Nickelback have endured the slings for years now, but they’ve learned to take it in stride. During a recent chat with Portugal’s Metal Global (as viewed below), frontman Chad Kroeger addressed the backlash that has surrounded the band over the years, revealing that several acts have spoken with him about it while he also feels he has a handle on where it all came from.
During the chat, Kroeger laughed about the “most hated band” tag, explaining that at least two acts thanked them for taking the heat off.
The singer recalled, “It’s funny because we were at the American Music Awards, and we were presenting, and we presented to Def Leppard. And when we walked backstage afterwards, Joe Elliott and Phil Collen turned to me, and they were just, like, ‘Dude, thank you so much.’ I’m, like, ‘For what?’ They were, like, ‘For taking the trophy. We get to pass the baton to you for being the most hated band in the world now.’ And I was just, like, ‘Oh, yeah. ‘Cause I want that.'”
But they weren’t the only ones. The singer also shared, “We went for dinner with AC/DC in Chicago years and years and years ago. And this whole thing came up. And Brian Johnson said when they released Back In Black, they were the most hated band on the planet. So I feel like we’re in good company. [Laughs]”
Digging deeper into what he feels is the source of the discord, Kroeger told Metal Global, “I think that because we write so many different kinds of music, I think that if you were listening to a radio station any time between 2000 and 2010, ’11, ’12 even, we were kind of tough to get away from. Cause if you didn’t wanna hear it and you changed to a different radio station, you’d probably hear it on there, and then changed to a different radio station, you probably were gonna hear it in so many different places. And we were really tough to get away from. And that’s not my fault.”
The singer sees what came of that heavy rotation as a natural progression. “We just write the songs. And so with that comes backlash. And then what happens is then comedians start making jokes, and then it starts making it on to TV, and then it makes it into movies and stuff like that. And then it just turns into this wave of, it’s fun to pick on and it’s an easy joke. And I get it. I understand.”
Kroeger adds that even he has very popular bands that you hear them so much that you no longer like them, so he just changes the channel.
The tide seems to be turning for Nickelback of late in the ramp up to their new Get Rollin’ album. There’s been positive buzz behind the heavy new single “San Quentin,” while “Those Days” has provided a nostalgic feel for listeners. The album comes after the prolific rockers took a five year break between records.