Nickelback Artist Spotlight

episode. Artist Spotlight. Nickelback. Hello

and welcome to Geekcast Radio. This is an artist

spotlight which will be continuing the epic music

spotlight we have planned here at GCR. I am one

of your hosts TFJ and Mike and joining me is

JT from Saskatoon who is a fake geek. Yeah, let's

just leave that lie for a while, Mike. Today

we're going to be talking about the band everyone

loves to hate, Nickelback. I can't see why though.

I honestly can't. We'll get into that. We'll

get into that. So, yes, we're here to talk about

Nickelback and briefly tell everybody what you've

been up to. Well, lately I'm just, like I said,

as you've called me before, an authentic geek

and I'm... working on a couple of things to slowly

re -ignite the blog and I'm talking to a couple

of my friends here in town. We're trying to figure

out when, basically I'm like you at this point

in the smaller scale. I'm just trying to get

everybody together at one time that we can record

something. Good luck with that. Considering that

we all live in the same town, it might be a little

easier. But no, I've been working on that, just

working in general. Resisting the urge to run

to the movie theater this afternoon and watch

lockout Yeah, you can go tomorrow. I'm not saying

it's a bad thing. They want to see it It's just

I really should I just I just should really hold

on to my money So is either that or American

Pie Yeah, I'm gonna wait DVD. I kind of gave

up on that once they had like However many direct

-to -dvd things that weren't at all that funny

all of those are showing up on TV right now I

know I was How are you going to some bathrooms

and they have like those video ad boards There

for you to look at while you're taking care of

your business and all it there's this one all

it played was the American reunion trailer I

was like there's only so many times you can see

that before you want to start punching something

Yeah, but I'm getting off topic. Yes. Yes. We're

here to talk about music and Probably I could

be wrong in saying this but currently what is

probably arguably Canada's number one rock band

I could say I'd say that's a fair assessment,

although I don't think they are They're in the

top 10 most popular Canadian rock bands, but

they're not anywhere near the tragically hip

or rush. Well, that's because even their own

country hates them, apparently. Well, not everybody.

It's a 50 -50 split. It's a 50 -50, you're right.

Oh, Lord, that's funny. The way we're going to

do this is we have several different topics.

Throughout the topics, we're going to have album

breaks where you'll be hearing musical interludes

from Nickelback, because that's how I roll with

my editing. First topic is how each of us started

or stopped listening to Nickelback, and I'm going

to let you go first. Well, my first encounter

with Nickelback is back in the day well over

12 years ago. I was hanging out with a friend

of mine Curtis who used to work at this kind

of mom -and -pop computer store back home in

Yorkton Saskatchewan and I used to go in and

hang out all the time and they had this is in

the early days of like iceberg radio and internet

radio stations and He had on like modern rock

and I heard first heard leader of men. Oh, yeah,

and I really like the song like I really like

rock singers that have like kind of that melodic

sort of sound to their voice and Chad Krueger

has that in spades and I really dug the song

and this is well before, you know, Silver Side

Up that I ever listened to. So I basically knew

the one song and I was like I dug this band and

then a few years later Well about a year later,

you know silver side up came out and we got you

know How you remind me and too bad never again.

I was like god damn. I love this band like I

was hooked and from there I've just basically

I've got I've got everything from the state forward

in my collection Yeah, I'm missing a few tracks

like I I have like From the state forward I have

everything except for iTunes does not have the

extended version of the long road the extended

version of the long road had 14 tracks on it

because it had yanking out my heart and Saturday

nights alright for fighting which is a cover

of an Elton John song I Don't have again because

it was a special it was like a special edition

you know import i don't have their cover of uh

the queen oh we will rock you which was on uh

uh all the right reasons uh super special edition

thing so there are certain things that i do not

have but other than that i have literally almost

everything um i even have uh the the only three

songs that i liked off of curb So, let's see,

let's get into the overall discography here.

They first released an EP in early 96, it was

released February of 96, called Hesher, which

essentially was... a 7 -track EP. It had Wear,

Window Shopper, Fly, Truck left in front of me

in DC. I don't think a lot of people know about

it. I mean a lot of people might know about it,

but I don't think a lot of people have really

have it in their collection. Obviously I don't,

you don't. I knew of it, I just didn't know that

much about it at all. And then after that, from

February going into May of 96, they released

Curb. Now, Curb is very interesting because not

only is it technically their actual debut album,

but the album cover, they actually changed it.

The one that we know of the blue cover with just

the road curving. That wasn't the original album

cover. The original album cover, the re -released

version of the album in 2002 has a road on the

cover, whereas the original 1996 version shows

a wrecked car on the cover. The original is an

extremely sought after collector's item. I can

see that, especially if it's rare and such like

that for hardcore fans. Yeah. No, because these

first two, like Hesher and Curb, I've heard of

them, but most of my exposure to them is just

doing the due diligence for this episode, although

I did listen to Fly on YouTube. It's actually

pretty good. I knew of, obviously we both found

them with The State. The State is their make,

you know, make me, well not merely make me famous,

but it's their debut album and it's the one that

kind of got them on the map. And then obviously

Silver Side Up was the more popular one when

it got released, but we'll get to that in a second.

When it comes to Curb, I found it in a friend

of mine's CD collection. I'm like, wait a second,

The State was their first album. What is this?

And I listened to it and I'm like, Yeah, I love

Nickelback, and this was back in, like, 2002.

Yeah. You know, I love Nickelback, but I don't...

I just don't get it. There are three songs off

of Curb that I actually like. Little Friend,

the title track Curb, and I Don't Have. I listened

to Fly in preparation for this. it sounds like

a poor rendition of what the Foo Fighters would

do later with Learn to Fly. Because that's part

of the lyric in Fly, is Learn to Fly. And I'm

like, why is Chad Kroger giving the Foo Fighters

material here? I could see it, but... No, it's,

uh... I like Fly, like I said, it's okay, I'm

just not... You know... Yeah, well, I'm not totally

blind either, but it just it didn't like going

back from at at that point because silver side

of it already been out. And like I said, it was

2002 when I even found out about Curb. So it

was a number of years after it got released.

And just listening to that, I was like, this

fly is not the Nickelback I know and love. What

the hell is this? Interesting note, between Curb

and Silver Side Up, those two albums have the

exact same song on them. Just four. On Curb,

it is just F -O -U -R, and on Silver Side Up,

it's just four. F -O -R. Exact same song. Because,

again, when I was listening to Curb, I was like,

wait a second. Why is this on this album? That

makes no sense whatsoever. Yeah, I guess they

were you know, they because most of their albums

stick to like a half hour 40 minute time limit

Yeah for length and now maybe they just need

something to fill out the track list Maybe so

but I don't know man. It's just one of those

things that See, yeah, we've got Hesher and curb

and then they hit it big with the state The state

produced Breathe, Leader of Men, Cowboy Hat,

Old Enough, to a lesser extent, Worthy to Say,

simply because that's a song about weed. Not

that that's a bad thing, but... Just say no to

drugs, kids. Unless your doctor prescribes them.

Well... And again, the state also... Has a deal

with a doing covers Where is that information?

Let's see position billboard is Okay, here we

go Okay, the state was recorded in 1998 in January

1999 the state was released independently with

a blue album cover. In 1999, Nickelback's first

single, Leader of Men, peaked at number 11 in

the Canadian RPM rock charts. Later in 1999,

Roadrunner Records signed Nickelback and re -released

the album in America. The original blue album

cover was replaced by a young boy in a jail cell

in 2000. So yeah, I barely knew about this album

cover stuff. As far as... Go ahead. Always gonna

say yeah, I didn't know about the double album

cover on this one either. Although the the second

one Well, clearly they they've got a little bit

of politic in them because it's basically A black

prison cell. Well, no, that's the the original

I'm talking about is You know, it's like picture

this is a protected area yeah, you know Arabic

writing and there's like a picture of some dude

holding a rifle on somebody else and yeah so

I can I Kind of like I like the second cover

better with a kid in the jail cell it Definitely

kind of leans more towards It's the cover we've

are it's the it's the album cover that we've

already known. Yeah Well, then when you think

about it, it works better with their music like

it's more apropos. I guess you could say it.

Yeah What are songs? Obviously leader of men,

but what are some of the other songs on the state

that you liked? Honestly leader of men I liked

worthy to say I just like the way the song kind

of flowed. Yeah, I do too Breathe was okay. It's

this is an album that Outside of leader of men,

it's difficult for me to pick any one song just

because I like it but None of them really hooked

me the way leader of men did Yeah, so I did like

the acoustic version of leader of men that that

I mean that it's the same song Yeah, really it's

just leader of men for me on this album For me,

outside of the acoustic version of Leader of

Men, I like the first 8 tracks. Tracks 9 and

10 were a little... I just couldn't get into

them. Track 9 is not leaving yet and track 10

is hold out your hand. But I absolutely love

Breathe. I love Breathe and I love Cowboy Hat

and Leader of Men. Old enough and worthy to say

Diggin' This and Deep. I actually... out like

after worthy to say I That's kind of where I

stopped initially when I was listening to the

album When it originally came out I Had no interest

at the time to listen to dig in this or deep

and then later on I went back and I'm like, oh

my god These are pretty good songs. So I added

those to my favorites as far as from this album

Breathe actually shows up in an Ash Bridges episode.

