There canвЂ™t be another explanation for it: The songs are basically the same. Look, вЂњSomedayвЂќ isnвЂ™t good but itвЂ™s notable for one thing: it sounds like Kroeger went back to the same well that gave him вЂњHow You Remind Me.вЂќ He mustвЂ™ve deconstructed the song and put it back together. The Long Road is sincerely forgettable, save for a brash cover of Elton JohnвЂ™s вЂњSaturday NightвЂ™s Alright For Fighting,вЂќ and, well, вЂњSomeday.вЂќ Their first single from the album was - and you probably know this even if you think you donвЂ™t - вЂњSomeday.вЂќ Two years after Silver Side Up, Nickelback released its fourth album, The Long Road. If the opening line вЂњNever made it as a wise manвЂ¦вЂќ is enough to make a crowd of people see red, things were about to get worse. But when it finally did, it was undeniable: The band would soon become a parody of itself. Its real impact on NickelbackвЂ™s career didnвЂ™t become clear for a few more years. In doing so, it became a signpost - a specific moment in time when you met the thing you hate. Its legacy is that it introduced people to Nickelback. On the strength of that single, Silver Side Up sold 800,000 copies in Canada, 6 million copies in the U.S., and another million in the U.K. ItвЂ™s a straightforward, well-written pop rock tune, and it happened to become a hit. On its own merits, itвЂ™s actually hard to hate the song. Since its release in 2001 until the end of 2009, the damned thing was played 1.2 million times on American radio. Some time later, it was named the most played song of the decade by Nielsen Soundscan. It was crowned the most played song of 2002. ItвЂ™s a power-ballad about breakups, as power-ballads tend to be, but one that radio couldnвЂ™t get enough of. ItвЂ™s difficult to overstate how ubiquitous вЂњHow You Remind MeвЂќ really was. By all accounts, thereвЂ™s nothing remarkable about this album.

Really, it was fine! It built on the sound of The State, but wasn't a tremendous break from it. On September 11th 2001 (yikes), Nickelback released its third record, Silver Side Up. ThereвЂ™s the anxiety of вЂњBreathe.вЂќ The aggression of вЂњWorthy To Say.вЂќ The album showed tremendous growth over its predecessor вЂ“ enough to earn the group a Best New Group win at the March 2001 Juno Awards. Interesting ideas flicked on and off through the rest of The State. вЂњI am not a leader of men,вЂќ sings Kroeger, вЂњsince I prefer to follow.вЂќ ItвЂ™s also a testament to a time when Kroeger and company were on the path to something compelling - an investigation, maybe, of their own flaws. ItвЂ™s a song about insecurity for a period marked by doubt. Its lead single, вЂњLeader of Men,вЂќ is to date the most serious song Nickelback has ever recorded. Here it mirrors Bush there, it imitates The Foo Fighters. Musically, it sounded like the angst of the late 90s. The songs on the album didnвЂ™t reinvent the post-grunge wheel: They sang about distrust and drama, about lacking a sure-footing. Interesting enough, at least, that it landed Nickelback a major label deal with Roadrunner Records. You would be hard-pressed to say it was a great album, but you couldnвЂ™t deny that it was interesting. It was unpolished and anxious, loud and paranoid. This album was a good capstone to the post-grunge era.

Still, it had an energy and a determination that would draw at least a couple of A&Rs into the bandвЂ™s orbit.Д«y 1998, the band lost Brandon Kroeger, found a new drummer, and independently put out its second album, The State. It was messy and it was disorganized, raw and disheveled.

When Curb came out, the band consisted of Chad Kroeger and his two brothers Mike (bass) and Brandon (drums), as well as Ryan Peake on guitar.Д¬urb was not a good record by any measure. They recorded their first album of original songs, Curb, in 1996. Nickelback started out as a mid-90s cover band in Alberta, because of course they did. TheyвЂ™re hardly the first band to be hated so universally - Limp Bizkit? Hootie And The Blow Fish? - but Nickelback has earned a type of hatred so potent itвЂ™s hard to fathom what they did that was so terrible to the public consciousness.

ThereвЂ™s something about the Alberta-based band that causes this rage. Specifically, play NickelbackвЂ™s вЂњHow You Remind Me.вЂќ A near-inexplicable rage washes over the faces of the people you thought were your friends as vocalist Chad Kroeger wails, вЂњNever made it as a wise man.вЂќ You might not live to hear the second line. The fastest way to turn a room of people against you once youвЂ™re handed the aux cable for your iPod is by playing Nickelback.

Nickelback album sales to date