Yeah - i didn't think you were referring to me as a "hater", Doug. I just wanted to try to articulate my earlier POV a litter better - and I think i did.
Here's the thing (to the OP). Those guys are your friends - i get it. But let's call a spade a spade. Nickleback is regurgitated pop-rock that is written with radio in mind.
That's fine. They do that well. But that doesn't make it art. Just like there is a difference between Wal-Mart and Tiffany's. Is there a market for NB's music? You betcha there is. But I would argue wholeheartedly that the vast majority of people who enjoy them have no musical experience of their own, and wouldn't know quality, introspective lyrics if someone punched them in the face with the chord charts.
Here's an example
(Lyrics to one of NB's biggest hits in recent years)
We all just wanna be big rockstars
Live in hilltop mansions driving 15 cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
We'll all hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIp with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there
Every playboy bunny with the bleach blonde hair
(yes, really. Those are lyrics that went #1. It makes me sick that this happened. Validates my point that most music listeners are morons...lol)
(Lyrics to a Trent Reznor song)
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole - the old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away, but I remember everything
What have I become, my sweetest friend
Everything I know goes away in the end
But you could have it all, my empire of dirt
I will tear you down, i will make you hurt
(Lyrics to a random song of mine, cut by a label band)
Never wondered where I'm going
Just concered with where I've been
The answers never find me
I've learned to hide from them
Pain can't touch what I don't open up
Empty words won't fill my broken cup
I can't push you out
I won't let you in
Where were you when life broke down?
Promises don't mean much now
I just can't believe
It makes no sense to me
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Am I the ONLY person who sees the massive differences in the lryical content here? One song is vapid and has no emotional content whatsoever. One is a masterpiece that gives me chills just to read it. One explores the rawness of unresolved faith.
I would consider two of them artistic. The other I would classify as commercialized crap.
But that's just me.
And unrelated note - Doug, watched your YouTude vid. Very cool man. The 2:28 mark where the drummer and bassist started really playing off each other was very sweet