Nickelback, "How You Remind Me" & The Slow Death of Grunge

[@TrashTheory]

Every now and then I get people asking for a playlist of every song mentioned in my videos: Well here's a Spotify link for this one: open.spotify.com/playlist/2Jg6nnKc3p7FiD29mGU2Sf?si=f7be2d908869426a and the KZbin Music one: music.kzbin.info/aero/PLooaZ33lSaldt4iszpwBPDkKAypwu5-wm&si=DQPHzewJplhCacBA

[@thevector]

Not gonna lie, this would be the last play list I would seek out :-D. A truly epic number of deeply shit songs in this one (which is appropriate for the topic). (edit to add: my joking tone doesn't jive too well with the gratitude comments. Let me be clear, thank you for the playlists and consistently amazing videos. I enjoy TrashTheory so very much.)

[@markedis5902]

@@thevectorReally? Metallica? Nirvana? I think you may have overlooked some songs

[@thevector]

@@markedis5902 Relax, this was just me bashing on the post grunge songs that were highlighted. They are some real stinkers in that group. (Almost like it was the point of this whole video.) Sorry if the humor was too subtle.

[@moreheff]

@@thevector I agree. A lot of the post grunge stuff featured is appalling

[@brucegrimes]

Thank you for the video and the playlist. Means a lot to me…

[@JunesGo]

Referring to Coldplay as the closest thing to a rock band is genuinely the most depressing thing I have heard in a very long time.

[@ExtremeAnalPenetration]

i mean, say what you will about the quality of their later pop albums, but they have made some great rock tracks. hell, even Coloratura from 2021 is a solid space rock track

[@Ratabulous]

The you lead a pretty charmed life

[@outlavv9892]

well they were. at first

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

@@outlavv9892 Yeah, Coldplay have become one of those bands like Imagine Dragons where I'm just left thinking, why do you even have a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer? They rarely if ever use live instruments in their songs, if they do they're so buried in the mix as to make them basically inaudible. At that point what's even the point trying to pretend you're a rock band? What are the other three guys even doing in the band?

[@MrWolf12000]

Yeah I found that remark unsettling too.

[@noahmichael2213]

Hate Nickleback all you want but I worked at a high end restaurant and they came and they were the NICEST group of celebrities I've ever met and it wasn't even close. I don't like their music but after waiting on them I'll never say anything bad about them again

[@Timbiscuit12]

I think that’s cool as heck actually lol thanks for sharing.

[@posthardcoresinger]

In college I met a hottie who hated Chad because he came to a strip club she was working at, all the girls fawned over him, and I guess he never dropped a single dollar on any of them lol.

[@TimmyTickle]

Who was the rudest?

[@clemclemson9259]

@@TimmyTickle you

[@TheSuperappelflap]

I mean, they are Canadian after all

[@krisstarring]

I think that's how I realized Nickelback was Canadian, when in "How You Remind Me," they rhymed "story" with "sorry."

[@mpashalian7650]

That part actually had me laugh out loud

[@dunjica77]

I don't get it (English is not my first language); can you pls explain?

[@MedalionDS9]

@@dunjica77 Depending where you come from... say America... sorry can sound like 'sarry'

[@Nukle0n]

@@dunjica77 the stereotypical Canadian "sorry" sounds more like "Soar-y"

[@dunjica77]

@@Nukle0n I see, thanks!

[@ThompterSHunson]

They played it safe, they wrote catchy songs, they've made their bones. I'm not any hardcore fan, but I never shared the hate. A decent band.

[@CatFish107]

yep, any of the grumbles I have are due to distribution / overplay / saturation. Similar to my distaste for any other music I've been force fed.

[@JBG1968]

They wrote one verse and sang it over and over and over

[@GizmoBeach]

Decent bands don’t make your ears want to projectile vomit after one minute of the first track off what’s supposed to be their most popular album.

[@CatFish107]

@@GizmoBeach true, and paradoxically, the very best (in my subjective taste) make them actually vomit blood.

[@smallxplosion9546]

I don’t hate them at all, it’s just that they’re so average in everything. I have absolutely no feeling when I listen to them.

[@AntonyStrus]

I've never been a huge fan of Nickeback, but - as a Brit - knowing they pissed off the British press that much makes me like them a whole lot more now!

[@MarkFugitive-]

Most of these bands weren't big in Britain. Nobody really cared in the British music press.

[@Thor-Orion]

@@MarkFugitive-Silverside Up went to number 1 in the UK.

[@owenpaul4015]

@@Thor-Orionand they played arenas, to claim they aren’t big in Britain is bollocks

[@greyarea6688]

Are flag, are county, hate the press.

[@dimitar297]

The narrator is a mincer.

[@corycourtney8923]

I don't think they would have gotten the level of hate if the listening public wasn't sandblasted with the song for almost a year straight. Beyond that, there are plenty of artists who done actual despicable things who are much more deserving of the hate, but also the hate is a blessing and a curse since they're infamous now. Look at Creed; they turned the memes about them into a successful reunion.

[@MaxwellGriffin001]

There's actually a good min-doc about how nickelback became the band everyone hated. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXemZYJ8jK6Dqtk I think it makes a lot of sense. There wasn't widespread Nickelack hate until the commercial...it was mostly "yeah, they're okay. I like that one song"

[@austintrousdale2397]

Nickleback’s releasing a hard rock song followed by a power ballad then subsequently a heavier single was the audio equivalent of “Wash. Rinse. Repeat.” Bros and their girlfriends could agree upon playing Nickleback CDs in the truck and could together enjoy a Nickleback show. Such blatant angling to maximize their profile, combined with the decline in quality of the music (IMHO, anyway) turned me against them after _Silver Side Up_ .

[@MaxwellGriffin001]

@@austintrousdale2397 that's not unusual though. That's a formula heavy metal bands started doing in the early 80s. Bon Jovi, poison, motley rue, etc. very common. Even today.

[@Jonny_Nemo]

They were religious nuts that had no place in rock.

[@gelatinspiders]

@@Jonny_Nemoits not that they were religous or normal wellrounded people why they were hated, they were hated because they were lame because they weren’t even ashamed of vying for mainstream attention with hyper-polished, big chorus songs that often sounded very similar to each other. they represent everything in the 90s rock musicians rejected, and everything in the 80s mainstream rock musicians at least tried to deny

[@ForeverGotShorter]

I love that you brought up the Clear Channel buyout. I've been reading a lot of articles about how rock faded from the mainstream and I think there are lots of reasons for it, but that's reason no 1 right there. It's funny, I've been reading a lot of music mags from the late '90s/early aughts and there's just this excitement I feel whenever I read about some tiny indie band getting any attention. It just feels like an era where anything could've happened, and any number of amazing, unique underground acts like Stereolab, Hey Mercedes, the Sea and Cake, Engine Down, Mogwai, Rainer Maria, Superchunk, Hot Water Music, etc, bands that were big on college radio, could've crossed over. It feels like they were on the cusp of something, but a handful of corporations managed to get a stranglehold on the industry and that was that. Unless you sounded like Nickelback, Evanescence, or Blink-182 your chances of getting mainstream radio airplay were next to nil.

