1.26.2010

Bands like Nickelback and Hinder should stop making music

http://hardrockhideout.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/163917__nickelback_l.jpgOnce upon a time, roughly 10 years ago, I liked this song that was on the radio called "Breathe" by a somewhat unknown band named Nickelback. I loved how heavy the bass was and how rockin' the guitars sounded, plus the lyrics were about someone who wasted their time trying to fit in with a certain crowd but realized if they could go back and take it all back they would - I could relate to that easily. I bought their CD "The State" and thought it was a decent album - it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. This was near the end of my sophomore year in high school.

By the time 2nd semester of my senior year came around, Nickelback was pretty well known, as they now had a Top 40 mainstream hit with their single "How You Remind Me" and their new album "Silver Side Up." They also started to get very overplayed on both tv and radio.

Since "The State" was re-released in 2000, Nickelback has had four more albums come out, one of which has gone 8x Platinum, with a total of 18 singles.

Now some of these songs, such as "If Everyone Cared," "Gotta Be Someday," and "If Today Was Your Last Day," are a bit inspiring, but others, like "Something in Your Mouth," "Animal," "Rockstar," "Figured You Out," and their latest single "Shakin' Hands" are just downright stupid. Half their singles (and perhaps albums) these days seem to be about strippers, hookers, sluts or blowjobs.

Really? These are topics people want to hear bands singing about on the radio? Not this person and not most people I can think of that are over the age of 18!

While I will admit, when it comes to songs about blowjobs, Nickelback's "Something in Your Mouth" is a lot catchier than their previous attempt "Figured You Out" and Saving Abel's 2007 hit single "Addicted," but I still think both songs are terrible and shouldn't be getting as much airplay as they have.

And the chorus to their latest single "Shakin' Hands" with the fairytale reference is just plain terrible ("Well she ain't no Cinderella when she's getting undressed 'Cause she rocks it like the naughty wicked witch of the west").

http://hardrockhideout.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/hinder.pngAnother band that I think should just quit before they subject us to anymore of their "music" is Hinder.

Hinder made it big back in 2005 with their song "Get Stoned" - a song in which the chorus goes "Go home, get stoned, we could end up making love instead of misery... Go home, get stoned, cuz the sex is so much better when you're mad at me."

Really?

Their next single, "Lips of an Angel," was an even bigger hit, as it had the format of a rock ballad, this is actually a song about a guy wanting to cheat. In the song, the singer is sneaking around, talking to an ex whom he seems to still be in love with and would like to continue fooling around with even though he's in a relationship with someone else now. He knows that if his current girlfriend finds out that he's talking with this particular ex again it could cause problems.

For some reason, so many girls seem to take the chorus of this song out of context and swoon at the lyrics "It's really good to hear your voice saying my name - It sounds so sweet... Coming from the lips of an angel... Hearing those words it makes me weak."

Um, girls - he's saying that to his ex, not you!

Throughout the rest of the song he tells his ex "Sometimes I wish she was you... I guess we never really moved on," "Yes, I've dreamt of you too... I don't think she has a clue," and "I never wanna say goodbye, But girl you make it hard to be faithful... With the lips of an angel."

Do the girls that swoon over this song not realize the ENTIRE SONG is him talking sweet to his ex on the phone while his girlfriend is asleep in the other room?

Like some Nickelback songs, I didn't mind Hinder's next song, "How Long," as it's a song about a break up and the rhythm was kinda catchy - it sounded like a song that belonged on the new Miami Vice soundtrack, in my opinion.

Then they had the single "Better Than Me," which is basically a break-up song where he tells his girlfriend he's a terrible boyfriend and she can do much better than him. He mentions that one memory that he doesn't want to let go of is a time they "got busy" in a dressing room at the mall. He also misses the way her "innocence tastes" which is pretty self explanatory, given their usual song content.

Their next single, "Use Me," was the leading track of their next major album, and the jist of the song is that the girl is a freak (sexually) and he lets her use him because of that and he likes it.

I once heard a Christian girl in high school declare that Hinder was her and her boyfriend's band, as they've seen them together live several times. I think my jaw about dropped - how is a band where all their songs talk about either breaking-up, cheating, having rough sex, giving oral sex and doing drugs "their band"? My mind had a rough time trying to boggle and make sense of that one.

Over the years, Nickelback, in their quest to become the next Creed, has gone more and more mainstream trying to appeal to the demographic that still buys CDs - teens. I recently saw an episode of family guy where this speaker was trying to talk to the kids about a topic, and in doing so, he made negative references about the school's rival and sat "informally" like the kids were - the kids ate it up ("Haha, they're our rivals!" "Hey, he's sitting just like us! He must be cool!"). That's what Nickelback and Hinder are doing - all teen girls like to swoon over sweet sounding guys, and most teen guys like anything that makes them visualize sex. For example with Nickelback's hit song "Photograph," how many guys really sit and spend a day looking through old photos and reminiscing by themselves, and how many who do would actually admit it? I can't think of a single guy (and I know plenty!). Yet the idea of a guy being that sentimental makes teen girls swoon "Awww, how sweet!" And how many of their songs mention sex in some form? Yeah, that's playing to the teenage boys there.

Are kids that naiive today that all they focus on in a song is a catchy beat and chorus? Do they not listen to the rest of the lyrics? If they seriously understood the songs they seem to "love" so much on the radio they might just think twice. I'm sure if more girls paid attention to the lyrics of "Lips of an Angel" they might not be so quick to deem it "their song" with their boyfriend.

Bands like these two really need to be put out to pasture.

3 comments:

  1. Sigh. you're right. I know you're right. Even though I don't really listen to either band, I understand what you're saying. Lil' Waynes "lick it like a lolly pop" is a perfect example of what I wouldn't want my daughter singing in the next room. Really? Really? But yeah, I think kids like hearing about sex about as much as adults but there's got to be a limit...but I guess that's up to the parent. Otherwise, I admit that I personally like that lil wayne song...but that doesn't mean I listen to it with kids around.
    But to be honest, when i was little, I used to listen to the song "peaches and cream" and I had no idea it had anything to do with head...I vaguely realized that it was some how sexually related, but I couldn't figure out how...sad right? So, maybe kids don't notice. Whatev.
    Good Post.
    :)
    We love comment!!! 20sb

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  2. Radio stations seem to play the same songs over and over again. I guess it pays more to release crappy song after crappy song then to actually write something with decent lyrics.

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  3. I'm glad somebody said it. Nickelback is terrible. Possibly my least favorite band next to Pearl Jam. The only song of theirs which doesn't make me gag is "Far Away" and that's because I'm a self-proclaimed sap.

    Fond memories make me pretty ok with Hinder's first album, but I don't know where the hell their career went after that.

    Other bands who I feel are jumping on the suckwagon are Breaking Benjamin (when did they start sounding like every other band?), Shinedown (who I used to like), and Three Days Grace (terrible).

    I don't even consider it rock music. It's ass.

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