Becoming the most hated band ever doesn't
happen overnight. But what is it about this band — which sells
out Madison Square Garden and has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide — that
makes them so despised? And how can such widespread appeal and infamy
coexist side by side? Here's how Nickelback became the most hated
band in music history. "If you think the internet's rough you should
sit in a van with us!" [Laughter] Same song different day As noted by the New Yorker, Nickelback started
out as a '90s cover band in Alberta, Canada. Lead singer Chad Kroeger's gravely voice and
metal-influenced sound stood out at the time, but instead of evolving through the years,
Nickelback constructed tune after tune that followed the same formula. And no one could escape it. "The only thing I wanna hear right now is
the sweet sound of this Nickelback CD cracking as I drive over it repeatedly." Because the band's generic music is well-suited
for the radio, it's not surprising that their songs are tremendously successful, commercially. "How You Remind Me" became the most played
radio hit of the 2000s, with over 1.2 million plays between 2001 and 2009. A famous diss Downfalls of Nickelbackian proportions rely
on elements beyond the band's control. One such incident came with Comedy Central's
panel show, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. On one episode, comedian Brian Posehn brought
up a study that tied violent lyrics to violent behavior. He quipped, "No one talks about the studies that show
that bad music makes people violent, like Nickelback makes me want to kill Nickelback." The promo clip ran during commercial breaks
for months, and Nickelback's awfulness was cemented early on for many viewers. Chad Kroeger, frat boy One of the most offensive aspects of Nickelback
is frontman Chad Kroeger. Rather than inhabiting the spotlight with
grace, or even a rockstar's cavalier recklessness, he repeatedly engages in juvenile behavior
more befitting of a frat boy than a professional musician. During a Playboy interview, Kroeger talked
about the time he… uh, blew his own love whistle, so to speak, for a free case of beer,
and bragged about his binge-drinking abilities, saying, "I drank 13 Coronas in a row once… The little flap that seals off your stomach
and keeps the food from coming back up in your throat, I f---ed that up. I can get a Corona down in five or six seconds." Kroeger's oblivious behavior even veers into
the harmful. He told Men's Health of a time he was on tour
in Germany and paid a drum tech approximately 600 deutschmarks to stick his privates into
a fan with metal blades. He recalled, "I can still hear . . . the blade slowly sputtering
to a stop and this blood-curdling scream. It was fantastic." Couple that incident with his 2008 DUI, and
it's easy to see how Kroeger's antics show an alarming lack of concern for others. Lyrical misogynist Nickelback's lyrical content, written by Kroeger,
contributes to their bad name. His descriptions of women reduce them to a
series of actions and body parts aimed at fulfilling his own fantasies. Occasionally, these descriptions veer into
darker territory, with imagery that hints at violence and abuse. In their song, "Figured You Out," after mentioning
that he likes a woman's pants around her feet, Kroeger croons that he... "Likes the way you still say please / While
you're looking up at me." The transparently titled "Something in Your
Mouth" brushes his misogyny in even broader strokes with the lyrics, "You're so much cooler when you never pull
it out / 'Cause you look so much cuter with something in your mouth." But he lands himself solidly in left field
on "Figured You Out," with... "While you're passed out on the deck / I love
my hands around your neck" With that, many fans took their actual self-respect
and walked out on Nickelback. Patient zero Continuing to march onward, Nickelback took
it upon themselves to create carbon copies of their band. Theory of a Deadman is a Vancouver-based Canadian
band that Kroeger pulled strings for, after he heard a demo tape. Besides bringing them onto the soundtrack
of 2002's Spider-Man and co-writing six of the 10 songs on their self-titled 2002 debut,
he signed them to his record label, 604 Records. Kroeger continued to add insult to injury
when he signed My Darkest Days to his label — a band which sounds like an unfortunate
combination of Nickelback and Kid Rock. Furniture 'Rockstar' A Finnish researcher conducted a study on
why Nickelback is so hated, which revealed that the band's demise may have been thanks
to the song "Rockstar." Nickelback wrote "Rockstar" in 2005 and then
licensed it for a furniture commercial in the U.K. in 2008, proving the band had zero
standards. Their reputation then slumped and aggressive
behavior toward the group went up. Attendants at a hard rock festival in Portugal
threw rocks and bottles at them during a performance, causing Kroeger to stop the show: "Have we got any Nickelback fans in Portugal?" "Up to you, you guys wanna hear some rock
n' roll or you wanna go home?" And a petition asking Nickelback not to perform
during an NFL halftime show in Detroit received nearly 56,000 signatures. But they played anyway. "Every single human being that we came in
contact with in Detroit was like, 'we love you, we have no idea what this is all about.'" Too cool to give back Another nail in Nickelback's coffin came during
the Alberta Flood Aid fundraiser concert they headlined in 2013. Over 32,000 people attended the live-streamed
festival, which raised $1.5 million for flood relief. According to the Calgary Herald, the goodwill
and good times lasted until Nickelback took the stage and effectively cut the livestream. "Ladies and gentlemen please put your hands
together for Nickelback!" Sponsor Telus tweeted: "Hi everyone. The Nickelback exclusive performance was a
request from the band. Sorry we couldn't live stream this portion
of the concert." The social media backlash was swift and brutal. But the damage was already done. The internet made us do it The internet changed everything. And for Nickelback, that change meant an even
larger platform for haters to band together and churn out Nickelback-hating content. [Singing like Chad Kroeger] "Look at this
Instagram/eggs benedict side of ham" Anti-Nickelback captions began appearing on
popular trending memes such as Grumpy Cat and Bad Luck Brian. And other people just poked fun at Nickelback
for being Nickelback. Their bad reputation preceded them, making
room on the bandwagon for knowledgeable haters and newbies, alike. "You know I did read on one website one time
that you guys are goat f---ers. You guys f--- goats?" "We make love to goats." Thanks for watching! Click the Grunge icon to subscribe to our
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