Nickelback is a post-grunge rock band founded in western Canada in 1995. The name derived from the nickel in change Mike Kroeger frequently had to give customers back in his job at a Starbucks coffee shop.

History

The core of the band hails from Hanna, Alberta. They are now based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Nickelback's was helped early on by Cancon, the Canadian law requiring a certain percentage of music played on Canadian radio to be from Canadian musical artists. Their second album, The State, propelled them to the mainstream with two Top 10 hits and the follow up album Silver Side Up, with 2002's most-played single How You Remind Me, gave them superstar status, scoring multi-format smashes on every album since.

Silver Side Up was released on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. On that morning, they were on their tour bus traveling across Pennsylvania less than 10 miles from where Flight 93 crashed. The first single, "How You Remind Me", became an anthem of sorts in memory of the fallen Americans on 9/11.

Criticism

Nickelback are also heavily criticized as commercial sellouts by grunge fans because of their simple radio-friendly sound, which makes frequent use of digital post-processing. Many fans of Nickelback argue that it is tough to judge the band by their singles, as is the case with many mainstream bands.

Critics have often pointed out that "How You Remind Me", a Nickelback song that received extensive airplay in 2001 and 2002, and "Someday", a popular song in 2003, are almost identical except for lyrical content. A clever mash-up combined the two songs into a single track, "How You Remind Me of Someday", which has circulated the Internet for years on humor sites and music messageboards.

The band was booed offstage at a Portuguese heavy metal Music festival. Feeling they didn't fit with the genre of the other bands at the festival Nickelback was reluctant to do the show; however, despite the predictable result, the money they were offered was so substantial that they couldn't turn it down. Chad Kroeger's inquired to the hecklers, "Are there any Nickelback fans in Portugal?" The lackluster response led to him and Vikedal displaing a vulgar hand gesture and leaving the stage after only a few songs.(source)

Members

Current

• Chad Kroeger - Lead Vocals and Guitars
• Ryan Peake - Guitar and Backing Vocals
• Mike Kroeger - Bass
• Daniel Adair - Drums

Previous

• Brandon Kroeger - Drums 1995-?
• Mitch Guindon - Drums ?-1998
• Ryan Vikedal - Drums 1998-2004

Discography

Albums

• Hesher (Demo EP) (1996)
• Curb (1996) re-released (June 25, 2002)
• The State (March 7, 2000) #130 US (Gold), CAN (Platinum)
• Silver Side Up (September 11, 2001) #2 US (6x Platinum), #1 UK, #1 CAN (8x Platinum), #4 DE
• The Long Road (September 23, 2003) #6 US (3x Platinum), #5 UK, #1 CAN (4x Platinum)
• All the Right Reasons (October 4, 2005) #1 US (1x Platinum), #1 CAN, #13 UK, AUS #2

DVDs

• Nickelback - Live At Home (October 29, 2002)
• Nickelback - The Videos (September 23, 2003)
• Nickelback - Photo Album (October 4, 2005)

Original Songs Appear On

• The Scorpion King (March 26, 2002) Yanking Out My Heart
• Live At Home (DVD above) (October 29, 2002) It Ain't Like That (Alice in Chains cover, feat. Jerry Cantrell)
• Live At Home (DVD above) (October 29, 2002) Mistake
• Daredevil (February 4, 2003) Learn the Hard Way
• Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (June 24, 2003) Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) (Elton John cover, feat. Kid Rock)
• The Punisher (March 23, 2004) Slow Motion

Singles

External links

• Official Nickelback Website
• a demonstration of the similarity between "How You Remind Me" and "Someday".
• Rare Lyrics: Nickelback