Nice. I just kind of remembered it because one

of the first, well no, one of the first CDs that,

series that I started collecting as a kid going

through high school was Much Music used to put

out these CDs called Big Shiny Tunes. Right.

Which was basically once a year it's like a call

like 15 20 of like the biggest kind of rock songs

Right on the charts over the last year and the

first one I ever got was big shiny tunes 5 which

had breathe on it and I Remember it now, although

I didn't remember until I was doing research

for this episode breathe actually shows up in

the soundtrack for the movie clock stoppers.

Yep, and Before I knew that the only thing I

took away from clock stoppers is like hey, it's

directed by commander Riker yeah so but no I

mean I like breathe it's a great song it's just

really it doesn't hook me as much as leader mend

it so yeah I mean that's yeah so then you know

we wait less than you I mean you know pretty

much less than a year because you have silver

side up coming out and boy oh boy Did this one

hit it big? This is what is known as the breakthrough

album. Yeah. Oh wow. I did not even notice this

though. Oh my god. This album essentially should

have been shunned by everybody. Because, as I

said, the state, March 7th, 2000, we have to

wait less than a year almost. Well, not really

less than a year. Oh, Jesus. Just over a year,

Silver Side Up was released September 11th, 2001.

Oh, God. You know, they hate Nickelback in this

Wow, I did not know that I not know that either

I mean, you know, it went so did not know that

yeah, it goes 17 times platinum in three different

Combined in like three different countries, but

you know, well, that's cool and all but when

was it released death to Nickelback Okay, so

unfortunate release data side yes unfortunate

release they decide this album went gangbusters

how you remind me was essentially if the if leader

of men and breathe didn't put them on the map

already how you remind me took a A push pin or

a peg or whatever else and essentially hammered

it into the map for these guys. Oh, yeah No,

this was the quantum leap forward I mean, like

I said the album went eight times Platinum Canada

six times in the States three times across the

ocean in UK Yeah, I mean and I like how you remind

me as a song the Especially where he hits that

high? the high note and the like the said I guess

in the last third of the song like that. And

honestly, one of the funniest things that ever

come out of this was that year or was it 2002

at the Much Music Video Awards is they're going

up on stage, they're going to be playing, they're

introduced by Will Sasso from Matt TV. And he

gets up there and he starts riffing on, okay,

everybody, I'd like you to rise. We're going

to sing the Canadian national anthem. He starts

riffing on how you remind me. and you see Chad

Kroger come out, he's sitting there with his

arms crossed, just looks like, what the hell

are you doing? But no, I mean, yeah, how you

remind me is like, I think it's the purest example

of pop rock that Nickelback has ever done, because

it is a straight up rock song. Yeah, oh yeah,

it is. But for as much as it dominated, you know,

the charts this thing it could also be called

pop rock because i mean let's face it damn i

mean uh the album sold like 5 .6 million copies

yeah as of december of 2010 just damn you know

but no like how you remind me great song uh I

didn't I wasn't such a huge fan of the second

single too bad. I loved never again Yeah, see

what makes and this is throughout This will be

a staple throughout the entire episode this time

around What kind of pisses me off about Nickelback

is when they take a song like never again And

they don't actually do a music video for it They

just do a live performance as the music video

to promote the song. Yeah um too bad i'm gonna

go ahead and and let everybody know that may

not know most people should already know this

the meaning behind the song the lyrics were written

by the band singer and guitarist jared kroger

and deals with the issues he felt growing up

without his father who abandoned him at age two

in modern day turkey the song is quoted as someone

turns down a turkish tea offer would you like

some turkish tea brother no too bad oh god But

too bad in how you remind me, after the millionth

radio play of both those songs, at the time when

the album was released, I was fucking sick of

it. I was sick of both of those songs. I mean,

I love the song now. But yeah, it's like after

you hear it like 9 to 5, no repeat workday on

the radio, and you hear it once every hour. I

remember I called into the radio station. It's

like, yeah, why are you guys lying to us? And

they're like, what do you mean you're lying to

us? And I wrote it down. It's like a quarter

after nine, how do you remind me? 10 after 10,

how do you remind me? Yeah. Or quarter to 12,

how do you remind me? What happened to no repeat

work day? And the lame excuse I got, well, some

people work nights and they're done at noon.

I'm not even kidding. I'm not going to name the

radio station that called and gave me that. I'm

just saying. What the hell? With Never Again,

just like Too Bad, Too Bad expresses the fact

that Chad's father abandoned him. Never Again

talks about the issue of his mother's abuse.

Events depicted in the song are seen through

the eyes of Chad who regularly watches his mother

being brutally beaten by her violent husband.

Chad's age is evidenced by the lines. So they

were making some pretty powerful songs in 2001

on this album, at least those three anyway. Yeah,

I mean you can... Chad, well, boy's got issues,

but he makes some damn good music. yes he does

um now because of the constant radio play on

how you remind me and too bad i essentially went

to the other tracks on the album my other favorites

are woke up this morning uh hollywood money bot

where do i hide and hangnail um absolutely love

those tracks now at this time they released live

from home on DVD, which is essentially a live

concert, you know, video concert that they did

in Canada. And it has on there, I believe it's

with them and it's them and Jerry Cantrell, a

song called Mistake. The live from home DVD is

the only place I've ever been able to find this

song and I want an mp3 of it But sadly, it's

the only place you can find it is on that DVD

which sucks No, I've never heard that one precisely

so No, but for as far as my favorite tracks on

this so you'll woke up this morning how you remind

me And yeah, never again in too bad, because

the thing is with Chad Kroger, when he writes

about his personal issues, it's like any other

rock star, and we'll get into this later, is

everyone seems to harp on the fact that he's

airing his dirty laundry in his music. You know

because when you know say Nikki six of the guys

from Motley Crue do a song about You know their

years of drug abuse and alcoholism if it's seen

as brilliant and in depth and you know visionary

almost but when Guys like Nickelback do it that

have got this stigma everyone dumps on them.

So Yeah The mistake song that I'm talking about

is apparently a Big Wreck cover. I have no idea

who Big Wreck is. It's a Canadian band. Okay.

Huh. Weird. But absolutely wanted to find that

song and still have, you know, to this day I've

not been able to find it in audio format. I was

going to say The State, Silver Side Up, very,

very awesome album. It had the producer of Nickelback,

obviously, and Rick Prasher. And just going back

to The State here for a second, The State had...

Link, let's see, The State Hat was produced by

Dale Penner. So they've got different producers

every time that they're doing albums. And of

course, you know, moving into 2003, before we

get to The Long Road, we got to talk about Ben

Affleck and Daredevil. Let it go, Mike! No! What

do you mean, let it go? What am I supposed to

let go? Everybody dumps on this movie. No, no,

no, no! What the fuck are you talking about?

I love it. I love Daredevil. Okay, I thought

you really were... No, no, no! ...gotta talk

about Daredevil. No, no, no, no, no. I'm saying

it with a smile on my face. We gotta talk about

Daredevil because before The Long Road happened,

because The Long Road was released... When was

it released? Holy shit. uh... the long road was

released uh... september twenty third two thousand

three uh... daredevil was released to theaters

uh... february valentine's weekend february fourteenth

two thousand three valentine's day weekend is

when daredevil was released i want to go see

the movie and i had like You know how you hear

radio ads for soundtracks or, you know, stuff

that you used to? Yeah. You know, sometimes you'll

see it on TV where they're like, the Daredevil

soundtrack album with new songs from blah blah

blah. I had seen that once and it didn't really

hit me before I saw the film. And as I'm sitting

there in the bar scene, I hear familiar music

and I'm like, wait, is that? No, it can't be.

It is. Learn the hard way. Oh yeah, in the bar

fight scene in the beginning. Was Nickelback's

track on the Daredevil soundtrack. Absolutely

freaking loved it. Yeah, and for me as a comic

fan, that's one of my favorite scenes in the

movie because in the, just a quick aside, in

the Frank Miller run of the 80s, which really

influenced that in the film script, Daredevil

track, tracks you know Joe Casada who's like

if you know comics you know who Joe Casada really

is yeah he attacks Casada to Josie's bar which

was like where Daredevil every other issue Daredevil

was busting the place down to like you know coerce

information from the you know the criminals that

were there so for me I thought that was really

a cool scene but it was also you know an awesome

scene because of that learn the hard way and

you see you see example of how he uses his radar

sense and how he fights and it's literally like

a bad out of hell and it also has that awesome

scene it's in the trailer and you don't see it

on the DVD unless you have the director's cut

where it's time to give the devil his due where

he's standing on the burning pool table and I

was like that's badass yeah yeah but no learn

the hard way it was like You know, because the

thing with me and me liking Nickelback is like,

we got kind of spoiled between The State and

Silver Side Up because it was like just over

a year between those two albums got released

between 2000 and 2001. And after Silver Side

Up came out, obviously they want to tour, they

want to promote the hell out of the album. So

they took two years. to tour and then obviously

writing new music For whatever the next album

was gonna be and then hearing learn the hard

way in dare. I'm like, oh My god, is there gonna

be a new Nickelback album? I immediately went

to the I scoured the internet for information

for it because it's like Fuck. Yes So as I said

September 23rd 2003 they released the long road

which is produced by actually just them it's

the band and Chad is who has the producing credits

on this one they wanted to just do it by themselves

basically it kicks your ass right as soon as

you start with flat on the floor yeah you know

the the singles off of this one is someday was

again really huge just like how you remind me

fantastic no well no No, no, no, it's not as

big, but it was, it was... It didn't grow to

hate it the way you did how you remind me. Let's

put it that way. Yeah. That's because after like

three months, radio was like, eh, fuck this,

let's move on. Someday was the lead single and

you had Feeling Way Too Damn Good because of

you, figured you out, and see you at the show.

