seems.

Because if you asked many of the same people who are still waiting for their nickel back what their favourite songs are, chances are they'd list memorable, hook-filled singalongs by their own favourite artists.

Apparently it's only a crime when Nickelback do it.

They Know Their Target Audience

Now, I understand to an extent that playing it safe in music can be seen as a downside.

When you think about risk-takers, you think of Prince, David Bowie, Queen or The Beatles.

But we're not talking about those artists.

Not every artist has to reinvent themselves with every album.

Look at AC/DC, who are revered to the point of nausea, even though they've built an incredible career around a formula that has remained remarkably consistent since their inception.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes people don't want innovation.

Sometimes they just want another big riff, another massive chorus and another song they can sing at the top of their lungs in the car or the pub.

Nickelback knew exactly who they were writing for.

You might not like what they wrote.

I often don't.

But they delivered exactly what their audience wanted, album after album, and that's a skill in itself.

Reliability and consistency might sound like negatives to some critics, but they're qualities countless artists would love to achieve.

The Downside of Overexposure

One of the biggest problems Nickelback has suffered from is that they write easily marketable, catchy songs, which naturally leads to more airtime on the radio and more screen time on television.

So rather than it simply being that they're terrible, it's almost the opposite.

They were played to death.

Memorable and Memeable

Another downside to writing memorable songs is that, in the age of the internet and social media, they become memeable.

That only increases their visibility and overexposure.

But that's not their fault and certainly not something they planned.

Undoubtedly, like most bands, they wanted to leave some kind of legacy they could be proud of—not one where they became the punchline to every lazy joke.

I've been guilty of making those jokes in the past.

But as I've matured, I've realised punching down isn't clever.

And it certainly doesn't make you look like the better person.

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Thanks for reading! 

This is one of two entries in the Beat community for Sasha's challenge.