[@brandonpage7087]

@ForeverGotShorter, it was, it was an amazing time, where anything could happen!! How I miss those days!! When I could turn on the radio & pretty much love anything I heard, except the boy bands, lol. Man, those were the days!!! Yeah, when rock faded from the mainstream, & the top 40 got taken over by pop & hip hop acts, is when music really died for me, at least in the mainstream!

[@ForeverGotShorter]

@@brandonpage7087 I don't wanna idealize the past or anything. I was around for the '90s but too young to remember anything about the musical landscape other than U2 releasing Pop and "Wonderwall" being played around the clock. Still, I do know things weren't perfect then, far from it. But I do wish the permeability between the underground and mainstream worlds hadn't disappeared. I wish we could be having a good time today, and that DIY bands could get a bit more exposure.

[@ThreadBomb]

I feel like rock music really died sometime in the mid 90s, and Clear was just molesting its corpse.

[@brandonpage7087]

@ForeverGotShorter, oh, I know, I lived through all of the '90s, & some of the '80s. I'm a realist when it comes to looking back at the past. I would never try to argue that the '90s were perfect. Far from it. Then again, what decade really was perfect? The '80s certainly weren't. Hell, alot of the issues we're dealing with, as a society now, can be traced back to the '80s. Don't believe me? Check out the doc "the 80s: the decade that made us". Anyways, versus nowadays, both the '80s & '90s were definitely a lot better. Not much positive you can say about nowadays. This is one of the most miserable periods, I've ever experienced, in my lifetime. The music industry being what it is nowadays, only makes things worse.

[@brandonpage7087]

@ForeverGotShorter, oh, I know, I lived through all of the '90s, & some of the '80s. I'm a realist when it comes to looking back at the past. I would never try to argue that the '90s were perfect. Far from it. Then again, what decade really was perfect? The '80s certainly weren't. Hell, alot of the issues we're dealing with, as a society now, can be traced back to the '80s. Don't believe me? Check out the doc "the 80s: the decade that made us". Anyways, versus nowadays, both the '80s & '90s were definitely a lot better. Not much positive you can say about nowadays. This is one of the most miserable periods, I've ever experienced, in my lifetime. The music industry being what it is nowadays, only makes things worse.

[@adamg.manning6088]

That story about the Drum Tech singularly made me appreciate this band a bit more.

[@johnbehan1526]

I mean, a production credit on one of the most successful rock singles of all time would be paying his bills to this day, but yeah.

[@jonmeyrick]

@@johnbehan1526 Dude arguably deserved a writing credit.

[@LarixusSnydes]

Yes, that was surprising, but for the rest I am inclined to agree with Winwood. I may have heard the songs in the background, but I have never perked up my ears when they played. They were not musically interesting enough to me.

[@roelfkromhout]

Same lol.

[@mondegreenmatt849]

What, because the band fobbed him off with 5k while they made bazillions lol

[@apc9681]

It’s incredible how much mainstream rock had faded by the end of the 2000s. The oversaturation of grunge rippled through other sub genres.

[@CasualSpud]

The Monopolies of the Music and Radio industries is what killed rock.. If they didn't try to make every band sound like Nickleback, they might have been more liked.

[@simplenough]

@@CasualSpudnickleback or Coldplay

[@quintessenceSL]

To be fair, it was already heading that way before grunge and alt hit the scene. About a decade of reprieve, and you see bereft of new ideas rock has become.

[@briansergeant]

Also the oversaturation of “Landfill Indie” in the UK triggered by the emergence of the Arctic Monkeys was another nail in the rock coffin.

[@Moveplaylift]

Interestingly Rock and Country are beginning to trend upwards as the popularity of hip hop and R n B are tanking....a revival may be on the cards

[@yabatopia]

Don't hate Nickelback. Hate the Telecom Act of 1996, the death sentence for independent radio stations. Big media companies like ClearChannel took full control of local radio stations and standardized their playlists. This resulted in a tsunami of repetitive and unoriginal music being played constantly across different stations. Nickelback was a perfect fit for ClearChannel, a turd sandwich stuffed without mercy into everyone's ears.

[@matthews7805]

Finally, some clarity!

[@chuckabbate5924]

Well put thanks Newt Gingrich you POS

[@Naedlus]

I was about to try to do corrections, but, seeing that iHeartRadio is a part of their organization, I'd be completely wrong by trying to make a distinction without a difference. I'd like to add the expansion of Stingray Radio (New Cap Radio at the time,) expanding across the country at the time as a sister business in corporate gluttony.

[@David_T]

The silver lining is that is when indie and other channels started to go on line. By 2005 you didn't have to listen to this dreck any more.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

No pirate radio in the US then?

[@dvdtech]

I live in Brazil, here we had Orkut before Facebook or any social network. When I was around 12-13yrs old, I really enjoyed Nickelback (and most generic mainstream bands from early 00s, just like many young people like me back then). I entered on the Nickelback community on Orkut (it was something similar to a Reddit sub, for comparison). I've made so many friends from all over the country, people that are close to me even after almost 20 years now. I don't like Nickelback anymore, I honestly don't listen to them since the Dark Horse album, but man, this band gave me the best friends I could have and for that I'm grateful for Nickelback existence.

[@ruaoneill9050]

I love this!

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

Call me crazy, but I feel like Pacific NW indie bands like Built to Spill, Sleater-Kinney, and Modest Mouse were the more natural evolution of "Grunge" from the early 90's into the 2000's. I feel like the bands that often get denigrated for being a zombified, commercialized grunge (bands like Nickleback, Bush), don't really do much to stress an outright continuity with that musical scene. The similarities always seemed superficial to me. I don't even like the idea that "grunge died" (grunge being a meaningless label notwithstanding)in 94 - just because it wasn't getting glazed as the big thing by record labels anymore doesn't mean it "died" it just went back home and grew up a bit. I'll die on the hill that one of the best "grunge" albums actually came out in 1997 - Lonesome Crowded West does a lot things during its runtime, one of those things is being a grunge masterpiece. I think the shift was that it went from being a noun to being an adjective, that bands weren't defined by it in so much as they used it as one tool in their sonic toolbox.

[@dingdongism]

I think you're touching on what would be a more interesting video. To me, anyway.

[@ThreadBomb]

At least those "bad" grunge bands were still writing their own songs and playing real instruments live.

[@matturner6890]

I'd agree if those bands you listed weren't completely devoid of any sort of "heavy" sound. It'd be like grunge with no Sabbath influence, which is maybe the one uniting factor of all grunge bands. Completely agree on Lonesome Crowded West being a masterpiece, though. Great sound, great lyrics, great title, great artwork, great everything.