This... Album, as I said before, had different

bonus versions of it. The Amazon Best Buy Walmart

Special Edition bonus tracks are Saturday Night's

Alright for Fighting, featuring Kid Rock and

Dimebag Darrell, which is an Elton John cover.

Yanking Up My Heart, which I think was on...

wasn't it on the Scorpion King soundtrack? Not

sure. I think that's where it was originally,

and then of course Learn the Hard Way. Was also

put on this and then the Japanese edition bonus

tracks were the acoustic version of someday and

slow motion Slow motion would show up a year

later on the Punisher soundtrack. Yeah That's

the Tom Jane Punisher, right? Yeah The only one

that really matters I will talk about that later.

Yeah anyways but yeah someday figured you out

I also like throw yourself away off this one

and do this anymore this entire album I think

honestly for the first again the first nine tracks

I like another hole in the head but it's not

one that I can listen to all that well and then

see you at the show was just them saying, hey,

see you at the next concert or whatever else,

it was kinda cool. What about you, your favorites

on this one? Well, I liked Someday. I think it's

just a solid song. It doesn't get too preachy,

it doesn't get too, you know, it's just a good

song. For me, talking about music, I like it,

I like it, it's really hard for me to say it.

Why yeah, but someday feeling way too damn good

I have like the Walmart special edition so it

has the Saturday night all right for fighting

which I Loved cuz I was on the Charlie's Angels

soundtrack. Yep But I think we should have told

me that shit before the show Anyways, it just

popped in my head now But I think my favorite

song off of here was should have listened Yeah,

that was a good song and and oddly enough it

was covered by country music star Travis Tritt

and As much as I like I like the Nickelback or

the original Nickelback version It works so much

better as a country song as sung by mr. Tritt

just it I think it works better that way, but

it's still my favorite song off the album and

honestly I did love silver set up, but I think

this is the most like kind of stylistically and

musically this is probably the most solid album

to date for Nickelback because I mean what once

they broke through with Silver Side Up and everything

that they did working out this is where everything

just kind of coalesced and this is like you know

what we did good on this one so yeah and it's

also they go through drum this band's gone through

drummers like I go through tic tacs because I

mean their first their first drummer was Chad

and Mike's cousin Brandon he left and he was

on the first two albums I think and then I forget

the name of their second drummer he left and

then this is the last Yeah, Ryan Vicdale was

the was the second drummer. Yeah, and which led

into a bit illegal fruit for all with between

Vicdale and Chad because You know Chad wanted

him to surrender all right basically he sued

him to surrender all rights for like royalties

and shit for everything that he performed with

the band which Kind of a dick move I gotta say

but yeah business is business. So yeah, he was

replaced by Former three doors down drummer Daniel

Adair. Yeah And I was like that that and that's

a pretty good I would love to go see like a tour

concert with those two bands Because I think

they mesh pretty well. I have very harsh feelings

towards Three Doors Down, which people will hear

in a later music spotlight when we talk about

12 Stones and Theory of a Dead Man. You know

stuff like figured you out and all that stuff

is very very awesome Apparently figured you out

had some copyright infringement stuff. I guess

I don't know in 2011 Vancouver based a conaline

crush sued Nickelback for copyright infringement

over the song claiming figured you out bears

a Substantial similarity to their 1997 single

all that you are I don't think I ever really

noticed the difference, but Because I've listened

to, I've got all the Connelly and Crush's albums

and I know that song, that's one of my favorites.

Well maybe I just wasn't paying attention. Probably.

So once again, you know, to promote The Long

Road, they went on tour for two years or so and

during the tour obviously they were... You know

doing writing for the next album Which would

come in 2005 in all the right reasons All the

right reasons I've heard people say this and

I tend to agree All the right reasons is essentially

their hysteria or their Oh, let's say guns and

roses album yeah, thank you Appetite, yeah. This

album is essentially what Def Leppard's hysteria

was to them or Appetite for Destruction was to

Guns N' Roses. This album, basically, they were

already on the map by this point, but this launched

them into superstardom. This cemented their legacy

in a way. Yeah. If you look at the releases as

their discography goes, Specifically starting

with the state not not curb but starting with

the state as I said before you've got 2000 or

2001 From 2001 to 2003 they promoted silver side

up from 2003 to 2005. They promoted the long

road 2005 to 2008 they went from a two -year

gap to a three -year gap because all the right

reasons went gangbusters. Oh, yeah Everybody

loved this album at least the people that like

the band loved the album And it was just, just

amazing. Right off, kicks your ass with Follow

You Home, Fight For All The Wrong Reasons, the

lead single was Photograph. Now a lot of people

compare how you remind me Photograph and Someday

as being essentially the exact same song but

just a few different chords. I disagree because

the way I look at songs, I look at what story

the song is telling I don't look at you know

if it's the same three guitar riffs I don't care

if it's the same three guitar riffs if the song

is telling a decent story no I I can see like

you listen to it does sound similar but again

and this is the basis and again we'll get into

this more later on this is the basis for why

a lot of people don't like Nickelback you know

that everyone is like they sell their songs sound

the same they all have the same sound uh deaf

leopard motley crew bon jovi van halen every

great rock band has that signature sound and

more often than not a lot of their songs may

or may not have that they may all sound similar

in a way and that's not necessarily a bad thing

But yeah, I know this album is definitely like

their best. I mean and it's probably It's not

my number one favorite album of theirs, but I'll

talk about that when we get to it But this is

a great album, you know The one song on here

that I absolutely loved and it's also I love

the video was rock star It's my absolute favorite

song on this after photograph because the video

was awesome. I mean you look in the almost 10

years that the band's been in existence at this

point. And the connections they've racked up

amongst musicians, actors, various celebrities.

It's basically they went out and they recorded

a bunch of people singing verses from some both

fans and celebrities. You got like the Dancing

Naked Cowboy from New York City. You got Paul

Wall. You got Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, who's

essentially playing the devil in the song. Then

you have the devil himself, Gene Simmons. You

got hot chicks like Dominique Swain, Elijah Dushku,

the Playboy, Hefs3Girlfriends, Wayne Frickin

Gretzky, Nelly Furtado is in there, a Canadian

singer. It's just one of the most fun music videos

that of the last 10 years, because I mean, you

think about it, you get fans. There's even, towards

the end of the song, you see a little blonde

kid wearing a tuque and a recording studio. That's

Chad Kroger's son. So, but that and the video

in and of itself was awesome, but the song itself,

it's basically talking about, you know, they've

made their bones in the industry and they are

rock stars now, but it's kind of like they're,

it's almost singing about, you know, the Faustian

type of deal that a lot of people would have

to make to become rock stars. Right, yeah. And

it's just a lot of fun to listen to. Yeah. Rockstar,

for me, essentially turned into a Too Bad or

How You Remind Me because of the constant. It

was everywhere. I like the song. It's a good

song I'm not saying that it's not but it's just

that that overkill is kind of what like it's

Probably the one song on this entire album that

I do not have in my Nickelback best of iTunes

playlist because I just got so sick of it No,

I mean the other one that I really like like

I said photograph Rockstar I like side of a bullet

and it's just one of those ones like you listen

to like you know what the song's about and how

basically Chad's gonna take out an ex -girlfriend

No, actually, that's not what it is. Oh, is that

not what it is? Sorry to correct you, but that's

not what it is. Side of a Bullet is the seventh

and final single from their album All the Right

Reasons. The song was released only to US rock

stations. Walmart's Todd Sterling described the

song as one of the heaviest cuts on the album.

The song is a tribute song to Dimebag Darrell,

who was shot on stage while performing in Columbus,

Ohio. The lyrics for Side of a Bullet focus on

the murder of Daryl and the aftermath thereof.

