Nickelback

Though they regularly suffer disrespect at the hands of snobbish rock critics and musical hipsters alike, popular demand, brute sales and radio airplay figures suggest that Canadian post-grunge hard rockers Nickelback were the biggest band of the first decade of the 21st century. Nickelback was formed in 1995, in the blue collar small town of Hannah, Alberta by brothers Chad (vocals, guitar), Mike (bass) and Brandon Kroeger (drums, replaced in 1998 by Ryan Vikedal), plus second guitarist Ryan Peake. The band personally financed and released their debut EP, ‘Hesher,’ and first full-length, ‘Curb’ (both 1996), then slowly built a regional following through the independent release of their second album, ‘The State.’ By then based in Vancouver, the group won a Juno Award in March of 2001 as Canada’s ‘Best New Group,’ then signed with Roadrunner Records for the release of their breakthrough third album, ‘Silver Side Up.’ Buoyed by the chart-topping domination of first single, ‘How You Remind Me,’ the album went multi-platinum and vaulted Nickelback to stardom, where they remained after 2003’s nearly as successful, five-million-selling, ‘The Long Road.’ But it was Nickelback’s next effort, ‘All the Right Reasons’ (their first after poaching 3 Doors Down drummer Daniel Adair), that truly made the band ubiquitous, selling eight million copies in America alone, yielding no less than seven hit singles, and setting up the quartet to pack every arena they set foot in for the remainder of the decade. Nickelback’s next multi-million-seller, ’Dark Horse,’ arrived in 2008 ands was produced by the legendary Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange; ‘Here and Now’ followed in 2011 and ‘The Best of Nickelback, Vol. 1’ in 2013. That same year, band leader Chad Kroeger married Canadian pop diva Avril Lavigne. Nickelback released their eighth album, ‘No Fixed Address,’ in November of 2014. By the most recent estimates, Nickelback have sold an estimated 50 million albums over the course of their career.

 

 

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