[@Arahsure]

Hey,DUNLOP! You're crazy man!😂

[@shargowi9305]

You just reminded me how much Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden contributed way back when. The leads all had strong singing skills versus the bands with leads that just shout, no offence Chad.

[@tom.m]

Thanks for mentioning Clear Channel. If you're overseas it's probably hard to really appreciate how much of an impact it had. I'm not sure it's possible to overstate how much damage it did.

[@mrrodriguezHLP]

I was 15-16 years old in 2001-2002. That was when I really got deep into punk, metal, jazz, indie, and classic rock, as an answer to the horrible repetitiveness of mainstream radio and MTV. Nickelback was one of those bands that made me change the dial, because they were so inescapable. They're not a bad band, I just object to anything played that many times in a single day. Thank God for Napster, and Limewire.

[@KindredBrujah]

Those of us who are a bit older suffered the same with Enter Sandman. Can still barely bring myself to listen to the rest of the (really rather good) Black Album, because that opening riff tends to have me reaching for the 'skip album' button.

[@matturner6890]

@@KindredBrujah It ends up not hitting you like a song but an unwanted noise, it's really weird. I love Nirvana to death but I CANNOT stomach hearing the regular album version of SMTS.

[@RusticRonnie]

@@KindredBrujahits fine metallica never stopped making the black album so you can always just listen to those

[@lanebales903]

@@RusticRonnieI kinda hate how right you are. 😢 I can only imagine what a proper follow up to justice would have been like but I’ll never know

[@gagamba9198]

Lucky for you you missed the Michael Jackson mania of 'Thriller', "Billie Jean', and 'Beat It' in '83. It was the year that wouldn't end.

[@andrewrobertson444]

I remember walking past an 18 year-old strumming this in 2001. I joined in with the chorus and he looked at me, stunned, and said "You know this?" It was the first time anyone had looked at me like I was old. I was 30. 😭😄

[@ruaoneill9050]

Don't chat to me! I'm 38 and it feels like I'm still 15 but everyone else knows that's not true!

[@Rick_Cleland]

@@ruaoneill9050 I'm thirty-nine. How'd that happen...?? 😔😔😔

[@ruaoneill9050]

@@Rick_Cleland I don't know, it feels like we've been cheated somehow! 😭😭😭

[@alisterfolson]

I'm 55 now. How'd tf all of this happen, lol

[@Rick_Cleland]

@@alisterfolson 🥴🥴🥴

[@CappyLarou]

Bubblegrunge...never heard that and never heard a more perfect way to describe some of that crap.

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

Lifehouse. Hootie & the Blowfish. Etc.

[@cris_261]

Wish I would have thought of that term at the height of that genre.

[@lainiwakura1776]

Still better than the popular music of today.

[@Candyohh]

It's spot on tho.

[@RatelHBadger]

Butt Rock is a pretty good title as well. You know, music that are played on radio stations that play nothing "but Rock" (said in a slightly gravelly "epic" voice to sound cool)

[@TheActualCathal]

My favourite last word on grunge is Todd in the Shadows describing The Calling as "The final boybandification of Grunge". It's accurate, and it can be repurposed for the decline of many other musical eras.

[@OH_MY_DOGGG]

I always Heard "Tonight" here and there and again and the reveal that Alex Band is a double One Hit Wonder actually blew my mind.

[@calebmorales6288]

“Why don’t you and I” by Santana with Alex Band was also a big hit

[@PrettyboyAshtun]

idc what you say about nickleback “ how you remind me “ will always slap.

[@austins.2495]

It really does though

[@jeyi3224]

No

[@drugstoreeyeliner9936]

it's so funny to me how "hanging by a moment" is supposedly the most played radiosong of 2001, and as twenty-year old (person who loves grunge and alternative rock) i have never heard it in my life. to me that shows something about the disposable nature of some popular music. there are songs you cannot escape in the moment bc theyre everywhere, but a few decades later theyre forgotten

[@thatcreepnathan9358]

You had to be there kid. It was everywhere.

[@cris_261]

​@@thatcreepnathan9358I was there. It got to the point where I'd turn the radio off whenever I'd here the opening chords of Glycerine, for example.

[@thatcreepnathan9358]

@@cris_261 Got it. Thought you were saying you are currently 20. That was definitely a great era to be 20

[@lainiwakura1776]

Omg it got played out and I can't stand to hear it to this day.

[@hugoponders]

I was definitely there, and an active participant in the target audience, but I've never heard it either. Maybe it's a regional thing?

[@I-Ren-Zero]

Clear Channel not only bought up Radio Stations, they took over Management of concert venues from clubs to stadiums AND just as importantly they bought out booking agencies keeping young local bands who were not clear channel affiliated from opening and support slots which previously acted as a minor league for bands.... along with using their lawyers to start to shut down indie/underground shows at places like VFW Halls this killed the next wave of rock that should have emerged..... while a host of "The" bands did get some traction the Hi Energy Rock underground - The Hellacopters, Gluecifer, Turbonegro, Thee Ultra Bimboos, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, The Bellrays, Electric Frankenstien, Adam West, Hellride and a host of other bands who appeared on the A Fistful Of Rock N' Roll and other comp series were largely locked out of the major labels, radio and opening slots on major US tours that could and should have made headway into the Rock landscape around 2000 due in large part to what was tagged as the Anti-Rock n Roll Conspiracy by more than a few at the time.......

[@mpashalian7650]

To be fair, all of those bands you named didn’t exactly write the kind of songs that would burn up the charts to begin with though. Any time they toured to my area it was literally always playing the smallest venue possible for a national touring band

[@TvoyuMamkuMav]

I don’t think it’s fair to call those bands you mentioned anything else than just European retro rock bands. Turbonegro did pretty well intentionally tho

[@I-Ren-Zero]

@@mpashalian7650 I threw out a handful of band names, to just give some examples... but a band like The Hellacopters did see (and are currently seeing) chart success in Sweden (which as I understand it has the 3rd largest music industry in the world) and have had plenty of MTV ready videos, Radio ready songs and have opened for major bands... like The Rolling Stones.... but couldn't even get their major label to release or support By The Grace of God, their most accessible record at that point, in the USA... true not all of the bands I named seem like bands that would have charted... in back in 1990 a lot of the biggest rock bands of 1992 didn't seem like they would have made it MTV or Rock Radio the way they did......

[@bradcomis1066]

Is it possible that some of the late '00s early '10s "indie" fever was a reaction to this corporatism in the early '00s?

[@mpashalian7650]

@@bradcomis1066 Or maybe they couldn't write great songs that would appeal outside of a very niche market.

[@nolagospeltracts8264]

I loved how people were referring to Nickelback as "alternative" even though they were a huge selling, very popular top 40 band at the time.