It takes place in an alternative universe where

the murderer is still alive and Chad Kroger is

planning his revenge. The guitar solo by Dimebag

from the Far Beyond driven era. Dimebag's girlfriend

Rita Haney and his brother Vinnie Paul sent Nickelback

the track after Nickelback wanted to have Vinnie

Paul playing on the track But he declined by

stating that Nickelback's drummer Daniel Adair

performed it just as well as he could So yeah,

no that was that was a tribute to Dimebag because

of how Dimebag got got killed Yes, yeah side

of a bullet is very very awesome and interesting

song as well uh... other singles off of this

uh... you know we already mentioned photograph

uh... animals uh... saving me saving me was featured

in uh... as it's in here for everyone cared i

forget which one there is one of them uh... it

was featured in uh... the condemned the stone

cold movie condemned That actually that was one

of my favorite clips in that movie at the end

there were yep He drives home, and he gets like

that slight The little stone -cold smile going

on there at the end because I mean let's face

it You just killed a crap ton of people you blew

up one of the biggest assholes in the universe

Which that in and of itself was pretty damn satisfying

yeah, and then you get to go home to your girlfriend

and you see damn Just just Ron Simmons. Damn.

Yeah, you know that that was a great that was

the perfect new kind of denouement to the movie

and it proves that you know that I I mean, I've

never really I didn't find any information to

prayer to support this But I think Nickelback's

probably pretty choosy with what tracks they

literally that sorry loan out to a soundtrack

Yeah because I mean they're always like the perfect

one like learn the hard way and daredevil you

know saving me in the condemn that's and it's

only a couple we said I'm aware of but yeah it's

just they're pretty smart about that yeah yeah

they are very much so um you know All the Right

Reasons is essentially an album. A lot of the

stuff got overplayed, like Saving Me, Far Away,

and If Everyone Cared. Those three songs got

overplayed, even more than Photograph and Animals.

Those three songs got overplayed so much. But

when I first bought the album, when it was released

in 2005, I listened to it constantly, all 11

tracks, and it was just amazing. There's also...

Australian and Japanese edition the Australian

edition has the live acoustic now This is different

from the the long road version the long road

version had an acoustic version of someday But

this one has this Australian version has a live

acoustic version of someday the Japanese edition

had that The the Queen cover of we will rock

you and follow you home live. Yeah so Yeah, one

other thing I've got to say about Mm -hmm if

everyone cared it's and I have I forget to have

to go back to earlier albums is Nickelback's

also pretty I Wouldn't say politically but definitely

socially conscious band like they do Yeah, like

this song especially like the fact that you know,

it's talking about You know, what if we all got

together and you know Stop bullshitting each

other like how much better the world would be

and the fact that 100 % of I'm reading this off

the wiki 100 % of all digital sales for this

song was donated to amnesty international and

the international children's awareness Charity

in Canada. Yeah, and it's just that's something

I think is really awesome of nickelback for all

For the rep and everything that these guys have

amongst music fans the fact that they still give

like Tuesday still Just speak a little blue.

They give two shits about stuff like this Yes.

That they make a huge concerted effort, which

is another reason why I love these guys. This

little trivia bit, because I already knew about

Saving Me is used on The Condemn, but the one

trivia bit that they have here in the article

for the album, Next Contestant had been performed

live several years before the release of this

album. I would like... Not to sound really strange,

but I have been a die -hard Like hardcore Nickelback

fan their entire since I found out about them.

I would have known next contestant was performed

live before this album I like I would have found

that out and I'm just now finding it out now

that's unless it was just like it wasn't at a

show that they really promoted or anything you

know what I mean it let's you know yeah hey let's

go to you know Saskatchewan and let's perform

this song that no one's gonna hear until three

years later or whatever but I thought that was

an interesting tidbit overall all the right reasons

is by far as a whole of an album is probably

their best album to date at this time. It just

is. It has everything. It has slow songs, it

has hard rockin' songs, and it was just amazing.

Yeah. But the next one, leh. Oh, come on now.

2008, we got Dark Horse. Now now when I go of

this one lay, it's not that I dislike the album

it's you know, if I was to meet you put them

in order of my like how I love like Ascending

or descending quality. I think this one well,

it's got a few good tracks on it. It's kind of

a step back like this is Like I'm not knocking

the state when I say this, but this is you know

if I did like least favorites or ones that I'm

not huge on we go with the state dark horse and

then more or less the original you know issuing

of the albums just because this one they went

to a really dark place with a lot of these songs

yeah well when you have someone like mutt lang

producing it I mean yeah Shania's ex It's true.

You're never gonna get rid of it. I know but

no, it's just like that's not that I was like

uncomfortable It's just it didn't really It didn't

really hook me the way other albums did I'll

see for me again because by the time late 2007

You know cuz this was released Dark Horse was

released November 18th, 2008. So by the end of

2007 and the first 10 months of 2008, they were

still on the Dark Horse tour. They were still

on All the Right Reasons tour, and those songs

were everywhere. And I just got so, like every

single song on All the Right Reasons by summer

of 2008, I was sick of. I wanted new Nickelback.

When they put out gotta be somebody as the first

single I was like hell yes because they actually

put out gotta be somebody is the first and then

Something in your mouth right after that Yeah

No, I loved gotta be somebody cuz that again

That's a song if they put that if they had written

that you know the three years earlier and put

that on all the right reasons That would have

just made that album so much better, but it's

a great song and it's somewhat I don't want to

necessarily necessarily say uplifting but it's

it's got it's one of Is so much more positive

than most of the other songs like I'm not mean

to herpin that but yeah, I mean something in

your mouth. It's Well, we all know what Chad

was going for with that song is he likes the

women Yes, or he's just because this one I think

the biggest thing that what I read about this

one like reviews is a lot of people is like how

he basically Went with every sex drugs and rock

and roll cliche you could think of on this album

It's gotta be somebody who's a great song if

today was your last day was actually a really

great song as well. Yeah and then I'd come for

you, which is the next single and then The theme

song to the greatest two hours every Monday night

Burn it to the ground which is now the theme

song to Monday Night Raw. Yes Now when I originally

looked at the track listing for Dark Horse when

it first came out I was like Okay, Chad's got

his mind in the gutter because you know without

really looking at you know without hearing the

songs first obviously and Just looking at the

track names something in your mouth, obviously

you know I'd come for you I know I'm I'm I'm

gonna get into this in a second with that song

but you know just to get high I mean I mean that's

it that it's essentially a sequel to worthy to

say yeah shaking hands S period E period X period

it's S -E -X just say it like I know I know But

yeah, Burn It To The Ground has been a raw theme

song for a while now. I'd come for you. I actually,

in doing research for this episode, found out

that it has nothing to do with Jizz Moppers.

That's a bad Walking Tall reference. I think

that's a Clarks reference. anyway uh... it's

uh... anyways uh... they want it all is very

interesting for the music video for the song

i'd come for you they in an interview jack kroger

said they wanted to get kevin costner to star

as the father in the video costar as jack kroger

to be in one of their uh... videos when they

met previously but when shooting for the video

came along he was able to make it essentially

the video is about a father coming to the aid

of his daughter who's going to be raped or attacked

or something like that. So what the song actually

means has nothing to do with the actual title,

so everybody needs to get their minds out of

the gutter. Yeah, no, I mean, you could definitely

see it with a title like that. I love that music

video. Yeah, it was just so powerful. Well, especially

because you know, it's like in any film where

you got like some like ultra douchey You know

douchebag Because ultra douchey is like a magnitude

of a higher order Where the hero or somebody

comes in just like you know punches the hell

out of them. You're just like You know what?

Hell yeah. Yeah. No, I have to say the one Track

that I loved off of this Never Gonna Be Alone.

I love that. And as much as I love the song,

again, I also love the video. And that's one

thing I gotta say. Nickelback has a lot of fun,

but they also put a lot of hard work into their

videos. Oh, yeah. And Never Gonna Be Alone was

like kind of memento mixed with a little bit

of sixth sense with all these flashbacks. And

then you realize what the story is, a little

pulp fiction, if you will. about this girl who's

getting married and she's like keeps seeing her

dad, she's flashing back and she realizes that,

you know, even though he's died when she was

little, he's always been there. Yeah. Which I

thought was a really awesome thing. My favorite

track off of this album, like I love Gotta Be

Somebody, Today Was Your Last Day. My favorite

track is This Afternoon. Again, that's one of

those ones that's... To me, it's essentially

the sequel to Rockstar. Yeah. And while I do

like it, I can only listen to it so many times.

No, and that's... I cannot totally see that.

I see it more as this being... When this came

out, it was released, you know, a couple of years

ago at this point. And that was just at the onset

of this anti -nickelback phenomenon that's going

on right now. And it was kinda, I think it was

kinda their way of that, a wink and a nod. We

know you're out there and we don't give a shit.

Cause it's basically like, it's, you know, Revenge

of the Nerds done by Nickelback about these guys

throwing a party and one guy's getting the hot

chicks, one's getting the beer. And I love the

remark of like the ringleader where he's like,

Nickelback? You got me, Nickelback? They'll do.

And then it just becomes like this huge pool

party. Everything like that and it's just a lot.

