Nickelback. Just a simple utterance of the name of everybody’s least favorite Canadian rock band is enough to send shivers down the spine of many a music fan. They are so maligned that there have been (mostly tongue-in-cheek) petitions to get them banned from playing concerts, including a petition to get them banned from London. One man even tried to sully Ted Cruz’s far from sterling reputation by presupposing he is a Nickelback fan. However, why is Nickelback so universally despised? This UPROXX video helps explain the phenomenon further.
Recently, a Finnish student, and former Nickelback fan, decided to take a scientific approach to figuring out why everybody hates Nickelback. After her research, she came up with an answer. Nickelback, in short, lacks a “sincere identity.” They are viewed as a disingenuous band that doesn’t really stand for anything. They are an “empty imitation.” Additionally, reviews of the band have gotten progressively worse after the consensus came to be that Nickelback’s music has been commercialized to an excessive degree.
As the video points out, though, the band is aware of their less than stellar reputation, and they seem to be able to see the humor in it. Hopefully this research will help Nickelback better understand why they are so reviled.
