Case Study: Why do people hate Nickelback?
I've done a lot of delving into the human anomaly of what I call the "bandwagon affect". The term of course refers to the act of human nature where people are encouraged to think similarly to their peers with the intention of gaining a sort of primal acceptance. This stems back all the way to the Neanderthalic era, and has become a prevalent evolutionary trait we have gained over the course of thousands of years.
Because I am one who enjoys music and (for the most part) music culture, I have noticed sort of this recurring affect come to a variety of different topics. These topics include enjoyment of albums and bands, and other general largely formulated opinions. I'll be discussing the dislike of a particular band today, and the waves of almost institutionalized hate they have gotten since they began. This band is none other than the infamous Nickelback.
Nickelback are a Canadian band formed in 1995. They were one of many bands to form from the ashes of the grunge era in the early 90's, and one of the fewer bands to gain a large amount of fame from their material. In fact, their debut EP as well as their debut album were both classified as grunge until 1998 when the genre was formally changed to the rather inane "post-grunge". So what we have is a 90's grunge band who dabbled in hard rock, and were popular.
So why do people hate Nickelback? Now notice the underlined word in the previous paragraph, popular. This is a very key word in the synonymous hate culture against Nickelback.
In general, these are the main reasons people dislike them:
- They are too popular.
- They don't deserve to be that popular.
- Their popularity decreases the fame of other lesser-known bands exponentially.
- They are not good musicians.
- Their fame is a symbol of the lack of intelligence in the modern hard rock scene.
- They follow the guidelines way too strictly and don't take any chances.
Now what I should bring up now is my very own opinion on Nickelback. Since I am indeed a rock enthusiast I have listened fully to all of their music and have a developed opinion myself. And from what I've heard, they really aren't that bad.
Not to say that Nickelback is a particularly great band, because they aren't. Many times they can be extremely dull and vapid as they crank out what seem to be the same songs over and over. But they are not bad musicians. I found, much in their first album, that they are good at what they do and I could very easily see why they became so popular. Before the 2000's, the use of the "golf-ball stuck in the throat" vocals weren't used as profusely in alternative metal and hard rock as they were in the 90's. Now the history of this vocal style can be traced back to Nickelback; a bad thing and a good thing. The good thing was they pioneered what seemed to be a new way of singing, and the bad thing was they popularized it so you heard it in every goddamn band that would precede them (Seether, Puddle of Mudd (who ironically formed before Nickelback but released their debut after theirs), among others). So in their early years they were pretty unique for the time. Their guitar playing, although not very complex is a great easy listen and is extremely catchy, even in their later works and today.
But I suppose that's the problem, isn't it? They are catchy, and they get in people's heads and that's where the road to becoming a commercial icon begins. At first, you garner the dislike of the "hipster" community who dislike the idea of anything that is even thought of as a cultural norm. But even that happens to the best of bands that have any sort of popularity, so what it boils down to is the general public's distaste. Many of the things I aforementioned that I didn't mind about the band are many things that people find annoying about Nickelback. Chad Kroeger, people have said, has one of the most annoying, guttural singing voice of all time. The guitaring can be extremely manufactured at times, and their compositions for the most part follow the same line of structure. These things can of course detract the enjoyment of listening to a band, but not particularly enough to inspire such hatred.
I think this is where we finally come around the the bandwagon effect. This is where the line divides those who listen and those who hear. And while both things may sound similar, they are extremely different.
For instance, if you get an opinion from someone who has has listened to something it will generally be well formed because of their first hand experience. Then, after hearing that you tell someone your opinion without listening to the music and they take that as their advice on the music as well. This ideology is where the root of the bandwagon affect grows, and this is where malformed opinions of music can become indifferentiatable from the hands-on ones.
Now this whole reasoning does not apply to those who have listened to the music and formed a negative conclusion, because that is perfectly fine and natural, and something I've done for an uncountable amount of music. But while these people very much exist in the hate wagon for Nickelback, an idea planted so deep in society such as this stretches to those who don't even listen to this music. Nickelback becomes the butt of jokes, turning into nothing more than a punchline. It hasn't caused much of a decreasing in profits for the band due to their fans, but I think it creates a barrier for those who should take a listen to new music whenever the chance arises. It lead me to a much more colorful mindset on music in general, and a sense of openminded-ness and optimism can bring a happier life-style. While I may be a pessimist in most circumstances, it personally helps me when I listen to all different veins of the human race's vast musical abilities.
So, while your friend might have told you that Nickelback is bad I encourage you to listen to them on your own. This isn't even coming from a fan, but a regular music goer. Expand you boundaries and formulate your own opinions and good things will come of you.
But I suppose that's the problem, isn't it? They are catchy, and they get in people's heads and that's where the road to becoming a commercial icon begins. At first, you garner the dislike of the "hipster" community who dislike the idea of anything that is even thought of as a cultural norm. But even that happens to the best of bands that have any sort of popularity, so what it boils down to is the general public's distaste. Many of the things I aforementioned that I didn't mind about the band are many things that people find annoying about Nickelback. Chad Kroeger, people have said, has one of the most annoying, guttural singing voice of all time. The guitaring can be extremely manufactured at times, and their compositions for the most part follow the same line of structure. These things can of course detract the enjoyment of listening to a band, but not particularly enough to inspire such hatred.
I think this is where we finally come around the the bandwagon effect. This is where the line divides those who listen and those who hear. And while both things may sound similar, they are extremely different.
For instance, if you get an opinion from someone who has has listened to something it will generally be well formed because of their first hand experience. Then, after hearing that you tell someone your opinion without listening to the music and they take that as their advice on the music as well. This ideology is where the root of the bandwagon affect grows, and this is where malformed opinions of music can become indifferentiatable from the hands-on ones.
Now this whole reasoning does not apply to those who have listened to the music and formed a negative conclusion, because that is perfectly fine and natural, and something I've done for an uncountable amount of music. But while these people very much exist in the hate wagon for Nickelback, an idea planted so deep in society such as this stretches to those who don't even listen to this music. Nickelback becomes the butt of jokes, turning into nothing more than a punchline. It hasn't caused much of a decreasing in profits for the band due to their fans, but I think it creates a barrier for those who should take a listen to new music whenever the chance arises. It lead me to a much more colorful mindset on music in general, and a sense of openminded-ness and optimism can bring a happier life-style. While I may be a pessimist in most circumstances, it personally helps me when I listen to all different veins of the human race's vast musical abilities.
So, while your friend might have told you that Nickelback is bad I encourage you to listen to them on your own. This isn't even coming from a fan, but a regular music goer. Expand you boundaries and formulate your own opinions and good things will come of you.
© 2015 - The Frying Pan & Thatcher
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