It's a fun video. It's one of those types of

songs It's you're doing that slow cruise around

town with your friends. Are you just hanging

out in the back porch or something? You know,

it's just yeah, it's one of those songs just

sit and relax Yeah, it is a really good relaxed

song The other one I want to talk about before

we move on to the final album for from them so

far at this point uh is what essentially is their

cherry pie song shaking hands it's a song about

a hooker no no no escort it's a song about a

hooker um did they ever call her a hooker mike

no but still it it's there uh the annotation

is there as far as that goes Well, like the song

says, she makes six figures working three days

a week. I mean, there's only a few professions

that ... Yeah, I mean, it's kind of self -explanatory

that whether you want to dress it up and call

her an escort or whether you want to strip her

down and call her a hooker, it's the same damn

thing. That song has such a catchy beat and I

just has such a catchy riffs in it. I just absolutely

love listening to that song. Dark Horse overall

for me was really really what I've noticed is

as they've become like when they started with

Curb they were kind of really really raw and

as they progressed through the albums they've

become more and more polished and I kind of like

that. Yeah, I mean you you would expect them

and you can't all just be as rough as sandpaper

for their whole career That's that's true. But

yeah, no, that's definitely like all the right

reasons and dark horse Like I said is like I

said, it's not my favorite most favorite album

of theirs But it's definitely shows a lot more.

There's a maturity obviously in their their music

to this point so And one thing before we move

on you should mention that burn it to the ground

They again this is I forget was the first when

you talked about it was just a live concert was

it never again Yeah, this Burn it to the ground

has a music video. But again, it's just basically

Concert footage and like behind -the -scenes

shots. Yeah, there's no real because I mean you

listen to the song it's basically anarchy in

practice, so I really love that song video, not

so much. Yeah. Well, I think, again, why people

love that... For me, that is... Burn It to the

Ground is... Well, as you said before, it is

the raw theme song, and it's kind of like the

end of raw when they kind of mix up the tune

a little bit, and then they have John Cena pointing

in your face at the end of the opening sequence.

It's also... live -action bumblebees theme song

because it was playing at the party and then

he pisses all over the Robo chick in Revenge

of the Fallen. Oh the deceptive slut. Yeah Yeah,

that's just I saw that in the theaters. I was

kind of like Okay For some reason I'm okay where

he drains his oil pan all over Agent Simmons

when he does it to the girls like, nah, that's

too much. But no, I didn't notice that before.

Yes. And the most recent album, which was released

November 21, 2011, Here and Now. And I'm going

to say it right now, this is my absolute favorite

Nickelback album. I would have to agree with

you. These 11 songs are... I can listen to this

album over and over and over again. Yeah. I mean,

honestly, and I hope it comes out as a single

on radio, because just listening to it on the

album is my favorite. It's the last track. Don't

ever let it end. This is what this afternoon

was on Dark Horse. Don't ever let it end is for

here and now. Yeah. But yeah, I think the strong

honestly my favorite tracks right off like I

gotta say Basically, I this is the only because

like I love this album. Like I said, it's my

favorite This is the only Nick O 'Back album

that I listened to beginning to end without skipping

Like I play I don't put this on shuffle ever

You know because you know, this means war which

I think this was used as one of the most recent

pay -per -views Yeah pay -per -view WWE pay -per

-view like song titles Bottoms up like I think

you said on one of the I think when you did a

review on one of the last nerd news or something

Well, we did an album review for this anyhow

where you said bottoms up is basically the favorite

single of bartenders and waitresses everywhere

Yeah, it's going to be it's gonna be played in

in strip clubs and bars and stuff like that because

it is a bar song This means war was played on

WWE's elimination chamber 2012. Yeah, that's

it Now stand together is again goes back to if

everybody cared Yeah, it does but it's for me.

It's more when we stare. Yeah, well when we stand

together It's more catchy for me. Like if everyone

cared was a slow song to me But when we stand

together has that unique drum beat in it and

I really really enjoyed that Well, it's got that

inner. It's got more energy in it. But yeah,

I like it because it's more that again It's more

of that one of those socially conscious Nickelback

songs. Yeah Just absolutely awesome just absolutely

awesome other songs off this that I absolutely

love Midnight Queen gotta get me some Trying

not to let you know pretty much like what you

said. I like all of the songs um Kissed goodbye

is interesting kiss it goodbye to me when I first

heard it It's a song about how fame in anything

whether it's Hollywood or the music industry

or whatever you're in YouTube fame Fame is fleeting.

Oh, yeah, it's not it's not gonna stick around

forever Think the one single so far off this

that is really picked up with everyone Is lullaby.

Oh, yeah that video when they premiered that

I was like, oh my god when they premiered that

video because essentially the video is a young

couple the wife dies in childbirth and the the

guy is thinking of oh well I just need to adopt

and then he sees the child and he's like no I

can do this you know I can do this because you

know my wife or my girlfriend or whatever else

and you know the first I don't know this kind

of takes me back to a Randy Travis song actually

sadly Randy Travis song not anymore what is it

um god what is it stupid song uh there's a song

with the exact same type of of uh not randy travis

it's travis tritt uh oh is that the one with

uh oh god i know the song you're talking about

if i lost you yeah exactly if i lost you because

it that had that video with uh with annie hitting

her head on the boat on the uh... on the boat

dock and dying in the father has to you know

it's essentially that same type of song but the

song is so powerful uh... in an interview that

chatted done that i'd listen to on rock line

radio uh... rockland radio dot com uh... he basically

said lullaby at the time when he wrote it was

about you know the fact that uh... you know he

hit something had happened to his babysitters

Family one of his babysitter's family members

or something and that's you know as a kid. That's

how they That you know he he drew back on that

experience as a kid to write the song. It's just

an amazing amazing song. Yeah no and Again, it's

like a lot of when you're able to like take Really

intensely personal stuff like this. Yeah, and

put it out there like that. Never mind how you're

doing it like music vid or movies or whatever

it's just That's pretty daring. I mean, just

to air dirty laundry like that. I mean, because

there's always somebody that's going to like

call it cry foul and say you're just trying to

cash in on, you know, negative human experience

and well, those people are a holes to begin with.

So but no, I mean, the fact that he put it out

there like that really is something. Yeah, the

other song like I said, I don't ever let it end

Yeah, probably my favorites a track on here.

It's it's just ahead of trying not to love you

Yeah Don't ever let it end is like, you know,

you know a relationship is gonna come to an end

But you don't want it to you know, it's like

a song. I believe that's what Chad had said it

was about It's basically like, you know their

friends, right? Sex changes everything not in

saying that's what he's talking about. But right.

Yeah, you know they cross that line They're never

going back. So, you know Don't ever let it you

could see that's why Yeah, damn No, I know I

know So we're gonna take a quick album break

here and we're going to be curbing the state

So there you go, we're back from the album break.

Hope you enjoyed that, and now we're going to

start with our next topic. Starting out raw,

to becoming a polished, radio -friendly band.

Now, as I said before when we were talking about

the album's stuff on curb, I thought was very,

very raw. The state they... kinda started getting

some polish on them. Obviously Silver Side Up

and Beyond is where they've gotten polished every

time. Now I know Mike Dodd would say that The

State and Silver Side Up is where they were really

original and raw, but I mean as we've discussed

already in this episode, every album they've

had stuff that has happened to them that they've

put into their songs. Well yeah. You know there

is stuff like How You Remind Me, Photograph,

Gotta be somebody they're gonna be those radio

-friendly songs, but you know cuz that's what

sells the doughnuts Well, yeah, but I mean like

I can look on I can look at here and now Specifically

the the most recent album and I can count on

this album one two three So once you get one

two three four songs that are sexual or drunkenness

in nature. Bottoms Up, Midnight Queen, Gotta

Get Me Some, and Everything I Wanna Do. Oh, especially

that one. Yeah. Because let's put it this way,

if Shakin' Hands was the dark hearse, everything

I wanna do is to hear now. Yeah, exactly. But

like four songs out of eleven tracks that are

that are radio friendly, that are, you know,

essentially, you know, you know, putting on to

frat boys and hot chicks and everything else.

Four songs out of 11, that's not bad, because

as I've already said, lullaby has a message,

kiss it goodbye has a message, trying not to

love you has a message, holding onto heaven has

a message, and don't ever let it end has a message.

Even this means war, and when we stand together,

have messages. So, Four songs that appeal to

the drunken crowd the basis of all human nature

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's not that bad What

are your thoughts on the band going from where

they started to where they are now as a polished

rock band? Well, I mean certainly like I never

like I said, I haven't listened to curb so Wouldn't

know how raw they sounded originally, but I'd

be definitely listen to the state You know, there's

a little just a little bit of polish You can

hear the promise, you can hear the, I guess the

industry, the respect that Nickelback has for

their chosen craft. And that travels along the

way, like Silver Side Up, again, that was the

breakthrough, that was the quantum leap forward

in terms of songwriting, performing, you know,

everything about them. And they just kind of

build on each successive album. They go from

there again, you know, long road, all the right

reasons. That's where they, I wouldn't say they've

peaked, but that's where they've found their

voice finally. You know, that's where they really

hit the main vein of musical gold. And, you know,

even on Dirk horse, like I said, not my favorite

album, but it's... they're still there and they're

growing and that one they went for the whole

you know sexy time fun but even then they're

they're they're growing it's like any artist

they keep working at it and they keep trying

to become be better than they were before so

like all the right reasons was where they hit

it big and here and now i think again that because

even with the the with you know Everything I

want all the other you know adult songs like

that on the album I still say it's out of it's

their best work to date Because like I said,

I can I never listen to this song on shuffle

Yeah, and I think that says something if you're

gonna listen to a song and you're not gonna like

skip ahead to like the fourth track right away

Right. Yeah, but no, it's like they grew and

they they grew and they learned and they evolved

and that's the whole thing you listen From the

state forward, they're constantly evolving their

music and their craft So I can't not like these

guys unless chad, you know Use the baby as a

human shield You know, I I find that very I suspect

that there's very little that could happen that

You know Yeah, and I mean just like the guy,

you know and and people in general write that

write them off because of how you remind me someday.

