Nickelback is the perfect choice for a music critic looking for an easy target.
The Canadian "post-grunge" quartet has come to symbolize everything that's wrong with the music-buying public. Chad Kroeger and company have perfected hyper-serious radio rock buffoonery, yet people keep buying their records.
The problem isn't that Nickelback's songs are terrible. It's just that there are so many more interesting, original bands out there that go ignored by the majority of consumers. The group has dominated modern rock radio since its 2001 release, Silver Side Up. 2005's All the Right Reasons was a gigantic success, overcoming lukewarm reviews to become the highest selling rock album of the year. That record has since gone seven times platinum.
And Nickelback's nothing if not consistent. The band discovered the perfect formula for writing a mediocre song everyone will love and is making good use of it. That doesn't change with the group's newest release, Dark Horse. It's a record that's sure to delight and disgust critics who love to hate Nickelback, and it's still going to sell quite a few copies.
To start, Dark Horse is a terrible name for the umpteenth album by the world's biggest selling rock band. It seems like the guys in Nickelback have no idea what a dark horse is, considering their band is the musical opposite of one.
Nickelback tapped Mr. Shania Twain himself, "Mutt" Lange, to produce Dark Horse. His contribution is a slightly more classic rock-influenced sound. The guitars seem a little less grunge-muddy and a little more AC/DC-crunchy than on past Nickelback releases. Rest assured, though, it's the same band.
If anything, the group's already cringe-inducingly simplistic lyrics got even simpler this time around. See the lyrics for "S.E.X." to get an idea. Yes, it's just as juvenile as it sounds: "S is for the simple need/E is for the ecstasy/X is just to mark the spot because that's the one you really want." Kroeger proclaimed this album would deal with more "adult" themes, which apparently meant it would be his attempt at being as tasteless as possible.
Album opener "Something in Your Mouth" is another attempt at innuendo, but subtlety has never been Nickelback's strong point. Instead, the band takes the ever-so-slightly vague lyrics of the song ("You look so much cuter with something in your mouth") and bludgeons them home, with Kroeger bellowing as if he wants everyone within a 30-mile radius to know just how clever he's being. In defense of the actual music, the song as a whole is dumb fun and would be good to blast on the car stereo, so long as no one listens too carefully to the words.
Of course, Dark Horse contains the obligatory "softer side" rock ballads, including lead single "Gotta Be Somebody." The song is almost indistinguishable from "Photograph" and any number of other Nickelback songs, but the group should get credit for having the courage to go with what sells and not worry about things like artistic integrity.
By track 10, "If Today Was Your Last Day," it's easily apparent what Nickelback is lacking: a sense of humor. From hearing this record, it seems like these dudes have absolutely no idea how to laugh. They take themselves seriously, and they want everyone else to take them seriously, too. That's actually what makes the last track, "This Afternoon," interesting. It opens with background noise and people talking. Wait, what's that? Laughter? Somebody's actually laughing in a Nickelback song? After 40 minutes of formulaic heavy guitars and foul-tempered growling, it's almost ironic laughter is one of the last things audible on this record.
But since this is a band with four platinum albums under its belt, critics are just left with sour grapes. Nickelback really does get the last laugh.
Sounds like: 3 Doors Down, Daughtry
Download: "Something in Your Mouth," "Gotta Be Somebody," "This Afternoon"
Grade: C-