[@iliketrains3495]

'Alternative' got span around to basically refer to every rock band after the 80's

[@Eric_Hunt194]

I think that's one reason the backlash was so harsh. It happens to almost every band that becomes the "standard bearer" for a genre or scene that explodes. Weirdly there was never that much backlash for Nirvana as far as I can recall.

[@tom.m]

​@@Eric_Hunt194 Kurt had a quote from Neil Young that I think pretty well explains why Nirvana didn't get that treatment. But I'm (barely) too young to know. I was not tuned in to any scene yet when Kurt left. I had just started buying music.

[@gx1tar1er]

the same can be said about "indie"

[@nolagospeltracts8264]

@@twopoundsofbeef My point is, it's not "alternative" if it's mainstream.

[@kameoosama]

The thing I remember is that it wasn't just Nickelback specifically that was the problem, it was that all these post-grunge bands were basically dropping power ballads at the time, and and then the next album cycle all these bands were _leading off_ with more power ballads, and somehow it got Fred Durst to do an acoustic cover of the Who, and by that point hard rock radio was basically insufferable. "How You Remind Me" was just the beginning

[@versebuchanan512]

I remember the bassist in a band I was in once talking about this era of music and ending with "The cruelest part is, Candlebox really WAS left far behind," with such sincere sadness in his voice. It's one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

[@thac0twenty377]

they're xomebaxk album into the sun got no play, but it was awesome

[@MyNameJeff..]

Hahaha! It reminds me of one of my best friends who passed away young in his early 20’s. We were stoned and ravaging the fridge and he pulled out snap peas… He looked at me with the most serious face and said, “People forget the simpler things in life. Like the simple… *snaps a snap pea in half* snap… Of a snap pea.” To this day I can’t not think of that when I make them.

[@lougaru2445]

In only 3 hours since posting the engagement here is incredible; the community and discussion are so sharp. This channel is proof that the cream rises to the top. It's my favorite music revue channel, no question it's going to break half a million subs and a million is inevitable.

[@zanebarrett3728]

Holy shit this makes so much sense. That Hoobastank song was endless on the radio and I always wondered why. Fucking radio just played the same playlist across the nation. This explains the nickelback hate. They were everywhere for seemingly no reason

[@gagamba9198]

You think that didn't happen with Top 40 stations across the country in the '70s and '80s? There were more programmers, but by and large they played the same songs because they monitored the same charts. If you wanted to listen to something offbeat, you tuned into college radio in the '70s and '80s.

[@quentinbringthenumetalchil5125]

Not gonna lie, Nickelback had its moments where they can get downright catchy. I can agree on how the overplaying of some of their music, specifically “How You Remind Me”, got them to have the reputation they had throughout the ‘00s. I still don’t think they’re that bad of a band.

[@mpashalian7650]

I’ve never understood people’s reasoning for hating a band or saying ‘they suck,’ as ‘they got overplayed.’ That’s not really any bands fault.

[@neonwired4978]

catchy but way too deliberately commercial and radio friendly, way too soulless for me. I don't blame them, i think they got given shit songs by their label.

[@michaelwills1926]

We had the same shit in the 80’s with “Roxanne”

[@gagamba9198]

@@michaelwills1926 And Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, etc.

[@princemjbp695]

And I don't care what anyone says, Nickelback was a good band. They produced enough hits to make them memorable in a gatekeeping genre.

[@bennybongosbigolebonanza894]

Evidentially you do not care to be able to post this. 😂 My friend-drummer for the one of the most heralded and seminal punk bands of all time-and his then-girlfriend were in the studio recording one of Chad’s solo albums. You know, I was waiting to hear about how lame he was, etc. and he was like, “I have to say Chad is a super cool and nice guy.” 😂

[@xouat]

The living on a prayer :: born to run analogy sums it up perfectly

[@TheVampireAzriel]

I must be stupid because I don't get it. Born to Run was Springsteen not Nirvana, right? Living on a Prayer was Bon Jovi. Now if he'd said "Smells Like Teen Spirit" like he showed, I'd get that as compared to Heart Shaped Box or All Apologies.

[@dancarosa]

Minor nitpick - would just like to point out that the Goo Goo Dolls are not Canadian (though Buffalo is right on the US-Canadian border)

[@ShmuelYonah]

As an avid Goo Goo Dolls fan and former Torontonian, this confused me as well.

[@MrOtistetrax]

Canadian in spirit. I mean, that name sounds pretty Canadian, eh?

[@kerose]

Naw. Fuck Buffalo. lol. They can have it

[@MrTyp00n]

Mickleback said it best, "this is how you remind me" that grunge and alt, was never supposed to be mainstream and it's fans really were mistaken for handing society hearts worth breaking.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

@@MrTyp00n "Mickleback" just made me imagine what would happen if Mick Hucknall of Simply Red took over from Chad Kroeger... thanks, I hate it.

[@MrTyp00n]

@@Eric_Hunt194 Your welcome and now you've pointed it out, no I'm not going to change it.

[@Despond]

Pop music has been held hostage with the same genre for over 2 decades now, no more changes or fashion changes, just the same with slight variation.

[@glennhubbard5008]

Thank you. I have been saying this forever. The baggy pants, all of it. Twenty years old. Kids wearing their parents' fashions.

[@DalmatinRus]

I never thought I'd say this, but finally, after 22 years, I can say that I appreciate "How You Remind Me" for its songwriting. It came from honesty and relatabillty on the level of cleverness that Kroeger had in him. Stardom ruined him, but, honestly, a guy like him, with his background, was in no way capable of handling it. Few people are. And that guy Winwood is an ass, like a lot of people in British press.

[@KindredBrujah]

You can't blame a band for making the most of their success. 99.9% of others would do the same in their shoes. Does the music that came after retain its honesty? No it doesn't. But I doubt many's would.

[@MetaModern87]

@@KindredBrujah agreed. If someone came to you with a dump truck full of cash and said just keep doing what you're doing, would you say no?

[@GregBonks]

It's interesting that there is still post grunge around, it’s become basically the default rock sound.

[@nodiggity9472]

'Post Grunge' is just a bullshit term for every rock band after Nirvana who were too lazy or unoriginal to stray from grunge's tired formula, but wanted to inherit grunge's surviving fanbase.

[@doublewhat07]

We are in the Octanecore era now. Post-grunge could still be out there but the biggest bands right now in 2024 come from Metalcore. Falling In Reverse, Bring Me The Horizon, Bad Omens. Spiritbox. The rest of the bands are all indie/garage.

[@matturner6890]

It *is* rock. Post-grunge is a meaningless term, grunge is already more a fashion genre than a musical one, all the "grunge" bands sounded wayyy different from each other apart from using rock instruments.

[@michaelwills1926]

Grunge was the product of gov think tanks focused on how to take out all the fun and replace it with self loathing. Literally threw the switch and there it all went.