And of course, you know, stuff like, you know,

something in your mouth and, you know, bottoms

up and everything else. People write them off

just because those are the radio friendly songs.

Those are the songs that get the airplays. They

don't realize and they don't. And because that's

all they probably know, they don't want to explore

more and find stuff like lullaby like to, I mean,

granted to too bad was radio played but you know

they don't want to find stuff like never again

or you know even um even old enough and uh cowboy

hat off of the state those were great song you

know story songs as well i you know and i think

that is kind of where nickelback they're not

going to have a downfall but that's kind of where

like someone who has heard about them and they're

like, oh, I'm not going to listen to that band

just because of their most famous songs. That's

the problem. It just is. Well, they've taken

everything in stride, like all the negative criticism

and reviews and all that. You know, they took,

let's take this year, for example, and the Super

Bowl that did not want Nickelback and it's like,

I can understand why Detroit would not like the

citizens of Detroit would not want nico back

to play the halftime show Because you know it's

an American Thanksgiving You know it's American

football Let's let's get an American band now.

They can be pissed off as they want Did they

really need to make like that online? Petition

you know that you know that's that's what makes

it so fucking stupid you know and and first of

all yes Nickelback originated in Canada yes,

they are a Canadian rock band however because

of their success they are now a rock band of

the world, I would say. But they are also a US

rock band because I think most of them, if not

all of them, are based out in LA. They all live

out in LA, I think, now. I don't know for sure.

As long as I want to get into their personal

lives. I like the music. I don't give a shit

what they do in their personal lives. As long

as you said, as long as they're throwing babies

off cliffs and whatever else. Sorry, Michael.

Didn't mean to bring that up. They're based out

of Vancouver right now. Yeah, I could have sworn

he I could have sworn Chad lived in LA. Oh, they

might have something set up for them I don't

know all as I'm saying is that the whole Super

Bowl thing was so friggin stupid because let's

be honest Doesn't matter who you're gonna get

for the Super Bowl halftime show someone's going

to hate it whether it's Garth Brooks whether

it's nipple gate whether it's the black eyed

peas whether it's Wyclef John It doesn't matter.

Whether it's Madonna bitching about someone flipping

the bird. You know, I mean, it doesn't really

matter, you know. And the whole thing of it was,

the reason why they were there is kind of what

we talked about earlier, where, you know, where

you mentioned about all this, what was the song

that all the proceeds went to charity, was it

If Everyone Cared? Yeah. Yeah. The thing with

this year and the new album, or, well, last year...

and the new album and you know this year in the

Super Bowl was that they teamed up with the NFL

and the United Way so they're doing charity while

still putting out amazing music and they took

all this stuff in stride they went on to oh god

what was it um oh god what is that stupid website

Funny or Die oh the Funny or Die video yeah yeah

They made a funnier dive video about, you know,

essentially just making fun of Detroit for how

stupid they're being, saying, oh, we want to

petition against you guys. Doesn't that fucking

city know when any rock band as popular as Nickelback

comes to your fucking town, it's going to bring

you money? Yeah, but I mean, that's like telling

a New York Yankees fan to switch allegiance and

start cheering for the Boston Red Sox. You know,

you just had to go there didn't you? I'm just

saying it's that that's the same thing That's

like my roommate telling me I should cheer for

the Calgary Stampeders instead of Saskatchewan

Rough Riders and Canadian football because It

doesn't make a whole lot of sense And see that's

the other thing like within the span of like

two and a half weeks they were at They were at

the Super Bowl and then they went up to what

is it CFL? They went up to the CFL Bowl or whatever

it was It's the great cup Well, yeah, no she

went they did the NFL Thanksgiving Day game at

Ford Field in Detroit and then they did the 99th

great cup in Vancouver on November 27th of last

year, right? So basically three days after the

Detroit Yeah, I love the fact that not only was

the video poking fun at how blatantly Lemming

like the Detroit foot the people were in the

whole anti -nickelback thing. They're also Not

knocking like, you know the Detroit hometown

heroes like Dave Coulier and you know, Meg Thomas

Magnum from Magnum P. I was from Detroit and

Robocop and you know, and also they're also poking

fun at music executives because you know, the

two guys are like who are those guys at the end

of the video? Although the best best part of

his were Chad's goes I'm keeping the suit he

walks out with the you know, the 1012 and cardboard

Robocop armor Yeah, which I wonder if he's got

that at home He probably does Yeah, but no, I

mean, there was really, like I said, from the

state on forward, like there's been a constant

evolution of music, but there's been a constant

evolution of themselves personally. I mean, you

know, you don't hear it so much, like, silver

side up and prior to that, but everything after

that, there's been at least one or two songs

that are putting forward the notion of kind of

social responsibility in a way. I mean, if everyone

cared and I'd have to look back on their track,

I think it was on the long road. Just have to

give me a second here. Yeah, I mean... I don't

think you can throw yourself away, but there's

other songs that they've got this, you know,

can't we all just get along and get our crap

together? Sort of aspect to it, so. Yeah. Probably

the one off the long road was maybe Believe it

or not. Maybe I don't know. I'm not really sure

There's everyone's got like a countdown clock

over their head and this guy's like saving people

from being Music videos, let's see uh... saving

me figured you out feeling way too damn good

and they only made three videos off of the long

road so it's either someday which wouldn't be

figured you out or feeling way too damn good

feeling way too damn good was a one about the

airport uh... so i don't know uh... overall you

know I still wish Mike Dog would have been here

for this because I know he would have had more

arguments or more points to bring up as far as

them going from being raw and original to being

polished. It was saving me off of all the right

reasons. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, that's

the other one. Yeah. The thing is, is that, as

I've already said, I don't think they're that...

I mean, their sound is polished. But a lot of

those messages and a lot of their songs both

from all the right reasons and here and now Are

not that polished as I already pointed out four

out of eleven tracks are you know just tracks

for everyone to just like and the other you know

the other tracks have all have messages to them

so We are going to take another album break in

this time. We are gonna be silver siding up the

long road Topic is the wars between Creed and

Nickelback now before we get too far into this

one I wanted to bring up one other thing is something.

I did not mention about their origin It's very

very hilarious How they got the band name Oh,

yes, sorry you go I'll say my thing after you,

because it's interesting. Apparently, Mike Kroger,

Chad's brother, used to work at a Starbucks,

and he would always say, here's your nickelback,

when he would give change, because the coffee

back in those days was still $0 .95. So if people

gave him a dollar, he'd be like, here's your

Nickelback. And he's like, hmm, that'd be a good

name for a band, apparently. Yeah, it's a really

good name for a band. And I like that. It's like

one of those kind of, you know, it's kind of

like Peter Parker calling himself Spider -Man.

You know, it's just Nickelback. You know, it's

one of those just, what's the first thing that

pops in your head, which is, yeah, one of the

aspects of a good name, is it simple and you're

good to go. But yeah, no, the wars between Crete

and Nickelback, if there's a war between Crete

and Nickelback, it's an underground cold war,

because I haven't heard one flippin' thing about

this. Okay, well, here's the deal. This happened

on the state, pretty much. Okay. Because... As

we all know, Creed didn't last too much longer

after 2000. 2002, but minor point. Then it could

essentially go to silver side up, but human clay,

which... was released at some point. Where is

their discography thing? Discography, here we

go. The Human Clay was released in 99. So a year

before the state. So Creed had Hire and all those

other, you know, with Arms Wide Open and everything

else. and then 2001 comes around they release

weathered in november which nickelback had just

released silver side up in september so they

kept i remember radio stations here in louisville

kept putting stuff like leader of men up against

hire uh stuff like how you remind me up against

uh with arms wide open um And it was just kind

of like this whole war of which band do you want

to choose? Which band do you want to listen to?

And through the miracle of longevity and their

lead singer not having a total nervous breakdown

and just melting into nothing, Nickelback survived.

