Why Do People Hate Nickelback?

Some what of a cultural phenomenon has been taking place lately. It seems more and more people have been jumping on board the Hate On Nickelback train.

Its made me think about why that is and maybe it says something about the times we live in live. I don't consider myself a fan of Nickelback nor do I feel the need to hate on them. I'm fairly indifferent to their success, impact and criticisms. As a huge fan of rock music all my life, I still like to be in the know when it comes to bands, even though I may not be a fan. In this case, though, the huge success and large amounts of attention on this band is hard to ignore in this era of explosive use of social media.

The first reason is that throughout history, its been human nature to feel threatened and jealous of anyone who achieves massive success, especially when its done in a short amount of time with seemingly little effort. The truth is that, nothing comes easy or quick in my opinion. The boys in Nickelback weren't exactly an over night success even though it may appear so to the general public. For this reason, its natural for people to get upset at anyone that achieves perceived undeserved success and the fame and fortune that comes with it. People don't like seeing other people get cookies handed to them, it just goes against our ape instincts.

The second reason I came up with, and this is the reason I'm not a fan, is the MUSIC ITSELF! I understand the appeal, its rock, its loud, its 'clever" lyrically to a lot of people. The problem however, is that many people can't stand the polished, over produced, generic radio friendly sound that Nickelback has been clinging to for the last decade. The songs have been Pro-Tooled to death!, the vocal pitching is ridiculous, the most annoying part about the vocal sound though is that it is clearly stuck in the late 90's post grunge Creed era. A common phrase I hear people use to describe Nickelbacks music is "You can not polish a turd". I will have to admit though, Chad has been able to write some decent "Pop" songs in the past. I can't say the songs are horrible, to me they are just boring, generic and over-played. I usually change the channel or the station when I hear Nickelback now. Its like a fast food diet but with music, it might taste ok at the time, but after a while it starts to make you feel sluggish, dumb and depleted of vitamins and nutrients. Nickelback is clearly style over substance in my opinion and when the style itself is so unappealing to so many people, its obvious why there is a big backlash.

The third reason, and this is kinda connected to the reason #2 but I think many people have a problem with the way Nickelback comes across and what they might represent. I actually don't know what their values are, if they are family men, if they do good for communities, charities, benefit shows, etc. I should look that stuff up but for me now, and for most people, Nickelback doesn't come across in a positive way.
There is something that comes off as insincere and pompous, its hard to really put a finger on but most people can't relate to them anymore. Its like its just become a hit machine that pumps out overly produced low substance material over and over. They seem to lack that emotion and that connection with the audience. When you hear Chad singing lines like "I got a fist-full of $50's" or "Hey, I wanna be a Rock Star" its kinda hard for the average person to relate or appreciate that. That deep heart and soul that you get with a lot of other music is just absent from Nickelback, there just seems to be a disconnect and incongruence to the whole thing and trust me Nickelback is by far not the only band where this is the case.

Love or hate em, there is no denying that Nickelback have found a formula that works. Their record company has done of good job of packaging and producing the Nickelback brand. They have been able to some how hook the attention of a massive amount of people and sold 50 million albums in the process. I'm not really sure what the ultimate secret of their success is, but I feel I have a general idea of why they are hated on.

I might add more to this later. Feel free to leave comments if you agree or disagree

Denny