NICKELBACK ****

Nickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta, formed in 1995 by Chad Kroeger, Mike Kroeger, Ryan Peake and then-drummer Brandon Kroeger. While largely a rock band, the group has also experimented with various other musical styles such as pop and country, aside from their hard rock and post-grunge base. Nickelback is one of the most commercially successful Canadian groups, having sold 30 million records worldwide. Nickelback ranks as the 11th best selling music act of the 2000s, and is the 2nd best selling foreign act in the U.S. behind The Beatles for the 2000s. In December 2009, Nickelback were ranked 7th on Billboard Magazine's list of "Artists of the Decade" - both the highest-ranked band and the highest-ranked rock artist in the list. Billboard Magazine also named Nickelback as the Adult Pop Artist of the decade. The band has sold 21,000,000 album copies in the U.S.

History

The band is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Its name originates from the nickel in change that band member Mike Kroeger gave customers at his job at Starbucks; he would frequently say, "Here's your nickel back."

The band is signed to EMI in Canada and Roadrunner Records for the rest of the world. In July 2008, the band signed with Live Nation for three touring and album cycles, with an option for a fourth. The contract includes recordings, touring, merchandise and other rights.

Early years: 1995–2000

Nickelback's first release was a seven-track EP called Hesher in 1996. In the same year, Nickelback also recorded their first full-length album Curb. "Fly" was included on both Hesher and Curb and was the first single produced by Nickelback. The following album, The State, was recorded and released independently in 1998.

Roadrunner A&R Ron Burman told HitQuarters that one of his West Coast scouts sent him the self-released album and, suitably impressed, he travelled to Vancouver to see them perform live. Although an unknown property in the industry at the time, the venue was packed out. In Burman's words: "I immediately got the chills! I thought their song "Leader of Men" was a smash hit." Off the stage he was impressed by their industry and initiative in managing their career:

"I always respect a band who have made it happen on their own, without the help of a record label. They’re very industrious, and already had a Top 20 single in Canada on their own, and were touring the whole country. They’re professional and serious about their careers, and that makes my job easier."

Despite this it still took Burman three months for him to convince his label bosses' to approve the signing, a decision that would mark Roadrunner's first move into mainstream rock. Nickelback signed a record deal with EMI and Roadrunner Records, who re-released The State in 2000. Even though no song from the album proved to be a crossover hit, two singles from the album, "Leader of Men" and "Breathe" were Top 10 rock hits and resulted in the album being certificated gold in the United States in late 2001. It reached Platinum status in 2008, after the succes of three consecutive multi-platinum efforts.

Mainstream success: 2001–2007

In 2001, Nickelback released the Silver Side Up album, which propelled them into the mainstream. The single "How You Remind Me" was a huge success, peaking at #1 on both the American and Canadian charts at the same time. In the U.S., it was a #1 single on the Mainstream and Modern rock charts, as well as the pop chart. It also peaked at #2 on Adult Top 40. "How You Remind Me" became the Billboard Hot 100 #1 single of the year for 2002. The next single was "Too Bad", which also reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart and had a small amount of success on the pop chart. The final single from the album was "Never Again", another #1 hit on Mainstream Rock.

In 2002, Chad Kroeger collaborated with Josey Scott and Gaige Corvo who played the lead guitar on the Spider-Man theme song, "Hero". This also featured Tyler Connolly, Mike Kroeger, Matt Cameron, and Jeremy Taggart.

In 2003, Nickelback released The Long Road. The lead single was "Someday" and the album went on to sell five million copies worldwide. The band also released "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good" as a single, which peaked at #3 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. "Figured You Out" was also released as a single and topped the Mainstream Rock Charts for 13 consecutive weeks.

Nickelback's fifth studio album, All the Right Reasons, produced five U.S. Hot 100 top 20 singles: "Photograph", "Savin' Me", "Far Away", "If Everyone Cared" and "Rockstar". Three of these became U.S. Hot 100 top 10 singles. All the Right Reasons had sold 7,357,944 copies in the US to June 19, 2010. In total, All the Right Reasons has sold about 11 million copies worldwide since its 2005 release. Aside from all the success of All the Right Reasons, lead singer Kroeger began his own label named 604 Records in 2005 and holds the position of executive producer.