And they've been producing. They've been producing

music ever since, whereas Creed. Go ahead. Well,

well, that's just the whole thing. I remember

one thing because I was a huge Creed fan growing

up in high school and such. And I still do kind

of like the band. You know, it's I haven't really

gone back and listened to any other stuff lately,

but I still like them is I remember, you know,

they got bashed back in the day. It's like you're

trying to be Pearl Jams. God stops trying to

be Eddie Fetter. And I was just like, they're

just making music, dude. Like, let it go. And

that's the same thing with the Nickelback, but

you know as if you compare Scott Stapp to Nick

Chad. Chad did name his first son after after

a bottle of black licorice tasting booze because

that's what Scott Stapp did. He named his firstborn

son Jaeger. As in Jaegermeister. God. And also

yeah like dude really? But no like. I could see

that the war between Creed and Nickelback like

that, but yeah, I had never really heard about

that. The only thing that, I mean, if anything,

their similarities should bring them together

more than their differences in the fact that

everyone insists on bashing them with a large

club. Because your music sucks, your music is

formulaic, your music is way too catchy. Sorry

for being a success. I'm gonna make that shirt

and send it to Chad Kroger Yes, it would be um,

you know, I I I've gone back and I've listened

to a lot of the Creed songs. I liked weathered

for the most part what they did in 2003 And I

liked certain songs off of all their other albums,

but at this point, for me, Create is just nostalgia.

And I am more in the Nickelback camp at this

point, obviously, since I'm essentially a die

-hard fan of theirs. It's like 44 more check

-ins and I'll be an elite fan of theirs. Sorry,

bad Get Glue joke. But yeah, I mean, you know...

The reason why I brought this even up was because

at the time when the two bands were releasing

their albums, they don't sound similar, but they

were always played. You'd have a Creed song and

then you'd have a Nickelback song. So people

would assume that they sound really similar to

each other even though they had nothing to do

with each other. So that's why I brought this

one up. I just figured it would be... A nice

little buffer before our next topic which we

will get to after this album break as we find

out what all the right reasons are for a dark

horse. going to get into the one topic of where

JT and I just don't get it. Again, why we wanted

to have Mike Dodd on here to give us some insight,

but he's off, you know, blowing up rims of sky

and stuff like that or whatever else he does.

Why do people hate Nickelback? I just, I've never

understood this, outside of what we've already

talked about in this episode of, you know, hey,

sometimes it is the same three chords. I know

a guy who's on a forum, earth -2 .net, go over

there and join their forums, it's an awesome,

awesome website. Desmond Redick, he does one

of, if not the only, and I don't know if it's

the only, but for me it's probably... The best

because I've only listened to a few episodes

because it's not my favorite genre But in my

opinion Dez does the best horror podcast ever

his horror podcast is dread media He also does

a music podcast called drop D Mm -hmm where they

review one artist they'll take one artist or

band and review every single album Internet in

you know, they'll take You know appetite for

destruction will be one episode Use Your Illusion

will be another episode, you know, that kind

of thing, where they go album by album reviewing

these artists and bands and stuff like that.

Now, Dez, a while ago, a number of years ago,

when I joined the Earth -Trident forums, I was,

it was actually when Dark Horse came out, I,

you know, posted, hey, here's the track listing,

here's the art, here's this, here's that. I said,

I know I'm probably in the minority here on the

forums that I like Nickelback, which is fine.

Dez told a story. I posted the single picture,

you can find it on Wikipedia, the single picture

of Gotta Be Somebody, where it's the band just

standing there with a light, tannish sky, and

it says, Nickelback, Gotta Be Somebody. And he

comments, and he's like, you see that? They never

show the backs of their heads. That's because

of me. Apparently, because Dez is also Canadian.

uh... apparently there's this story out there

on the forum somewhere i tried to find that i

couldn't find it where he had an altercation

with the bad really yeah and i wanted him to

call into the show so we could tell the story

but uh... he did give me a response i asked him

i said hey you know can you at least give me

something here so i can refuse this more on on

you too there's this idiot Matt on YouTube who

apparently someone asked him why do you hate

Nickelback so much and he goes on to say that

you know terrorists aren't as bad as Nickelback

murderers aren't as bad as Nickelback now I don't

know if this guy is being trying to be funny

or is just trying to do a spoof thing here or

if he's actually serious but I was like oh my

I can see laying out reasons why You don't like

the band is it because of their music is it because

of what whatever but saying that Terrorists and

murderers are better than a rock band any rock

band doesn't have to be Nickelback. That's just

fucking dumb I'm gonna put it like this I'm gonna

say like I said in the beginning of the show

I forget that was when beginning recording or

off air previous was there's a 50 -50 split at

least in Canada There's a 50 -50 slow when it

comes to people whether or not they like Nickelback,

which I think is fair My opinion for music is

if you like your music You like it, you know,

you can defend it all you want. You got to be

intelligent about it Something like that is so

far Yeah, it's so far beyond ignorant. It's malignant

like there is he's got to have a tumor pressing

on the On his brain somewhere that's causing

this Yes. So I asked Dez, I said, hey, can you

either tell the story, would you do this for

me really quickly if you have the spare time?

And here's the response he gave me as far as

just kind of. Talking about why he doesn't like

them. He goes honestly Mike music is subjective

I hate Nickelback because I feel they offer nothing

to me musically I don't begrudge anyone their

enjoyment of anything, but I also don't feel

the need to debate why I don't like things I

don't like it unless I'm reviewing something

lot longer than you i was part of the same music

scene for a long time before they became the

band you know at one time they had a slice of

integrity and somewhat interesting voice not

chads i mean the band as as a band but they have

done everything i believe to be wrong and artistically

and musically put aside any attempts to create

something interesting or honest or lowball their

music to appeal to frat guys and girls who might

just take their tops off at their concerts that's

all i've got we've crossed paths a few times

the story of one such time is detailed in depth

somewhere on the forums but it has nothing to

do with my thoughts of their music in short i

don't waste my time thinking about them because

i prefer to enjoy the things i enjoy and spend

time searching out things that i may like that's

all i've got to say about them take it or leave

it thank you des for um for replying to me that

was very very awesome of you to take out the

time to write that and you know I that that is

a educational and you know very compelling argument

that he's giving he doesn't like it because of

the music and that's fine and that's all well

and good but you can't be someone like this moron

on YouTube that just says this stupid shit to

get a laugh yeah let's look at Dez, Dez's response

Well reasoned, well thought out, intelligent,

articulate, and he's honest. He doesn't like

them personally, he doesn't like their music,

and that's fine. Like he said, I don't begrudge

his opinion any more than he begrudges yours

or mine. Now let's look at the dingleberry on

YouTube. Unintelligent. I don't know what a lower

magnitude of sophomoric is. Freshman? No, I'm

talking in terms of stupidity. Sophomoric, unintelligent,

needs to stop sucking on his daddy's you -know

-what. Seriously, because somebody that says

something like that has either got personal issues

on a level that I'm not really comfortable discussing.

Don't know cuz when it comes to nickel back hate

like the people okay there when it comes to nickel

back haters There's another 50 -50 split. There's

the people like des We're intelligent people

have I just don't like their music they they

like maybe earlier nickel back They think they've

sold out. I don't care to listen to them there,

but that's cool. If you like them You know it's

like I know guys that like listening to Nicki

Minaj, but I can't know for the life of me know

why Yeah, but I don't hate them I'm not going

to light a cross on fire in the lawn or something.

But then you got these people that it's just

unintelligent. I say I like Nickelback and the

first words out of their mouth would be, oh,

they're shit. Why are they shit? They just are

shit. That's it. I know. And that's what pisses

me off. It's like, OK, as you just said, Dez

gave a very intelligent and articulated and detailed

response of why he doesn't like them. Whereas

you come up. someone comes up to you and said

hey who's your favorite band and you'll say you

know nickelback or whoever you know and they'll

be like oh they're shit why they just are it's

like you you can't i mean i i know i've given

that kind of response before of why i don't like

something just because oh it's it's it's shit

i just don't like it because i you know whatever

but you know i i just i don't understand why

if they are rock band who has sold what 15 billion

or 50 mil I forget what the number is but that

they've sold like 50 million albums whatever

in concert sales I mean you know just almost

almost 20 96 to 2016 almost 20 years of them

being around We are almost coming up on 20 years

of Nickelback being in the music spotlight. And

all of their concert sales, all the money that

they've made, I mean, you know... Awards, nominations,

like... Yeah. There's this overwhelming mountain

of evidence that they're popular. And it's by

average Joes, like you and me, and I'm not saying

that people don't put thought into what they

listen to, but it's... It's come to this point,

I'm paraphrasing at best, I'm paraphrasing comedian

Christopher Titus, who is one of my all -time

favorite comics. I think he's a fiercely intelligent

guy. He said something, when did mediocrity become

acceptable? And that's what it seems a lot of

these naysayers, a lot of the anti -nickelback

people are saying. Because they consider Nickelback

to be media mediocre at best and that's them

being polite Yeah, why is it that we're no one's

allowed to just enjoy something anymore? It's

kind of like talking with Ben and Neil on an

animation fishing out It's the only it's the

best example I have I know. It's like we did,

you and I did, the Batman episode where we sang

a little bit of the praises, but we also pointed

out some of the faults, you know, because we

tried to present our cases why we liked it. Whereas,

and it's mainly Ben, I mean, Neil's got his arguments,

but Neil was like Dez in his argument of everything.

Yeah. When did it become not okay to just like

something? It's like I spoke of earlier, wanting

to go see the movie Lockout, which is basically

escape from New York and outer space. It's like

Guy Pearce is basically playing an amalgamation

of every 80s action hero from Arnold to Bruce

Willis where he's this tough guy, he's obnoxious,

he's rude, he's crude, he's got a quip for every

occasion, but god damn it, I'm gonna love this

movie. And it's the same thing with Nickelback.