[@steamboatwill3.367]

​@@michaelwills1926) and the earth is flat.

[@crazycatman5928]

People loved then hated Bush too. Same for Creed. I blame mainstream for playing them so much we couldn’t get away from it. As far as I’m concerned…the 90s was the peak of rock. Lots a great bands in this mini doc proves it.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

@@crazycatman5928 remember the British press doing articles on how this unknown British grunge band were outselling Oasis across the pond but were almost unheard of at home. Say whatever you will about Bush, they weren't as sh*te as the Nasal Monobrow Twins!

[@crazycatman5928]

@@Eric_Hunt194 I’m a huge fan of British bands. The cure/Smiths. One of my favorite bands of all time is Joy Division. I was a fan of Bush too. I’ll check out the band you said. I never heard of them and love discovering new music.

[@HearszAM]

@@Eric_Hunt194 I wonder why they outsold them in America. Maybe sounding like a grunge band had a lot to do with it - most Yanks probably didn't even know that Bush were British at the time. Let's be honest, Bush were a one-man band (Rossdale is the only original member left), a one-hit wonder in most countries, with no classic albums for anyone to speak about, and the singer was known as Mr. Gwen Stefani.

[@steamboatwill3.367]

​@@HearszAM) Blur got it.

[@brokenrecord3095]

90's had some GREAT music. I don't remember any of the bands inn this video. No doubt they were probably good back then, but I guess they didn't really have any staying power. But the 90's! Sonic Youth got big. Superchunk was sparkling all over the airwaves! Sebadoh! Stereolab! Firehose! The Royal Crescent Mob!! Yo la Tengo!

[@jesseanderson4712]

Ive always felt like "Too Bad" was the best Nickelback song ever, to this day. And now its very clear why, its literally the most genuine and real song Chad has ever written

[@CosmicIceCream]

Absolutely agree, was really cool to hear what it meant to him and how the lyrics were based on his reality. I wonder if Never Again was also based on his life experiences?

[@benburke3015]

I know that is how you're supposed to pronounce his name, but it's kind of surreal actually hearing Chad Kroeger's name said correctly after years everyone just not saying it right. lol.

[@kostajovanovic3711]

I remember that Todd its bit!

[@mrd5024]

People hate on them, but I was in a bar packed with young people and once the final part of "How You Remind Me" was on, they all sang along!

[@AIAudiobooks411]

NPCs.

[@mrd5024]

@@AIAudiobooks411 prob but they were happy af

[@Eric_Hunt194]

Says it all that of the songs played in the introduction, the one I'd be most likely to put on today is the one that is the most "industry plant"-ish of them all: Stiltskin's "Inside". As much as that song was just an extended jeans ad jingle, if you didn’t know that it absolutely holds up. Fun fact: Singer Ray Wilson later went on to take over vocal duties for Genesis.

[@DoomyMacDoomface]

Post-grunge and post-britpop were both a kind of dreary hangover. The parallel between Nickelback and Coldplay isn't an unfair one. Frankly, both deserve the musical memory hole if you asked me.

[@matturner6890]

Hah, they're both already tenuous genres at best, adding "post" is like a double-negative. "Well, it's inspired by these bands that all sounded really different, but less different than before" Sooooo, I guess they're all just rock bands then?!?

[@Gustavo_PerezRamirez]

To be fair Coldplay had a much better, albeit short, run with a couple of good albums. Nickelback was generic from the beginning.

[@dennissanfilippo8836]

Britpop is much better than grunge. Oasis are overrated, though.

[@johnjjohningtoniii2439]

Jeez, how many of those Cancon artists went on to massive worldwide success? It's amazing to me how much that story has been ignored.

[@Dopesickgypsy]

Damn that last tidbit about them being the last rock band to hit number one was really depressing

[@atuvera9021]

Unironicallly, this band has some of the catchiest songs of that time.

[@JeffScottKing]

Nickelback were actually not as bad as a lot of people say. "How You Remind Me" still slaps, and though they were far from the best that the pop world had to offer during the 2000s, I would certainly rather take their calculated, commercialized sound over virtually any other grunge wannabes of the 2000s (Staind, Creed, Puddle of Mudd) or the disappointingly traditional heavy metal acts that became part of the heavy rock mainstream in the wake of nu metal's decline around that time.

[@KindredBrujah]

As with all commercially successful scenes, bands with no right being lumped in there somehow find themselves with the label. Deftones? Nu Metal? No. Mudvayne? No.

[@FelineGuitars]

Really nicely put together video - thank you for that . The line "Are we Having fun Yet?" was something I first heard used often in Stephen King's "The Shining" book and movie

[@thevector]

It took covering Nickelback to end up with a Trash Theory video where the British music press were not the villains.

[@ligmaballs2022]

Nah the press as a whole is full of shit people bruh

[@aledandrian]

That Winwood guy was a douche tho

[@kjlovescoffee]

I don't know - Windwood resorting to ad hominems seems quite villainous to me.

[@intenzityd3181]

Journalists are all lying subhumans

[@ChknHugga]

Even if you hate Nickelback, you have to admit that How you Remind Me is a great song; it’s just that most of their music just sounded so similar they they got monotonous really quickly

[@00Platypus00]

Nah, one does not have to admit that. A song being great is a matter of taste :)

[@bigol9223]

I always hated post-grunge even before I knew what it was, it felt like such a tryhard contrived angst, and it took FOREVER to die. It was late in the 00s when "Second Chance" by Shinedown and the aptly titled "It's Not Over" by Daughtry were still punishing anyone in the vicinity of a radio. When I discovered the actual bands that inspired this huge commercialized imitation sound, the contrast was insane in terms of authenticity and artistic creativity. I can appreciate maybe a handful of post-grunge songs, but none of them spring to mind.

[@MundusLives]

IMO it's the most boring genre of rock. It's easier to distinguish grindcore songs from each other than post grunge. It's always the same power ballads with a singer that tries to hard to be Kurt or Vedder.

[@michaelegan3522]

@@MundusLives yeah idk what it is, even when they use heavy distorted guitars they're boring. I think the chord progressions these bands write are just really safe. They're familiar-sounding enough to be palatable to mainstream casual music fans. Bush's Glycerine uses a basic I V vi IV progression. At least in earlier grunge bands like Nirvana there's usually an unusual chord selection somewhere in the song

[@underthetrees4780]

Nickelback's first album is legit, they really didn't lose it until "Rockstar", is the only song of their's I know that deserves the reputation.

[@pakoti96]

Then again, Rockstar is clearly satire.

[@tealstatic]

I remember back n the early oo's, I was in and out of psychiatric hospitals. On one stay, we had a music therapist come do a group. We played a game while running down the halls and throwing balls at each other and he was cranking up a Nickleback CD. It was crazy to think about how I was having so much fun with other people in my situation, when a couple days earlier I was trying to take my own life. I think people that hate on Nickleback truly just don't understand and I don't fault them for that.

