The Shilling

[The Wooster]

The Shilling

They Did Try Really Hard

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[Fappy]

Inaccurate. The lead singer of Nickelback is much uglier than that!

Evidence:

 

[LordMonty]

No one else will cry for them.

 

[The Wooster]

As always, I feel the need to post this:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7846322/taking-concert-doubleheader-creed-nickelback-world-most-hated-bands

One of the lines from the article says everything:

"It's hard to get inside the existential paradox of Kroeger's life on tour: Every day, he gives interviews to journalists and radio DJs who directly ask him why no one likes his band. Every night, he plays music to thousands of enraptured superfans, many of whom love him with a ferocity that's probably unhealthy. Every concert ends with a standing ovation; if he feels motivated, he spends the remainder of the night partying with forgettable strangers who will remember him for the rest of their lives. Eventually, Kroeger falls asleep. And then he wakes up in a beautiful hotel room, only to read new articles about how everyone in North America hates his band."

I like their music. But enter any musical conversation, and the same three hates will come up:

Nickelback
Linkin Park
Metallica post Black Album

It gets old.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, you could replace every instance of Chad Kroeger in that piece with [insert terrible pop act here] and get the same result.

Nicelback are fairly terrible, but they probably do get far more flack than they deserve.

 

[The Wooster]

As always, I feel the need to post this:

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7846322/taking-concert-doubleheader-creed-nickelback-world-most-hated-bands

One of the lines from the article says everything:

"It's hard to get inside the existential paradox of Kroeger's life on tour: Every day, he gives interviews to journalists and radio DJs who directly ask him why no one likes his band. Every night, he plays music to thousands of enraptured superfans, many of whom love him with a ferocity that's probably unhealthy. Every concert ends with a standing ovation; if he feels motivated, he spends the remainder of the night partying with forgettable strangers who will remember him for the rest of their lives. Eventually, Kroeger falls asleep. And then he wakes up in a beautiful hotel room, only to read new articles about how everyone in North America hates his band."

I like their music. But enter any musical conversation, and the same three hates will come up:

Nickelback
Linkin Park
Metallica post Black Album

It gets old.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, you could replace every instance of Chad Kroeger in that piece with [insert terrible pop act here] and get the same result.

Nicelback are fairly terrible, but they probably do get far more flack than they deserve.

Like from video game based webcomics, for example?

I've gone 250 strips with no shots at Nickelback, I think I deserve one.

 

[Atmos Duality]

"Corporate Ballwashing"

Congratulations: I now have a new phrase. And just in time at that...

 

[The Wooster]

Every step they take is just another mistake to you isn't Grey?

Can't they see that they're smothering me?
Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control...

...of their advertising revenue.

 

[unacomn]

I haven't picked up any album they made in a while, but I remember liking Nickleback. Some of the songs had about the same melodic line, but they were still nice. Are they really that despised?
Although, it could be because if you were to hear the kind of music being pumped out by bands in my country, you would consider the dieing creams of a burning warthog as better music.

 

[Xanthious]

I'm sure when bands like Nickleback and Linkin Park get sad thinking how hated they are they just try to remember how many millions of dollars they had made before they stopped bothering to keep track and perk right up.

I'll gladly and proudly be labeled a sell out and take all the hate you want to throw at me for the kind of money they make. They have what is affectionately referred to as "Fuck You Money [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fuck+you+money]".

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I'm not really sure where I stand on this. I never really liked Linkin Park and I think Nickleback are hit and miss.

However, I'm really starting to dislike this issue of 'selling out'. How do we quantify when an artist, of whatever denomination, has 'sold out'? Do those words even mean anything anymore? Did they ever mean anything? To be honest, I think the only person who gets to decide what material is made, for who, and why, is the artist(s) themselves, and while fans are perfectly entitled to dislike what is created, I don't see how any of them have the kind of insight to claim that their dislike is a result of the artist(s) 'selling out'. It just strikes me as another one of those 'I don't like this, but I don't feel secure in just saying I don't like it, so instead I'm going to accuse the people that made it of being soulless corporate shills without any insight into their creative process because it will make me sound more indie.' kind of arguments.

 

[toritaka]

So, blantant reference to Linkin Park's song "One Step Closer" in Chad's lament is intentional, right?

 

[Hazy992]

What happened to you Linkin Park? You used to be cool (or maybe it's because I'm not 15 anymore?)

And speaking of Nickleback:


How was this ever allowed in the first place?!

 

[The Wooster]

I'm not really sure where I stand on this. I never really liked Linkin Park and I think Nickleback are hit and miss.

However, I'm really starting to dislike this issue of 'selling out'. How do we quantify when an artist, of whatever denomination, has 'sold out'? Do those words even mean anything anymore? Did they ever mean anything? To be honest, I think the only person who gets to decide what material is made, for who, and why, is the artist(s) themselves, and while fans are perfectly entitled to dislike what is created, I don't see how any of them have the kind of insight to claim that their dislike is a result of the artist(s) 'selling out'. It just strikes me as another one of those 'I don't like this, but I don't feel secure in just saying I don't like it, so instead I'm going to accuse the people that made it of being soulless corporate shills without any insight into their creative process because it will make me sound more indie.' kind of arguments.

I disagree. In fact, I'd say that convincing people that expectations of integrity belong only in the realms of hipsterdom is one of the many reasons mainstream music is in such a sorry state.