They've got incredibly catchy songs. I don't

like everything they've done, but I still love

their music. But when you say this, I just, again,

why is it so hard for people to accept in an

age when, and I blame American Idol for this,

because Nickelback started way before American

Idol. Well at least five years before and there

they came out of that generation that was playing

clubs making demos hustling working their butt

off and then you got people Like they come off

of American Idol now. I'm not knocking Kelly

Clarkson because she's got an incredible voice

and I do like her music it's just this concept

of All you have to do is perform on a TV show

and get people to like you. It's so much more

of a popularity contest in terms of selling albums

nowadays than the actual quality of music a lot

of times. Whereas I think Nickelback has worked

very hard and they produce an incredible amount,

well, an incredibly good songs, some of them.

But no one has ever sat down and given me, aside

from very few people, sat down and given me why

we don't like it. Like they've never given me

a Dez argument, you know Dez gave us a great

argument. He doesn't like them He pointed out

why he thinks they're They've lost what he once

liked about him. That's cool. But no one else

ever gives that argument. No and You know everyone

that I taught, you know, this is why This is

one of the reasons why we here at geek cast radio

network will probably never do a music podcast

at least not in the near future just a overall

general music podcast because I Don't this music

spotlight is the first time I've ever really

talked about You know in the public eye of my

musical tastes. I mean, it's not like I don't

podcast about my musical taste because half my

musical taste people are like, why do you like

that? You know, it's like, you know, why do you

like that? It's, you know, whatever else, but

I just felt that this is something that, you

know, this, this entire spotlight we've been

doing up to this point is something that, you

know, geeks need to hear because even geeks like

music. you can be a music geek, and a lot of

people are, and I just felt like it was something

that needed to be done, and obviously, as one

of my favorite bands and one of your favorite

bands, Nickelback needed to be covered. So, yeah,

I just don't understand why people hate Nickelback.

No, I can certainly, like I said, I can understand

that people will not like a band for whatever

reason, and that I'll accept. What I don't get

about the Nickelback hate is like the Detroit

Thanksgiving Day things all these people I can

guarantee you at least and Statistically, I have

no idea how this will bear out at least 90 %

of the people that signed that petition had no

fucking clue who Nickelback was all they heard

was Canadian band at American National Holiday

Yeah, that's the only reason they signed up.

I guarantee you at least that 10 % They said

no to Nickelback because they did not feel they

reflected well on I mean you look at Detroit.

I mean you got Motown You've got Robocop. Well

Robocop. Yeah, but I'm talking when musically

you got stuff like Motown You've got some rappers

some singers that have come some great singers

that have come out of that city. Yeah The only

reason Nickelback was there and I'm not knocking

Nickelback for this is their record company probably

back like three or four dump trucks full of money

up to the NFL and it's like here we want them

to play. Yeah And and again and again, it also

goes to where I pointed earlier They signed up

with United Way to do some charity. So that's

the other reason yeah, but yeah, but there's

never like this it's very the zealot like hatred

of Nickelback is Really fucking scary when you

think about how closely this is to like Like

even like it's musical racism in a way It's just

it's really scary how how many people turn into

friggin lemmings and just jump on this this the

wheelbarrow or the And that's the word this anti

Nickelback bang going what there is really no

intelligent reason to do it You you can like

I said you can voice your opinion now like your

opinion about how you prefer x -men 92 to evolution

You've you've reasoned that out Well, you prefer

because the nostalgia and that's the one you

grew up on and all that. That's why you like

it No one no one there's never been like a manifesto

of why we hate Nickelback, which Yeah, that would

make a hell of a lot more sense than like their

music sucks. Why it just sucks Why you know then

you get that infinite peristaltic chain reaction?

Yes, I don't know man. I don't know so we're

gonna go to our final album break where we find

out what Nickelback have been up to here now

is Nickelback songs we still like listening to

today. For me, it's a majority of them from the

state to here and now. As JT said before, here

and now, at least for me and I think as well

as him, is the one album that we can both listen

to cover to cover and absolutely love it. Yeah.

Nickelback made my number one on my top five

2011 albums last year. But, you know, songs that

I still listen to from the back catalog, you

know, a lot of the stuff from All the Right Reasons,

Photograph, Animals. I love, I've always loved

and I will still love Hollywood and Hangnail

from Silver Side Up. It's very rare that I listen

to How You Remind Me unless it comes up in shuffle.

But you know and stuff off the state like worthy

to say and cowboy hat and leader of men You know,

those are all great. What about you? What are

some songs? Besides all besides the you know

here now of us besides the answer of all of them

Well, no, I like I do love their music. Like

I said pretty much everything on here and now

You go dark horse. It was certainly you've got

to be somebody if today was your last day A lot

more, and again, basically everything on all

the right reasons. And if you go on down the

long road, I like the album, I thought it was

a solid album. Feelin' Way Too Damn Good someday

figured you out. And I mean, Feelin' Way Too

Damn Good is something, that's like one of those

songs, I've never made a formal list, but it's

in that list of songs that I listen to after

work on the drive home. Because it takes me about

15 almost 20 minutes if I decide to you know

drag my heels driving home It's one of those

ones. It's kind of that cool down sort of song

You know just kind of it kind of it ID stress.

I know people are gonna kill me for this reference,

but Feeling way too damn good is Nickelback's

answer to free -falling You're on your own there

like I'm not saying it's it's that's that's your

opinion. I just I I don't see it but It's okay.

I'm just just like oh Tom Petty Just hands up

back away slow GT GT. Why are there laser sights

all over my body? I don't know, but I'm getting

a cover. Yeah, yeah, no, it's uh, no, they could

have great songs like all in all there's here

and there there are some things I don't like

like uh You know something in your mouth I I

like the beat of that song like the guitar on

that song. Yeah, you know, uh again the off of

Sorry off of here and now the uh what was track

I just gotta find the track name here uh gotta

get me some stripper anthem oh yeah but it's

got that that great that hard guitar growl to

it that I love in rock music what I found with

this band is that they will create and this might

also go to people saying that they that their

songs sound the same sometimes. They create songs

and then create sequels to songs, because if

you take Shakin' Hands off of a dark horse, and

then you look at Gotta Get Me Some off of Here

and Now. It's essentially a hooker song in one

and a stripper song in the other. Midnight Queen.

I mean, Midnight Queen, oh my god. when I heard

that lyric of licking his pistol clean I was

like oh my god I was like wow I can't like that

was like the like when I got to midnight queen

on my first listen through of here now I was

like oh my god I can see why when we stand together

is the only song they can play on television

yeah no I can see it yeah there's a lot of songs

more songs i like that i dislike oh yeah i mean

there's there's maybe in there you know just

counting from the state from 2000 in the last

12 years there's maybe five songs out of their

entire catalog that i just don't listen to um

you know so overall i just absolutely love the

band No thoughts, uh, well, I mean something

would have I should have brought up when we're

talking about their Like the whole Nickelback

hate the one thing to look at with Nickelback

is The awards that they've won You know just

taking a taking a quick look here. I mean you

look at Just how you remind me when it came out

no two it won Billboard's Hot 100 single of the

year, Hot 100 Airplay single, hottest singles

duo. They won duo group of the year, rock album

of the year, Grammys. They were nominated basically

03 through 05 and 08 and 10. Pretty much every

year, at least one or two of their songs has

been nominated at the Grammys. Won almost half

the times they've been nominated the Juno Awards

in Canada You know, I don't think they would

have all this stuff if they weren't a good band

right like it's just like I Don't get it George,

you know, and then you look at the reception

on their wiki and in the bottom of the article

it says Guys like Chris Martin of Coldplay and

R &B singer producer Timbaland support these

guys. And I like Coldplay and I love Timbaland

and I would love to see either of these guys

get together and work with Nickelback on something.

Think about it, you got all this public disapproval

of Nickelback but then you got guys like Chris

Martin and Timbaland who are stepping up and

it's like, they're cool people. They're throwing

their lot in with Nickelback. I was like, why

not? I think to sum it up, for me at least, is

I love this band, I love what they've done, I

hope it gets better from here and everyone else

can just shut the hell up. Exactly. So with that,

we're going to go to our very quick commercial

break and then we'll come back to close the show.

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you have it folks, that's it for the Nickelback

Artist Spotlight. So far for the bands of the

2000s or the artists of the 2000s we've had.

Weird Al Yankovic. The only reason why Weird

Al was put in the 2000s section of The Artist's

Ballad is because that's when I first found him.

So Steve Megatron and I talked about that. JT

and I are here for Nickelback now. And we hope

you enjoyed this episode of GeekCast Radio. We

shall join us next time when the two of us will

be talking about the band that essentially got

screwed out of their own career. Default. Looking

forward to that one. Yeah. Talk about stuff that

comes and goes Oh For now I am tfg1 Mike with

JT from Saskatoon and Thank you for listening

until next time keep rocking on There are several

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