[@dingdongism]

I'm genuinely glad that you had this experience. However, I don't see how it says anything about people who don't like Nickelback, or pertains to anyone but you and that day in the halls of the hospital.

[@tealstatic]

@@dingdongism I guess I could have left the last part of my comment out. I just don't really understand how they got so much hate before. I just never understood all the hate they get, online or with peers I've known.

[@ruaoneill9050]

@@tealstatic It was how it was back then, people defined themselves by what they didn't like at least as much as by what they did like. We were allergic to sincerity and did not even know there was an option of just saying "this isn't for me and I will leave it at that." lol. I was the worst for it! Add to that when something is overplayed it begins to feel like torture, even if you originally liked the song! I'm glad you have good memories with the album and that your stay in a psychiatric hospital was positive (inferring from your op).

[@tealstatic]

@@ruaoneill9050 Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. I remember hanging out with friends and they would listen to Sublime all the time and I can't really stand it now, but not because I think it's bad, but just because it was played non-stop.

[@wychwoodmusic]

As someone working a shitty teenage minimum wage job where the radio was always on during this era in Ottawa, Canada, I can confirm that rock radio seemed to hit Cancon targets entirely by playing Nickelback and Our Lady Peace. If there were any other Canadian bands, no one seems to have bothered to tell them. At first, I kinda liked both bands' first big hit, but the radio bludgeoned any appreciation into a festering hatred.

[@matturner6890]

Raine's voice is realllllyyyy not heavy-airplay-friendly.

[@bibbyboxx2219]

Our Lady Peace rules.

[@daviddalrymple2284]

Me too. OLP's "Gravity" is indelibly linked to the awful job I had in 2002.

[@christopherbataluk8148]

Nickelback was never beat down quite as bad as 3 Doors Down. I liked 3 Doors Down but you heard Kryptonite every fifteen minutes one summer.

[@ton4encento]

I hope I am not controversial by saying this but 20+ years later I love How You Remind Me. It is a good song (or at least a fun one) and nostalgia does make it sweeter

[@MayorOfEarth79]

It's definitely one of their better songs

[@Boom12]

It helps that the song is so relatable.

[@-xirx-]

Its a good karaoke choice

[@matturner6890]

Yea, Chad was still young & hungry and could write lyrics that meant something. It's a great tune, a lot of the ones on Silver Side Up are.

[@matthewtrow5698]

When you started seeing jeans already ripped and torn in clothes shops in the late 90's and plaid shirts weren't just for outdoors wearing, that was the same as Nickelback. It's not like that style of dress was anything special - it was just cheap clothing, readily available across America for a hundred years or more before. The early bands that came up in the scene that became grunge were DIY garage bands that were just anti big business music and fashion. That's why Nickelback are dismissed with derision - late to the scene and pretty much jumping on the corporate bandwagon with a "pop" grunge sound. Besides, "grunge" is just an invented term to try and collate a bunch of bands under one umbrella. It was never liked as a term, it was just convenient for journalists.

[@mrmrmr139]

well said

[@KindredBrujah]

Agree with that. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains really are not very alike at all.

[@huebdoo]

Something that you didn't discuss about Canadian content was that it (for most FM stations) would have a very short limited Canadian content list that contained; "The Guess Who", "Brian Adams", "Tom Cochran" and Gordon Lightfoot. When Nickelback finally got air play, it was like a GenX breakthrough, I watched them bust their a** in Vancouver trying to make it, they deserved their success and couldn't understand the trashing their received.

[@matturner6890]

Yea, it drove me to hate the Hip for a good long while. Especially the beginner-difficulty guitar parts in some songs. Just nothing to dig into besides Gord's lyrics and it was on ALL THE TIME. Once I got away from the radio, and now that other genres get more play, I like them a lot more. Also people don't realise what good players Nickelback all are, they could and probably still can outplay any Vancouver band that isn't techncial death metal or something (In fact, a lot of the more beloved bands there now can barely play).

[@daviddalrymple2284]

And on the Top 40 stations, it was even worse in the 90s and 2000s: Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and nothing but the softest ballads from crossover pop/rock acts like Bryan Adams, the Tragically Hip, Avril Lavigne and Barenaked Ladies.

[@huebdoo]

@daviddalrymple2284 god radio would just play Canadian trash as long as it was from Toronto or non threatening music

[@TheGlobalfrog12]

"It was the Living on a Prayer to Nirvana's Born to Run" perfectly encapsulates this song... I never got into this group even though I'm Canadian, probably due to the fact that I had been in the UK for 8 years by that time fronting a band that took influences from Canada's best band The Tragically Hip ... which is a group I hope this show would delve into ...

[@mpashalian7650]

I like Nickelback up to Dark Horse, then the music changed quite a bit. As an enjoyer of quite a few Canadian bands, I do have to agree, would love to see Trash Theory do a video on Tragically Hip. When Downie passed that hit Canada hard.

[@calvinbaII]

I think with the Tragically Hip is pretty quickly they captured the formula of CANCON to build a long legacy in the industry. They knew they would never be big household names in the US or overseas so they just focused all their resources into producing "Canadiana" in music form. Musically I don't think they were ever anything groundbreaking but I still love their music. But that Canadiana template they went with endeared them to the masses here unlike any band/musician(s) that came before them.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

@@TheGlobalfrog12 I'm not Canadian, but my personal favourite Canuck act is probably Buck 65

[@zorantaylor3190]

@@calvinbaII The Hip is one of those bands that has managed to achieve a level of ubiquity (even if that's limited to Canada) without nearly enough have ever been said or written about why, beyond the fact that Cancon gave them a lot of exposure. It was never that simple, nor was it ever all just about Gord being eccentric onstage. For one thing, figuring out what some of their lyrics are actually about has parallels to doing the same with Steely Dan. You end up genuinely taken aback at how weird the songs are sometimes. And descriptions don't always do their sound justice. You could describe a zillion different singers as having a half-scream, half-croon and be sorta right about all of them. But when Gord did it, it was just.....more jarring somehow. I bet a lot of cover bands' lead vocalists have damaged their vocal cords, choked on their own spit and/or tripped over their mic stands and fallen offstage trying to copy him.

[@quantumparadox2518]

I’ve heard someone say something about grunge and I thought it was pretty spot on. Localized scenes like the hair metal of the LA sunset strip or grunge that’s associated with Seattle and the pacific northwest are only really ever going to last a decade or so. The best bands get signed and hit then the rush begins to sign the next best thing and as the decade rolls on you see the D list bands getting signed and played and it waters everything down. While those early bands that started it have started to grow and maybe alter their sound as they mature as artists. Found that intriguing

[@quintessenceSL]

True of any art movement. Interesting ideas in the beginning that ultimately get watered down for mass consumption. If you are lucky, you can ping the needle just a little of what is acceptable in the mainstream. But mostly you just get destroyed in the onslaught.