People need and want money, I dig that and I think everyone should get one freebie (I'm looking at you, Muse). But Linkin Park have put their name behind not one, not two, but three of Bay's Transformer movies and two of EA's terrible COD knock-offs.

 

[Fightgarr]

Poor Nickelback. They tried so hard... and got so far... but in the end, it didn't even matter.

 

[Fappy]

I'm not really sure where I stand on this. I never really liked Linkin Park and I think Nickleback are hit and miss.

However, I'm really starting to dislike this issue of 'selling out'. How do we quantify when an artist, of whatever denomination, has 'sold out'? Do those words even mean anything anymore? Did they ever mean anything? To be honest, I think the only person who gets to decide what material is made, for who, and why, is the artist(s) themselves, and while fans are perfectly entitled to dislike what is created, I don't see how any of them have the kind of insight to claim that their dislike is a result of the artist(s) 'selling out'. It just strikes me as another one of those 'I don't like this, but I don't feel secure in just saying I don't like it, so instead I'm going to accuse the people that made it of being soulless corporate shills without any insight into their creative process because it will make me sound more indie.' kind of arguments.

I disagree. In fact, I'd say that convincing people that expectations of integrity belong only in the realms of hipsterdom is one of the many reasons mainstream music is in such a sorry state.

People need and want money, I dig that and I think everyone should get one freebie (I'm looking at you, Muse). But Linkin Park have put their name behind not one, not two, but three of Bay's Transformer movies and two of EA's terrible COD knock-offs.

Is it selling out if they actually like the entertainment they backed? I mean, I really wouldn't be surprised if they actually did like Bay's abominations adaptations

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I'm not really sure where I stand on this. I never really liked Linkin Park and I think Nickleback are hit and miss.

However, I'm really starting to dislike this issue of 'selling out'. How do we quantify when an artist, of whatever denomination, has 'sold out'? Do those words even mean anything anymore? Did they ever mean anything? To be honest, I think the only person who gets to decide what material is made, for who, and why, is the artist(s) themselves, and while fans are perfectly entitled to dislike what is created, I don't see how any of them have the kind of insight to claim that their dislike is a result of the artist(s) 'selling out'. It just strikes me as another one of those 'I don't like this, but I don't feel secure in just saying I don't like it, so instead I'm going to accuse the people that made it of being soulless corporate shills without any insight into their creative process because it will make me sound more indie.' kind of arguments.

I disagree. In fact, I'd say that convincing people that expectations of integrity belong only in the realms of hipsterdom is one of the many reasons mainstream music is in such a sorry state.

People need and want money, I dig that and I think everyone should get one freebie (I'm looking at you, Muse). But Linkin Park have put their name behind not one, not two, but three of Bay's Transformer movies and two of EA's terrible COD knock-offs.

What if they didn't think they were terrible though? I mean, I thought they were terrible, you obviously think they were terrible, and I know a lot of other people who thought they were terrible. But is it not possible that Linkin Park weren't motivated by money, and had they same creative passion for writing those tie-ins as they did for all their other songs? I just think the only people who can really say for sure whether they did or not is them.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

However, I'm really starting to dislike this issue of 'selling out'. How do we quantify when an artist, of whatever denomination, has 'sold out'?

These days, it's "if you make a single penny off what you do", or "if you cater to anyone's tastes besides mine". Case in point: There's a young woman who makes meditation/relaxation/ASMR videos on YouTube. She has a lovely voice and does a great job. However, on one of her videos, somebody called her a "sellout" because she makes money (as a YouTube partner) from her videos.

Making money off of something she loves to do and is good at? How DARE she!

 

[Andy Shandy]

Meh, I quite enjoy both Linkin Park and Nickelback. In fact, Linkin Park are one of my favourite bands (up there with NIN), and yes this includes all their stuff, old and new. Or at least their music, not a fan of the Medal Of Honor ads though. Although that's more due to it being Medal Of Honor.

[sub] Please don't kill me! [/sub]

What if they didn't think they were terrible though. I mean, I thought they were terrible, you obviously think they were terrible, and I know a lot of other people who thought they were terrible. But is it not possible that Linkin Park weren't motivated by money, and had they same creative passion for writing those tie-ins as they did for all their other songs? I just think the only people who can really say for sure whether they did or not is them.

Just to inform you, as far as I'm aware, the only song they specifically wrote for either Bayformers or MoH was New Divide. All the others (What I've Done & Iridescent for Bayformers and Castle Of Glass and The Catalyst) were songs that were on their albums anyway.

 

[Fappy]

Meh, I quite enjoy both Linkin Park and Nickelback. In fact, Linkin Park are one of my favourite bands (up there with NIN), and yes this includes all their stuff, old and new. Or at least their music, not a fan of the Medal Of Honor ads though. Although that's more due to it being Medal Of Honor.

[sub] Please don't kill me! [/sub]

I personally can't stand anything post Hybrid Theory except for maybe one or two songs from Meteora.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Meh, I quite enjoy both Linkin Park and Nickelback. In fact, Linkin Park are one of my favourite bands (up there with NIN), and yes this includes all their stuff, old and new. Or at least their music, not a fan of the Medal Of Honor ads though. Although that's more due to it being Medal Of Honor.

[sub] Please don't kill me! [/sub]

I personally can't stand anything post Hybrid Theory except for maybe one or two songs from Meteora.

That's fair enough. You definitely aren't the only one with that opinion, by any means =P