I’m pretty sure we can trace the Nickelback-lash to early hipster roots. For those who are not cool enough, young enough, or annoying enough to know what a hipster is let me define one for you; they are usually a person claiming to set the trends and then claim the trends to be over once they are embraced by the mainstream. They go out of their way to find music that no one has ever heard of and desperately hope the band will become popular so they can say they saw them at a house party back in the day. You will most likely hear a hipster say, “I use to like them”, more than once in a conversation. In the eyes of a hipster you will never be cool.
Apparently, the formula for hating bands that become mainstream has something to do with million+ dollar record sales, 13-45 age demographics, and award nominations. If your music is played on a radio show called something like, “Bubba’s Mojo Morning Show” you can guarantee haters will be calling in. This revolution against Nickleback has been going on for years now but it certainly doesn’t seem to affect their success. Their albums keep selling and their fans are very dedicated.
Recently Patrick Carney of the Black Keys was quoted by Rolling Stone Magazine as saying, "Rock and roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world. So they became OK with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be s***. …" His comments have fueled the Nickelback-lash. Now more than ever people are jumping on the hater bandwagon. Even as the leader of the hipster brigade, I certainly don’t think Patrick Carney has the strength to bring down Nickelback. They’ve got some powerful entity behind them if their albums are still going platinum and they are on Billboards charts year after year. I wonder if the roles were reversed what the outcome would be. If both bands were in their current standing but Nickelback made that comment about the Black Keys and the Black Keys were in the midst of a hipster hate-fest would the Black Keys still be standing after the dust settled? Is hipster power stronger than hard core Nickelback followers? Are there even as many hipsters in the world as Nickelback fans?
Regardless of whether you like a bands music or not I think musicians need to respect the process. You are working hard to make it in an industry where very few succeed. Instead of throwing each other under the bus either keep your mouth shut or just give them credit for the effort. If rock bands are worried that rock and roll is dying then point out what ISN'T music. Point out the stuff that is the unfortunate brain child of some guy in a suit who went out and found a body that fit the criteria. The artist will most likely be auto-tuned to an inch of their life and forget about writing their own music, the real musicians are doing that behind the scenes. You don’t have to like another bands music but you have to respect the journey. If you want to bring rock n’ roll back then stop beating up the kids on your own team. It’s the same thing with the Grammy’s. You need to show up and accept your award. People need to see what real musicians look and sound like on stage because real musicians aren't lip-syncing acrobats with prerecorded music...but again, I digress...why does everyone hate Nickelback?
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