# Why the Hate for Nickleback at Half-Time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666 "2011-12-01T03:58:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/21 "2011-12-01T20:31:57Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The hatred for Nickelback sort of confuses me. It’s not that they don’t deserve to be rejected as musicians, it’s just that they share the same faults as all of the other clearchannel corporate music. They don’t seem to be especially bad in this regard. > > So it’s weird to me that people that listen to all the clearchannel top 40 bland safe corporate rock stuff have randomly decided to throw their hatred at Nickelback, and seem to be oblivious that the reasons they hate nickelback applies to all the other music they listen to. > > It’s sort of like if there were people that watched all of those daytime tv judge shows, but they all agreed to hate one in particular for no discernable reason. Don’t underestimate the easy attraction of a dogpile. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/22 "2011-12-01T20:56:05Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The hatred for Nickelback sort of confuses me. It’s not that they don’t deserve to be rejected as musicians, it’s just that they share the same faults as all of the other clearchannel corporate music. They don’t seem to be especially bad in this regard. I have no stomach for commercial radio at all but when I am unable to avoid it I find that both Nickleback and Creed cross over the line from merely vapid and bland into insufferably obnoxious, and this has been so since before I knew who they were. I am hardly surprised that even people who enjoy a steady stream of pap take exception to these bands. They approach parody. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/23 "2011-12-01T21:10:53Z")
I remember watching that and saw on the twitter feed (can’t remember from whom), “too bad there aren’t any good muical acts from Detroit.” Nickelback has quite a reputation for lacking talent. Their stuff is certainly not original. Others have said, they just recycle the same stuff over and over. That’s only ok if you’re recycling good stuff, like ACDC. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/24 "2011-12-01T22:18:43Z")
If you gotta have the Detroit connection, just go for Jack White. I’m not a huge fan, but he’s got more going on musically then a thousand Nicklebacks. Plus, getting a few of the many people he’s worked with to guest could turn it into a supergroup outing. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/25 "2011-12-01T22:26:56Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Fuck the the half-time show. Tell those pussies to get back out there again and start hitting each other for my entertainment, goddamnit. Fucking a’. I didn’t tune in to the game to watch a concert, I wanna see some mayhem. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/26 "2011-12-01T23:18:31Z")
The half time show is when my church does a devotion. Yeah, we watch the Superbowl at church. It appears to be the sole reason they have cable. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/27 "2011-12-01T23:23:56Z")
I don’t doubt you people if you say that most of their music is not good, or that it sounds the same. How You Remind Me is still a great rock song. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/28 "2011-12-01T23:41:25Z")
My guess is that the crowd and the TV audience were expecting a nipple slip, and were disappointed when it didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/29 "2011-12-04T16:17:15Z")
I only know one of their songs (“How You Remind Me”) and it seems a nice-enough bar rocker - not great, not horrible. But for some reason, whenever they are referenced, it is usually with a sneering tone, as if they are the worst faux-rockers in the world. _Cracked_ seems to have a hard-on for them. When they appeared in that NFL game on Thanksgiving, I listened to no fewer than three segments on three separate talk-radio sports shows about how Nickleback sucks, that it was an embarrassment to have them play the NFL game. (Given that it was in Detroit, yeah, some Detroit act might have been more appropriate, but it wasn’t as if the band was incompetent.) So what’s with all the hate? What cultural meme am I missing here so that the word “Nickleback” doesn’t cause me to go all mouth-foamy? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/30 "2011-12-04T16:35:29Z")
Their first major CD “Silver Side Up” was actually a pretty decent little rock album. The problem is that the next four albums they’ve done are all just shitty copies of that one, so people have forgotten what they liked about “Silver Side Up” in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/31 "2011-12-04T16:39:01Z")
it’s because they’re popular. I mean, really, for a band who everyone hates because they suck, they sure sell a lot of music. _You can’t explain that!_ ---
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/32 "2011-12-04T17:38:18Z")
I hate them bc I find that song whiney, and it was played on the radio so much I stopped listening. I believe some stations were paid to play them. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/33 "2011-12-04T17:44:16Z")
[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=633257)is the last thread asking that question. My answer is they aren’t very good. They aren’t terrible. But there are a lot of bands that I like a lot better that get a lot less airplay. They have become a poster child of the corporate / Clear Channel produced and marketed band. Pseudo-edgy, without being offensive. Repetitive. I quite liked and do own Silver Side Up. But every album after that has felt like a retread. I don’t hate them, they just haven’t done anything in a decade I’ve liked. But hey, they have found a market niche and are working it. As **jz78817** says obviously someone likes them. So good for them. But given how small and fragmented the music market is a band can be absolutely despised by 99% of the population and still be a best seller, as long as about 0.1% of the US loves the band. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/34 "2011-12-04T17:58:13Z")
That thread linked to another thread asking this question… I’m too scared to see if this repeats, ad infinitum. 😉 Nicklback hate is popular. People being confused by Nickleback hate is, apparently, also common. I will say this quote from **Meyer6** definitely applies to me: “I can see how you might have thought “this band isn’t so bad” if the first song you ever heard was ‘How You Remind Me’ and you weren’t forced to listen to it all the time.” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/35 "2011-12-04T20:56:12Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I will say this quote from **Meyer6** definitely applies to me: “I can see how you might have thought “this band isn’t so bad” if the first song you ever heard was ‘How You Remind Me’ and you weren’t forced to listen to it all the time.” “Hero” from the Spider-Man soundtrack was also pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/36 "2011-12-04T21:27:39Z")
They just aren’t bringing anything new to the table. Their music is unoriginal not just compared to other music in their genre, but compared other music in their own catalog. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/37 "2011-12-04T22:24:07Z")
Well, as a Canadian, I can say that we take our self-deprication quite seriously. I did NOT watch the Grey Cup Halftime show, thank you very much. I generally don’t listen to much rock music, so my opinion is of little value in here. But back in high school, there was this one obnoxious kid who had a full-size Chad Kroeger poster inside his locker, that just made the entire band an obvious target of our ire. That having been said, “Burn it to the Ground” was on the playlist to NHL 10, and so I had it stuck in my head for quite a while. It’s not a _terrible_ song. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/38 "2011-12-04T22:35:57Z")
It isn’t so much that people hate them _because_ they’re popular, but there is more hate for them if they’re popular because more people are exposed to them. It’s difficult to hate something you’ve never heard. Furthermore, the more exposure a band gets, the more likely they will be heard in passing by people who do not naturally like that sort of music – after all, if you did like that sort of music, you’d be much more likely to have heard them when they were small. (Case in point, the local college radio station plays _Pumped Up Kicks_ by Foster the People fairly often, even though they are usually heavier in songs of the adult progressive/singer-songwriter/alternative blues-rock-country persuasion.) ETA: although I don’t hate or like that song in particular, although I am fond of some covers of it, I could see how people who didn’t like more youth-oriented semi-electronic rock might hate it. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/39 "2011-12-04T22:50:33Z")
I like 'em. They are nice (met em) upbeat guys who sing songs that generally make me feel good. Sure, a lot of them sound the same, but so do a lot of Aerosmith songs (not to compare the two). They ain’t Mozart, but who is… Why all the hate? Backlash and that backlash became popular and now it’s cool to hate them. The backlash comes from the usual place of a massive hit single that is way overplayed. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666/40 "2011-12-04T23:17:23Z")
Is the “why all the nickelback hate” thread now a weekly tradition here at the SDMB?? 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hate-for-nickleback-at-half-time/604666.md?page=3)