Latest releases: 2008–present

On September 4, 2008, Roadrunner Records announced that the first single from the upcoming album was going to be "If Today Was Your Last Day", to be released on September 30, 2008. However, the song was replaced by "Gotta Be Somebody". The new album, titled Dark Horse, was released on November 18, 2008. The album was produced by Mutt Lange. "Something in Your Mouth" was released as the second single to rock radio only on December 15, where it reached #1. "If Today Was Your Last Day" was released as the third single. Four more singles have been released, "I'd Come for You", "Burn It to the Ground" (which would become the theme for WWE RAW) and "Never Gonna Be Alone" released in September and "Shakin' Hands" as the seventh single on November 16. Its eighth single, "This Afternoon", was released on March 23, 2010.

On February 28, 2010, Nickelback gave a performance at the beginning of the concert portion of the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony, performing "Burn It to the Ground".

According to an interview with Daniel Adair on January 23, 2010, Nickelback plans on recording a seventh album after the Dark Horse Tour is over, and the expected release is sometime in 2011. Also, Adair mentioned that the band wanted to go back to the musical style that All The Right Reasons had, which he described as "more organic."

Chad Kroeger has officially announced in an interview with Billboard.com that songwriting for the next Nickelback album will commence as early as February 2011 with 'about four tunes' already in mind.

Awards

Nickelback has been recognized by several Canadian awards ceremonies; the band has received twelve awards from twenty-eight nominations at the Juno Awards and seven awards from fifteen nominations at the MuchMusic Video Awards. Nickelback has also received two awards from six nominations at the American Music Awards and three awards from five nominations at the Billboard Music Awards. The band has received six nominations from the Grammy Awards but has not won any of them. In 2006, Nickelback receive an award at the World Music Awards for World's Best Selling Rock Artist. The group was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2007. In the same year received an award for People's Choice Awards for the category Favorite Group. Overall, Nickelback has received 26 awards from 62 nominations.

Critical reception

At various points in their career, Nickelback has received widespread negative reviews from various sources. Review aggregator Metacritic reports that three of their six most recent studio albums since becoming a mainstream act, The Long Road, All the Right Reasons and Dark Horse, have scores of 62%, 41% and 49% respectively. Criticism tends to focus on the band's themes of "strippers, sex, prostitutes, drugs, sex, drinking and sex", for being derivative in the music they create, as well as too often sticking to formula instead of innovating.

In 2007, USA Today reported that "few bands inspire such intense hatred as Nickelback." The article questioned whether Nickelback's commercial success made "critics wrong", and published several statements from various sources within the music industry. Nathan Brackett, a senior editor at Rolling Stone said, "There are some bands that, let's face it, are critic-proof." Both Brackett and Craig Marks, editor in chief of Blender, credit a lot of the band's success to young people who are introduced to them on the radio and "very casual music fans who don't buy a lot of CDs". Marks complimented Nickelback's popularity despite the critical response, saying "it is a tribute to their success."

Despite a barrage of criticism, Nickelback has still managed to please some reviewers with each of their mainstream albums. Allmusic reviewer Liana Jones complimented Nickelback after their commercial breakthrough, Silver Side Up; "what gives the group an upper hand over its peers is intensity and raw passion... Nickelback ups the ante by offering realistic storytelling that listeners can relate to." Following their 2008 album, Dark Horse, ChartAttack credited the band's success to knowing their target audience: "Chad Kroeger is a genius because he knows exactly what people want and precisely how far he can go. He turned out an extremely racy album that's loaded with songs about gettin' drunk and doin' it all without breaking any taboos, and with enough love and moral authority to grease its passage into the mainstream. Rejoice, North America. This is your world." Billboard gave praise to the band: "The bulletproof Nickelback provides affordable fun that promises good returns in hard times." Also various fellow musicians like Chris Martin of Coldplay as well as R&B singer Timbaland support the band.