The state of popular rock today is disasterous at best. The only reason i turn on the radio at all is to try and enter the odd contest or two. I was reading an article last week on Default, one of the several recent Nickelback assembly-line bands. It was talking about how Chad Kroeger from Nickelback had a hand in discovering and producing Default, Theory of a Dead Man, and one or two others. I had the radio on in the background waiting for a contest announcement, and the top 6 songs of the day were playing, and like 3 of the 6 songs were by these bands i was reading about, and i swear you couldn't have paid me to tell you who was who. As my boy Matty likes to say, these bands, and specifically Kroeger, are milking the corporate cash cow.
This is also a testament to the sad state of affairs that is Canadian rock radio, as i'm sure the States serves up some hard rockin' radio action that puts us to shame, but unfortunately i'm just a tad too far across the border to grab the US stations clearly. There are a couple of exceptions, such as the Chili Peppers and John Mayer that have been on the charts lately, but unfortunately these are overshadowed by the cookie-cutter corporate rock slop. The Vines, Hives, White Stripes, Strokes, etc. are a welcome diversion but i think this is just another passing fad of throwing back to another era and won't catch on with any sort of longevity. I hope i'm wrong there.
So give me a live Dead or Phish show, a Zeppelin or Hendrix cd, or hell even love-em or hate-em some older Oasis stuff! And turn off your radio.
UPDATE...
Now that Sweet Al has opened up the can of worms that is "Chad Kroeger stories", i gotta add in my 2 cents. Was recently chatting with my buddy Yas, who had the "opportunity" to play on a Nickelback festival bill outside of Edmonton this past summer with his band Project Wyze. Seems Yas and the boys were running late for the show, and also a bit lost. They pull into a gas station for directions and saw a huge 4x4 pickup truck with 2 "classic Nickelback fans" sitting in the back - huge pumped-up jock-type-dudes rocking their neatly manicured hair and mandals. So Elie, their bass player hangs out the window of the van and yells "Nickelback, yaaaaaaaa!" in a mocking fashion, and the jocks look over and give the classic smirking nod to the boys. They are laughing pretty hard at this point, and then they hear strains of Nickelback coming from inside the truck - they are pulling the classic concert sin of listening to the band on the way to the show! (Live show recordings are an exception to this rule.) So the boys are losing it now, and they pull the van up a bit to look inside the truck. Across in the passenger seat of the truck is actually Chad Kroeger, and he's not listening to Nickelback, he's listening to his solo song Hero from the Spider Man movie! The boys are literally pissing themselves with laughter now, and Chad looks over and sees this and must be thinking that they are hysterical fans noticing that he's the one in the truck, so he flashes them the smirking nod, in combination with the metal sign!!! I think only 2 of the guys actually pissed themselves, while the others needed medical attention upon arrival to the show. The moral of the story - Chad Kroeger - what a tool!!!!!
Posted by scotty at September 23, 2002 11:06 AMthese days its looking as though artists need to compromise their art or let music remain a hobby and be happy with a rare gig at a bar....theres plenty of good music out there that can't get through the net. Mainstream music seems to be another marketing tool rather than an art. What I cant understand is how music is labelled, I mean, Zeppelin was labeled R&B as is Justin Timberlake, and Cobain referred to Nirvana as "Punk", the same label used for Blink 182...and God help me, Good Charlotte....I just dont get it....isnt evolution supposed to make things better??
Posted by: tobi on December 16, 2003 02:00 AMyep, radio has sunk almost as low as mtv. thank internet geeks for kazaa, or else I would've never found the greats, like Dead Kennedys, Cockney Rejects, maybe even Rush (Zeppelin goes without saying). I love walking into school and having all the kids in their "punk attire" ask me who the hell were the sex pistols??? kinna gross. Music, well rock at least, needs a rebirth. Nirvana opened that path more than 10 years ago, but a good majority of the bands to see this oppurtunity decided money is more valuable than music, once again, gross. Theres a few good bands left today, but im afraid they're all gonna (incidently) go mainstream. IE: Audioslave (being played on the air), thrice, dropick murphys, silver chair... I hate to admit it but the middle two bands have already made it on the warped tour, *shudders*. im such a music geek, guess im just rambling, peace everyone
Posted by: dead- rocker matt on September 22, 2003 07:26 PMMusic is a business. Music is art. Business is art. Creative earning. I'm sure you have all heard of door to door salesman. Chad Kroeger wouldn't be a multi millionaire if the general public didn't like the songs he writes(sells) for the(to them). It's a job. I know - I do it to.
Posted by: Ewok Dance Party on August 5, 2003 12:21 AMi love chad kroeger, he is my idol. I love the music of nickelbacka nd default and theory and sonic bloom and all the others, They are not there just to make money, a lot of the money nickelback makes is given to charity... They are just there to try and make music, that is there talent and they are there to shine and earn a living. Chad is a great guy who, as far as i know, just wants to get canadian bands noticed, just like nickelback used to have trouble with. Nickelback, Default and Theory of a Deadman now dominate my shelves, with over 15 chad-related cds/tapes/vinyls/dvds i am proud to support such a great, talented, popular band...
