Nickelback is such an anomaly. People make jokes about Nickelback all the time. Matter of fact, everyone makes jokes about Nickelback. They’re a pretty easy target for no apparent reason whatsoever. However, no one can deny the quality music they released in the early 2000’s.
With their albums “Silver Side Up” and “The Long Road,” Nickelback put themselves on the map. More so than the albums, the songs “Someday” and “How You Remind Me” are what really made them a top-tier rock band, albeit the poor feedback they’d received from critics.
Then came “All the Right Reasons,” Nickelback’s fifth album, which was another radio-friendly record consisting of hits such as “Rockstar,” “Photograph” and “Animals.” Though the songs were hits and the album sold millions, it was still considered an unsuccessful album by critics. Their next two albums, “Dark Horse” and “Here and Now,” respectively, resulted in the same fashion. If anything, Nickelback has cemented themselves as one of the more overrated bands of the past decade. But Nickelback’s new release, “No Fixed Address,” cements the band as something else – they’re an overrated rock band that has taken the Coldplay/30 Seconds to Mars/Train/Maroon 5 path and leaned towards the pop angle.
The album’s second single, “What Are You Waiting For?,” is an odd attempt at expanding the band’s horizon to the current musical landscape and it doesn’t work well for them. With the use of synths and over-edited vocals, “What Are You Waiting For?” is destined to be a radio hit. The difference between this song and Nickelback’s older work, however, is that their older music was loud, listenable rock while this is a strange Frankenstein-like composition that seems patched together by the music industry’s blood-sucking, money-craving dictators.
The album’s fourth track, “She Keeps Me Up,” literally sounds just like a Maroon 5 radio hit except Adam Levine’s smooth vocals are missing and are replaced by Chad Kroeger’s average-at-best voice. This is another radio hit begging to be played at any fifth grader’s eleventh birthday. Aside from that, there’s nothing to take away from it. It’s a money-maker for sure, but it’s not the kind of song that will impress the fans of the 2001-2005 Nickelback.
Then things get really weird with the record’s tenth track, “Got Me Runnin’ Round,” which, if you take out the lyrics, sounds like a rip-off of The Offspring’s “Original Prankster.” Then Flo Rida comes in and starts rapping his signature non-stop, semi-pro rhymes. Everything about this song just isn’t Nickelback. Ten years ago, this would be the last thing Nickelback would incorporate in their music.
All in all, this album is pretty awesome if you like poppy radio hits that you could find on the next edition of Kidz Bop, but if not, you’re out of luck. Nickelback, though they were never great to begin with, went from releasing decent music to releasing poppy bubble gum dance songs. Nonetheless, this album will make millions just based on whose name is on the CD and Nickelback will get the money they’re looking for. In terms of quality music though, it’s best to look elsewhere.
My rating: 3/10
