w9496 said:
I like Nickelback a little bit. Figured You Out is probably my favorite song by them.
They're not the most unique band in the world, but their songs are catchy as hell.
See, but that's a song from a decade ago when they didn't suck yet, and were actually kinda good.
Leader Of Men, Someday, How You Remind Me, Breath, and Too Bad are all good....but they're all from 2003 or earlier too.
They've never been ALL good. They used to be a mixed bag of songs that sucked and good songs. But, actually, I'd say that when their songs were good, they really were pretty damn good.
Right about 2004 they were suddenly mediocre across the board, and then after that....
well...
I very often say "The good music died circa 2005", and that's pretty generally true in regards to mainstream music, and it holds up as especially true for Nickleback.
I have no idea why, but right around 2004 they got real bland, and then after 2004 they just went DERP and then started to suck at life.
By and large it was like 2005 was the point where mainstream music suddenly began to go into a tailspin of ever-worse shit.
It's not necessarily a matter of all the good bands suddenly sucking (though occasionally that seemed to be the case *coughGreenDay/cough*), but rather a lot to do with wave after wave of bands that completely sucked ass being given the spotlight and simply drowning out the good stuff, thereby "becoming the mainstream".
I also think that DID hurt the existing good bands. By taking the spotlight and giving it to these shitty bands, the good ones had to try and adapt to reclaim the spotlight...and a lot of them sort of seem to have attempted to adapt to be a bit more like the new bands.
I'd say that the last two years or so has actually seen a HUGE improvement over the majority of the stuff put out from '05-'10.
Bands like Cage The Elephant, The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, and Kings Of Leon finally being given the spotlight starting around '09 really REALLY REALLY has helped.
(not to go all hipster, but I was listening to the Kings Of Leon back in '04, and I find it sad that they're not famous for the stuff on their first two albums - "Youth & Young Manhood" and "Aha Shake Heartbreak". Aha Shake Heartbreak, especially, is really damn unique and worth listening to.)