Posted by: Jodie on April 4, 2003 11:19 AM*sigh* no use arguing with everyone here. I'm just going to say, Chad Kroeger is my hero. I respect and admire him. He's a very funny guy, and cares about his fans. Fuck, all I used to listen to was Zepplin and the Stones era type, but, now I've added my Nickelback into the shelf. You don't like them? Good for you. Go listen to you suicide music.
Posted by: Raven on November 10, 2002 08:11 PMI agree with you Matty. And here is where I lament the fact that only the popular crap, for the most part, makes it to my nation's shores. I really only buy kiwi albums in the stores, the rest I order online at a ridiculous premium they dare call the exchange rate! But still, paying twice as much for a quality album is worth it!
Posted by: maddy on September 27, 2002 10:31 PMThe music is on your record store shelves...
Please go out and buy it...
Download all of the disposable crap and distribute it to every teenie-bopper you know...
This may stop some of them from buying it.
Business is all about supply and demand.
People buy Brittany.
People download Phish.
I Do know it's not black and white but as Michael Jackson sings, "I'm starting with the Man in the Mirror".
Please don't make me suffer through yet another "Who" reunion tour.
John and Kieth - R.I.P.
Matty
amen sisters!!!
Posted by: scotty on September 27, 2002 01:31 AMmusic on the radio sucks today. It's truly horrifying how many young minds are probably being warped by this. Please listen to independent radio!
I try to listen to the local college stations because the music the corporations has picked out for me is all the same and is useless.
My only hope is that somewhere there is someone so disgusted with what he/she hears that they are developing some new musical style that will blow all of this crap away and we can all laugh about it someday.
>>they are pulling the classic concert sin of listening to the band on the way to the show! (Live show recordings are an exception to this rule.)<<
wow, i thought i was the only one who believed in that!! huzzah for you showing me i'm not the only one who refuses to listen to studio stuff from a band i'm about to see.
i don't trust any rockstar who looks like jesus and doesn't feel the need to change.
i'm fully convinced that people in semi popular bands should NEVER try and 'discover' a new band. because it always seems that these are the exact people with The Most Horrible Taste In Music On Earth. korn, limp bizkit? incubus, hoobastank? the former and latter suck. GO AWAY. :)
Posted by: catherine on September 25, 2002 11:48 PMa ha - you ARE a classic rock junkie too!
if you like internet radio, check out UC Berkeley's station - it's the only radio station that i've ever fallen in love with and actually proclaimed myself a "fan" of... everything indie and classic, from hip hop to bluegrass, with little or no CRAP or commericals. you can listen online at http://kalx.berkeley.edu/. give it a whirl.
Posted by: leblanc on September 24, 2002 09:57 PMFuck radio, especially London radio - I mean how sad is it that you can tune into several stations within 5 minutes of each other and they are all playing the EXACT SAME TRACK!!! I happen to think a lot of the radio bands out there would sell way more records if their jams weren't overplayed so much.
As for selling out... Brittany, Popstars, boybands, hell even Limp Bizkit... it's all about the "bling bling" (bunch of fucking losers). What's even worse is that the public - by that I mean the adolescent public - is fueling the fire by buying into all the hype and purchasing all the shit that makes these people sellouts. Vicious circle isn't it?
Nickelback definitely sucks, I have to agree. Went to Edgefest this summer @ Molson Park and they were the headliners... we chose to beat the traffic out of the park instead of sticking around to listen to them.
I hate radio. I hate that it's corporations that control what so much of the public listen to, and I hate that artists are manipulated into giving corporations what they think we want to hear. I don't blame them (terribly) for milking what they can, but art shouldn't be about business, it should be about passion and integrity, the right of self-expression. That's really all I want to say about that. Well, that's not true, I really could say much much more, but the sweet polite girl buried deep inside is telling me I really ought not. I do listen to her sometimes.
Posted by: maddy on September 23, 2002 06:49 PMcheck out the "more..." on this post for another fine Chad Kroeger story. :)
Posted by: scotty on September 23, 2002 03:07 PM2 funny stories:
About a year and a half ago right before Nickelback got huge me and a buddy bumped into Chad Kroeger at the Horseshoe in Toronto. We exchanged pleasantries and I got to talking to the guy. I hate his music and just wanted to know how a podunk prairie band got on tour with that band that sang that Superman Song... not the Crash Test Dummies that other one who subsequently went away. Anyway we were talking and my friend affectionately known as "Idiot-Boy" made reference to how Nickelback reminded him of Matchbox 20. It was funny. Mr Kroeger was not amused and promptly left to chat up some hair-metal groupie.
#2 is reading that the afformentioned "Chad" in Rolling Stone (or one of those once proud but now shit magazines) saying and I quote, "Sure you could give people Steak but they seem to be really happy eating Hamburger and Hamburger is easy for me to do..."
Asshole. Shitty Songwriter too.
Al
(Currently downloading old Phish, New Coldplay, Joni Mitchell, The Coral and My Morning Jacket.)