[@gasmaskestore8018]

I always thought Nickelback was alright, in 2024 there are way way better things to hate on.

[@Blisteryn]

Nickelback is not the worst band ever as well as Nirvana is not the best.

[@MarkFugitive-]

They're not the worst but they're utterly pointless. Nirvana are far from the best but wrote some great songs.

[@zed5129]

@@MarkFugitive- I like their music. Therefore not pointless. Your statement though, is utterly incorrect.

[@minervadetauro7646]

@zed5129 that's like your opinion, man

[@XanVicious]

ur right, Pantera is the best band of all time.

[@brandonpage7087]

Man, finding out on this video that "how you remind me", was the last single by a rock band, to hit no. 1, on the charts, is damn depressing!!! At least in the 2000s, you had some rock bands left, in the mainstream. By the 2010s, though, that all came to an end, & music turned to shit.

[@jools1978]

Just a couple of days ago I was listening to a podcast that mentioned that there are basically no bands/groups of any genre in the charts anymore. I was a teen in the 90s and it's kind of mindboggling how much music, and especially the music industry has changed since then.

[@brandonpage7087]

@jools1978, I was an adolescent in the 90s too, & know exactly what you mean. Man, things were so different back then!!

[@steamboatwill3.367]

​@@brandonpage7087) just admit you're a rockist.

[@brandonpage7087]

@steamboatwill3.367, yeah, I admit it. I always have been. I got shit, back during my school days, for being a black kid who loved metal, grunge, punk, nu-metal, hardcore, etc. That never stem from being a fan, & though, & I still love all those same bands, till this day. I like some r&b & hip hop , but I love rock & it's many subgenres a helluva lot more.

[@estherahn1513]

Haha, it always feels great to see comments from other rock fans who were 90s teens. So much nostalgia, a different era

[@LastBastion9999]

Thanks for bringing up the Can Con part of this story. I think it's great that this initiative allows the Canadian music industry to thrive - and for Americans visiting and listening to terrestrial radio (I'm sure some still do) - to hear unfamiliar music to them and maybe enjoy it for a change. Canada isn't far away from my home base, but it is in some ways an ocean away - Can Con is one reason why. I wonder if other countries have something similar.

[@waywardlaser]

Nickelback gets way more hate than bands that were arguably much worse, like fucking Creed or Staind. They were just "cursed" to have a bunch of actual hit songs.

[@quentinbringthenumetalchil5125]

I feel like Creed and Staind aren’t that bad. They had their moments, as well.

[@schmonsequences]

I grew up in the church, and Scott Stapp/Creed are the epitome of evangelical hypocrisy. Hate them so much

[@davidellis5141]

It's a fair point 👉 by the op

[@tom.m]

Plenty of acts made worse music and were horrible people to boot. But hating them doesn't signal you're a cool nonconformist like all your friends. Hating Nickelback made sense when we were being assaulted by their music from every speaker. Now it feels like clownish posturing. (Which isn't to say I love their music, but there's a big jump between not caring about them and hating them.)

[@joelmonteiro1419]

I wouldn't say those are bad bands either. When I think of bad bands I think of actual awful stuff like The Black Eyed Peas or Coldplay.

[@Z3ROTH3RT33N]

I have more respect for Nickelback's beginnings as it turns out they were actually writing about their real experiences. However, that interview where Chad said he spent a year writing songs that were just similar to what was popular on the radio was not very endearing.

[@mitchbuchannon6637]

Tom Petty nailed it on his last dj album, the death of independent radio in 1996 killed so much music

[@lanebales903]

And clear channel created iHeartRadio which is ironic considering they killed it or are killing radio.

[@kurtg5405]

Their debut actually kicks ass - might go give it a listen

[@michaelmoses7751]

I think it's important context of 9/11's aftermath on rock radio as well as clear channel having almost the whole market. This and bands like pod ruled the airwaves on radio and MTV because a mix of both wanting more friendly sounding or more uplifting rock songs that alot of other bands and releases were just drowned out for awhile.

[@austins.2495]

That little drum part in “How You Remind Me” inspired me to learn to play the drums

[@bradleyduncan5892]

I'm such a fan of your videos I will watch them even when they are about singularly uninteresting topics! That's a testament to your work.

[@GNVS300]

I unironically LOVE How You Remind Me, probably an all-time favourite song for me but they actually play the 'Gold Mix' of it on the stations I listen to, and that pisses me off.

[@David_T]

This is why I turned back on to British bands at the time: Radiohead, Super Furry Animals and The Verve. The US scene was so beat....

[@NuMetalfan1996]

@David_T. As a Brit I disagree British Music was and is fucking trash The US bands of the late 90’s and early 00’s were much much better (apart from PoP Punk that was the only awful thing during that time from the US).

[@JackTrayner-u3f]

MSP too

[@robertclarkemusic]

I love your videos. This is a very difficult subject matter to do tastefully. I never imagined I'd find a Nickleback video interesting! Great work as usual

[@misterthegeoff9767]

When I hear Nickleback in the context of all of those American soft rock bands I had mercifully forgotten the existence of I realise how insipid the whole scene was in the post grunge years. I spent the early 2000s so deep into nu-metal that I forget just how forgettable and beige stuff like 3 Doors Down, Creed, Staind and Live was.

[@stephenbundrick7305]

How You Remind Me is the ‘Livin’ on a prayer” to Smell’s like teen Spirit’s ‘Born to Run”. Dude! That’s perfect. Also like how you spotted the similarities between the hits between the chorus on Heart-shaped Box and How You Remind me. As always, great insight!

[@STERNWAERTS]

I was born in 93 and How You Remind Me playing on German MTV and VIVA got me into rock music and guitar playing. I wasn't even ten back then. Of course I was absolutely hooked and wanted to be like Chad Kroeger (I also wanted to be like Robbie Williams, Lenny Kravitz, Billie Joe Armstrong and a few others, lol). Not long after I got into heavier music via Metallica and the likes; seeing and hearing 80s/90s James Hetfield made it clear to me that these guys were my heroes. Not knowing a thing about Grunge etc. I was able to enjoy rock music of the 00s for what it was - just music that resonated with and moved me. I still enjoy all of the stuff I loved back then ... and thanks to this video I've now a couple more bands to explore!

[@nodiggity9472]

Apparently if you play Nickelback backwards, you can hear Satan speaking. Even worse, if you play it forwards, you can hear Nickelback.

[@thatcreepnathan9358]

Nice one😆 . Sounds like a Neil Hamburger joke.

[@cris_261]

Haven't heard that one before. That's good.

[@nolagospeltracts8264]

Just tried that joke out on my wife. She hated Nickelback with a passion. I was just indifferent.

