My 2 Cents on Nickelback

The Canadian rock band Nickelback was formed in 1995 and has since become one of the most commercially successful Canadian rock bands, selling more than 50 million albums worldwide.

My+2+Cents+on+Nickelback

Devin Jagodzinski, Journalist

 

Although I can’t specifically identify the first time I heard about Nickelback, Nickelback has been on my Spotify playlist for the past two years, with my most listened to song being “Rockstar.” With how well “Rockstar ” performed, as well as the fact that Nickelback has become a household name, it’s no surprise that Nickelback’s other songs might interest me.

 

I decided to listen to their most popular album, hitting 7 times platinum, All The Right Reasons. Long story short, I was not impressed; it was quite uncomfortable to listen to. This newly-found opinion I had, was also shared by Devin Mitchelle, a Junior at GCHS, and as almost any well-informed rock fan could tell you, Nickelback is “definitely a band that you pick and choose. Some of the stuff is good, a lot of it is [terrible].” Their best songs give me the slightest hint of AC-DC, with enough originality to let them stand out, but the majority of their songs left the aftertaste of teenage angst and awkwardness once I finished listening to their music, which is not a good look for four middle-aged men.

 

Nickelback has some great songs; unfortunately, I think those songs get less credit than they deserve. But their biggest issue lies within their variation of song quality, while some songs are notable, they also leave too much to be expected from their other songs, and as put in the words of GCHS junior, Ethan DeRose, while Nickelback “[isn’t] as good as [they] used to be… They’ve got a couple of good hits.” Which was the majority of the reason I was ultimately disappointed when giving their albums a full listen-through, as those ‘couple of good hits’ were heavily outweighed by the truly horrific songs. Whether it was just bad beats, bad lyrics, or other issues, most of their songs were just blatantly bad. 

 

Nickelback is not a band that most people have given a listen to, and it should probably stay that way. With the current climate in the music industry, Nickelback has almost completely fallen out of the public eye and most likely will continue to do so. After all, there is a reason that Nickelback is considered “alternative” music… few people like it. That being said, if you listen to older rock like Nirvana, 9 Inch Nails, or simply mainstream music has gotten difficult for you to listen to, Nickelback might be down your alley.