I'm trying to figure out what is up with Nickelback's music and the more I listen to it or investigate anything about their songs... it hurts my ears and my brain.
Firstly, I think it's pretty well known that most their songs sound EXACTLY alike, except with different lyrics (we'll get back to those a bit later) slapped on and maybe a bit more or less drums. Tone of voice, melody, base/guitar mix... same, same, same! Js told me once that he mixed a bunch of tracks together back in the day when that kind of thing would entertain him... and the result was quite deceiving and not surprising at all. You can layer these musical part right on top of one another and you'll either : hear no difference at all or find another one of their tunes. I wonder sometimes if that's how they come up with "new" songs... Let's take the guitar melody from this one, and the base from this other one, merge them together and BAM! Fresh money in our pockets! This is only my opinion and I'm probably the least musically talented person in the universe. I can't play music or sing, I can barely clap my hands in tune but I know what sounds good and what sounds bad. I know what sounds flat and what sounds the same. This sound the same.
Before I dig any deeper, I'm going to come clean and say it. I own a couple of their albums, I've seen them in concert and I like some of their songs. Even if they all sound the same it dosen't mean that they all sound bad. Nickelback goes back (!) a long way... from high school dances to car rides with friends... it's all cool! Dosen't mean that I'm not allowed to be annoyed with them sometimes... Their concert was great and fun and I really enjoyed seeing them live, mostly because they didn't sound like the radio makes them sound like, they were funny and it allowed me to notice their drummer a bit more. He's amazingly talented and hot to boot.
I promise we'd get back to the lyrics... Notice how they have these great ballads, love songs, meaningful and sentimental... It's mostly what gets the girls to swoon, buy their albums and scream at concerts. I'm thinking about "Far Away", "Photograph" and the recent "Gotta be somebody"... So deep in meaning and filled with a great message for their targetted crowd.
Then they come out with shit like "Animals" and other similar songs about sex, drugs and rock and roll... F**k the world, I'm getting laid! That's what gets the boys to go "F'ck yeah!" buy their albums and jump around at concerts. And they're not even being subliminal about it... I mean, you have to stop and listen at lyrics sometimes and think "Some 12 year old somewhere has NO idea what they are singing along to!" I don't think that pop culture should constantly sensor itself to protect the "virgin ears" of the young'uns... but com'on! Get an identity and stick with it, fuck!
Sometimes I feel as though Nickelback is a great band that's just being too submissive to what's expected of them. Nothing gets you out of being considered "soft-rock" like a song about getting head and vice-versa. "Oh! They're saying we're too crude, let's write a song about love and saving the planet! They'll buy into that, they're all 14 anyways!"
There are so many Nickelback carbon-copies out there now... I know they helped many bands gain more popularity and that's a great "big brother" thing to do. Still, when I hear a song on the radio and think it's Nickelback... what does that tell me about the actual band behind the tune?
A couple years ago I went to a Jeff Martin concert and before the concert, he played a clinic at a different location and he said something that I repeat to myself every time I hear a band trying to get on the "Nickelback train"... A guy in the audience asked : Do you have any advice for bands these days who are trying to stay away from copying Nickelback and who are trying to make it on their own, with their own sound?
"I think any young band who's courageous enough to stick with their own sound is worth a listen. So many bands are doing things similar to what Nickelback is doing and if that's what works for them, then great, but I don't think it has any durability. Nickelback had a huge sucess and a fast ticket there so it's normal to have people try to copy that. It's hard to differenciate yourself from something so huge in the industry, but it's equally important. The Nickelback guys are really talented, but let them do their thing, it's theirs. I say, do your thing and stick to it... That's what Nickelback did in the first place!"
Well said, Martin, well said!
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