# Anyone else beginning to find Nickelback/Chad Kroeger whiny and tiresome? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582 "2003-01-09T19:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582/41 "2003-01-15T07:09:04Z")
Is there, like, a mallternative band training camp somewhere that they send these people to where they’re drilled endlessly until they perfect their Cobain impersonations? Or is there a giant metallic cube hovering in orbit growing these guys in vats and then beaming them directly into the record company studios? Has anybody ever seen Chad Kroeger or Scott Stapp naked? Do they have serial numbers stamped on them? ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582/42 "2003-01-15T12:55:43Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Lizard_ > Then WHY do they need help to get on the radio _in your own country?_ > [@](#): > > _orignally posted by **me** , in this very thread_ > You forget that our industries just can’t compete with the huge amount of marketing dollars of US companies. If our government didn’t enfore local content, than the local industry would dry up overnight. > > Yeah it’s commie and an affront to the wonder that is capitalism, but it’s a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582/43 "2003-01-15T16:23:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dread Pirate Jimbo \* > \*\*Because with 10 times the population we do and a significant influence on what Canadians are able to see and listen to, the government felt that it was necessary to entrench a certain amount of Canadian content, so as to stem the flow of American crap into our nation. We apparently prefer our own crap to yours, thank you very much. Not that there’s much difference between Creed and Nickelback. \*\* Oh please. What a bogus argument. “Oh, those big, bad Americans are going to hold our radio stations and TVs hostage if we don’t play their music and shows!” :rolleyes: Last I heard, Canada was a capitalistic democracy too. If Canadians really _did_ prefer their own crap to ours, then it wouldn’t have to be legally protected - it would do just fine without help. Obviously, this is more about cultural protectionism dictated from above than it is about allowing a free market where people can follow their own desires. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582/44 "2003-01-16T12:48:27Z")
**Lizard** , do I have to say it again? The music industry is extremely dependent on marketing dollars. _This_ is a big factor in who an audience gets to hear on the radio. So overwhelming is the US industry that some local markets do need protection to avoid being swamped. > [@](#): > > “Oh, those big, bad Americans are going to hold our radio stations and TVs hostage if we don’t play their music and shows!” Could you construct a more moronic strawman? No-one is suggesting any melevolence on the part of US record companies, but one of the consequences of their having more money is that their content is more likely to be heard than others backed by smaller marketing budgets. Have you wondered why everywhere in the world, eveyone is listening to American music and watching American movies? Don’t kid yourself that it’s because they’re better. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582/45 "2003-01-16T13:15:33Z")
No, no, wait. Stop everything. I just noticed this: > [@](#): > > _originally posted by Lizard_ > I was thinking more fascist than communist, but hey, whatever fits. I’m pretty sure the government dictating content to private media would be unconstitutional here. Here, the government has to bribe media companies to do what it wants. (It was recently revealed, to FAR less outcry than it deserved, that the U.S. government gives financial incentives to TV networks to insert subtle anti-drug messages into their programs.) > > While I don’t approve at all of what the U.S. gov’t does in this regard, using the force of law to dictate content just seems. . . .gauche. I mean, how can a country claim it supports intellectual freedom when it actively dictates what people see and hear? If an Australian or Canadian band is really good, then they’ll earn an audience. Hell, that’s what U.S. bands have to do. If I was an artist from one of these countries, I’d be feeling pretty damn good knowing that even if I’m only average, someone, somewhere will HAVE to play my dreck. > > Hmm. Maybe I’ve just discovered why U.S. entertainment dominates the world. No government subsidizing to hide behind! OK, I entirely missed this post the last few times I’ve read this thread. Hence the tetchy tone in the post above. My, is my face red. Sorry, **Lizard** , I was convinced you were ignoring my perfectly reasonable explanation. Again, I’m sorry. But my argument in the post above still stands. The issue is marketing dollars. Government dictating a percentage required to be played doesn’t go anywhere near ensuring that a local band will get played on the radio; it just gives us a music industry to speak of. The laws may be unconstitutional if enacted in the US, but we do not have the US constitution. Some of our gun laws could also be unconstitutional in the US. We’re different nations, with different cultures, and this works for us. And we don’t dictate what people see and hear, except to say that part of it must originate in our own country. We’re not invading radio stations to ensure that Kylie Minogue is entrenched on their playlists. Only saying ‘play some Aussie stuff.’ And for your own part, we wonder how a government can actively support religious freedom when it prints dogma on its currency and until recently conducted organised daily rituals for schoolchildren affirming the nation’s relationship with a diety. But again, I apolgize for the tone in the post above. Somehow I missed your reply to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582/46 "2003-01-16T14:20:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\*And for your own part, we wonder how a government can actively support religious freedom when it prints dogma on its currency and until recently conducted organised daily rituals for schoolchildren affirming the nation’s relationship with a [diety.me](http://diety.me). \*\* Apology accepted, etc. I’ll get to the music bits in my next post, but I wanted to respond to this. First of all, “In God We Trust” is not “dogma.” At most, it affirms belief in a single deity. And that’s it. Since about 85% (kind of a guess, but a safe one) of Americans are both religious and monotheistic, this hardly seems unfair. But even if only 50% of Americans were monotheistic, simply printing a slogan on currency is not comparable to a law _commanding_ certain entities to do certain things. “In God We Trust” is just words on paper. It carries no weight of law, it forces no course of action, it threatens no punishment for disobedience. This is _not_ the case for laws that control media content.] I’m a little uncertain as to what you mean about “organised daily rituals for schoolchildren.” Do you mean the Pledge of Allegiance, or daily prayer? As for the Pledge, it’s pretty much a 20th century phenomenon, and the words “under God” were not added until 1954. Both could be done away with, and it wouldn’t bother me any. The Pledge always struck me as very faintly Stalinist anyway, in form if not in content. If you meant daily prayer, than this is probably more Great Debate material. I don’t want to get sidetracked from the music issue, but I do have something to say about this. The only important thing the U.S. Constitution says on this issue is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibitng the free exercise therof; . . .(Amendment I). I think if the Founding Fathers were told that this would someday be construed to mean that children couldn’t be led in prayer at a school (which is paid for by the tax dollars of their parents, NOT the federal government) they would be aghast. And that’s all I have to say on the matter. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582/47 "2003-01-16T14:58:19Z")
I’m a bit bothered by the assertion, made by you and others, that big marketing budgets by U.S. companies _automatically_ means they would dominate the airwaves in foreign countries if the government didn’t intervene. Are you implying that American companies would simply PAY their way onto radio station playlists? People buy music after hearing it on the radio and liking it, and that kind of exposure is not for sale. At least not here, not legally. Payola has happened and probably still does, but it’s not uniquely American. Not only that, but marketing pushes in other countries can’t make live performances by the actual group stretch any farther, and it has been proven that touring is the biggest single thing a group can do to boost its profile. Lets take Kylie Minogue versus Britney Spears as an example. Spears may be played on the radio in Sydney, but how often can you buy a ticket to see her live? Australia is a DAMN long ways from California. Minogue can play all over the country if she wants, and build a following. A great many American bands had to build followings in just this way before they ever got on the radio, including Bon Jovi, Metallica, Everclear, etc. Furthermore, you are completely ignoring the impact other foreign bands have made, in the U.S. market and elsewhere, without “U.S. marketing dollars” behind them. Did the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Def Leppard, ABBA, Scorpions, and AC/DC, to name just a few, become famous just because the “monolithic” British/Swedish/German/Australian recording industries spent so much pushing them? No, they were good bands that struck a chord in the popular tastes of many nations. Of course, the U.S. does have a larger, wealthier population than just about any other country on Earth. And this brings me to this: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\*Have you wondered why everywhere in the world, eveyone is listening to American music and watching American movies? Don’t kid yourself that it’s because they’re better. \*\* Well, I don’t have to kid myself that they’re better, because they _are_ better. Did millions of people, all over the world, go to see “Titanic” because they thought it sucked? Did ANY movie company outside the U.S. have $200 million to spend on making such a film? Did millions of people, all over the world, make Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album the highest selling recording ever because it is lousy? If there is one place where American money makes a difference, it is quality. American media is slick, well-produced, and just well made in general. A fiercely competitive domestic music/film scene makes sure that anything else just doesn’t survive. Are there movie directors in Bombay or Cannes that could make a movie as good or better than “Titanic,” if given $200 million? Sure. But then, nobody’s exactly coming forward in their native land to cough it up for them. To sum up then, American media _is_ better, mostly because it is _well made_. Americans have no lock on talent, but we can and do spend a lot more to develop the talent we have. Artists have a much better chance of making a living working here than just about ahywhere else. If the music industry of Togo was a sflush with cash as ours, then IT would probably be pumping out worldwide hits too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-beginning-to-find-nickelback-chad-kroeger-whiny-and-tiresome/147582.md?page=2)