[@A.M.intheAM]

What's more, if you play Nickelback you hear the same tired digs at Nickelback

[@olafsigursons]

Which ever direction you read that comment, it's still stupid

[@shadowbanned6358]

When I think of Nickleback, it reminds me of those sketchy roadside carnivals because they always seemed to play that type of music lol

[@thatcreepnathan9358]

Sketchy roadside carnivals are the best carnivals.

[@christophermerlot3366]

The kind of place where a 12 year old can a tattoo in the back of a van.

[@johnsowerby7182]

The comment on Clear Channel taking over the radio is so on the button. I moved from Europe to Florida about this time, and it is was ridiculous to hear the same damn songs, played at the same damn minutes past the hour, every hour...

[@JS-sy7ym]

“Three Theories of a Nickel Creed” is a term we’ve coined in Canada to refer to a pantheon of truly terrible bands: Nickleback, Creed, 3 Doors Down, 3 Days Grace, Theory of a Dead Man.

[@cris_261]

I always thought of 3 Days Grace as "Disturbed lite."

[@lainiwakura1776]

@@cris_261 No, no they are not

[@cris_261]

@@lainiwakura1776 not musically, but they touched on similar themes.

[@mmmmkkk]

terrible bands that millions of people love and pay to listen to, maybe it's not them that are terrible in the end and it has something to do with... you.

[@zorantaylor3190]

@@cris_261 Dude absolutely sounded like a guy who won a David Draiman sound-alike contest and then just sorta toned down the staccato patterns a bit. It's all in the timbre of his voice.

[@OfficialEvermore]

People always say Nickelback is "generic," but their music always brings back so many great memories. Thanks for the video, Trash Theory! ❤️

[@Littlestraincloud]

You know, I think they have some bangers and bops.

[@AR-mc8mn]

Glad to see Toadies referenced. A Texas mainstay.

[@Justin_Holland]

Indeed 🤘

[@gars129]

I'm probably the only person who thinks Chad's voice is the least of their issues. We also don't have Clear Channel here in Puerto Rico, and I was 15 in 2009, so maybe that explains.

[@MosherBear]

Not a fan of either song or band but don't hate them. Just too safe for my tastes, though at the same time there's no angst in their music. Another great video essay, don't have to be a fan of a band, genre etc to enjoy these.

[@CrashPK77]

I was a radio programmer from 1994 to 2015 for a pair of Clear Channel stations. You're *almost* right when you talk about how CC stations were programmed. Those rules about what you were supposed to play really only applied to BIG markets, say Market 25 and up (for reference, that's a metro area of around a million people or so). Smaller markets, like where I worked (Market 65)? You could program whatever the fuck tickled your pickle. No Nickelback? No problem. You don't wanna play Creed's "Higher" ten times a day, with 7 of those spins guaranteed drive time slots? Cool. Smaller markets had a ton of leeway.

[@matturner6890]

So a higher value indicates a lower/less densely populated market then? I'm fascinated by this stuff.

[@CrashPK77]

​@@matturner6890 Yeah, exactly. So like, New York City is Market 1. LA, Market 2. Chicago, Market 3, etc on down line. At least that's how it was up until 2015 when I called it a career at age 43. Shit is exhausting, man LOL

[@chazdomingo475]

I was in a smaller market and vaguely remember them doing like an hour every night at 9pm of wider genre stuff. They had this kinda dorky DJ who would give you all this trivia and music nerd info before playing each song.

[@Geek37664]

Thank you for giving Leader of Men a truly fair shake. It’s been sadly forgotten as far as I’ve seen. A truly underrated song.

[@Dbomb81]

There was a whole crowd not even giving this a sniff, instead listening to pantera, sepultura, fear factory, soulfly, tool, down, machine head and anything else that was metal and not playing on the radio, on our recently purchased pioneer cd players.

[@WillhiteStephen]

This is really well put together video! I wish there were more videos like this with music clips throughout so I don't have to go listen to the songs myself.

[@GroinStrain_]

I will stand up and bat, Nickelback’s first two albums are brilliant, and Silver Side Up was great too. Curb is brilliantly raw, and The State is a brilliant album. 99% of Nickelback haters don’t even know those albums or that sound exists.

[@heylenareal]

Your stuff is SO good! Always an amazing time. Thanks! ☺️ 🖤

[@SamtheAngelFox]

I always heard the "no no" after the "yeah yeah"'s as "Now we know" As if Chad got the answer to his question from who he's singing too.

[@ruaoneill9050]

Haven't thought about this song in AGES, but Trash Theory has once again got me appreciating something I never thought I would!

[@gars129]

Can Con is something relatable to many countries. For all the great music Puerto Rico has, there's also a lot of music that is just "the local version" of something anglo, intended for local consumption.

[@rtothec1234]

In the early ‘2000s I knew more people who liked Nickelback than I knew people who liked grunge. They appealed to EVERYONE . They had undeniable mass appeal and were everywhere at once. As, such they deserve their success, no matter much some of us don’t like their music (and I still don’t).

[@WineSippingCowboy]

Last minute additions. Bruce Springsteen had Dancing in the Dark, Tears for Fears had Everybody Wants to Rule the World 🌎, Def Leppard had Pour Some Sugar on Me and Bryan Adams had Everything I Do I Do It for You. Nickelback joined the crowd. All of these songs were hit songs 🎵. Smart 🤓 choices. Coincidentally, Mutt Lange worked with Def Leppard and Bryan Adams. Lange would produce Nickelback a few years later.

[@wallac11]

Great documentary. Just one technicality. The Goo Goo Dolls are from Buffalo, New York not Canada. But you are spot on in your analysis on the impact of Cancon.

[@bigmo611]

Nickelback is what happens when a chad happens to grunge. Wait, the lead singer's name IS Chad?? 😮

[@AIAudiobooks411]

meh kurt was better looking, arguably.

[@augustopdrocha]

Outstanding analysis. Really made me appreciate the band's journey and go beyond the memes. Loved the integration of the song clips, I hadn't found something like this on youtube yet.

[@thisdaym]

I think they’re pop rock icons. In 20 years the same haters will be reminiscing on a golden era of 2000s rock and praising Nickelback.

[@MetalMusicMan]

This is one of the best channels on KZbin, thank you

[@oli_rius]

Seriously engaging and analysing meme songs and bands is becoming a thing now on this platform and I am all here for it. Great video as always!

[@iliketrains3495]

Lie Likes Music's video on Pitbull comes to mind

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I don't care what anyone says, I love post grunge and it's one of my favourite genres. Sure it's less raw and aggressive as the original grunge movement, but I love the more emotional romantic vibes those bands had. Fuel, Bush, Silverchair, Our Lady Peace and even Creed have solid anthems, including the later era bands like Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace. Maybe it's because I'm not a music snob who cares about history and radio play so I just enjoy the music for its own merits. Even Nickelback were quite decent up until that Dark Horse album.