Nickelback is a Canadian Rock music band formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta. Throughout its history, it has consisted of lead guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan Peake, and bassist Mike Kroeger. It went through several drummer changes between 1995 and 2005 before Daniel Adair joined.
The band signed with Roadrunner Records in 1999 and reached a mainstream breakthrough in 2002 with the single "How You Remind Me", which reached number one in the United States and Canada. Its parent album, Silver Side Up, would go on to be certified 8Ă— Platinum in Canada. Nickelback's fourth album, The Long Road, was released in 2003 and spawned five singles, including Canadian number one "Someday", which also reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2005, the band's best-selling album to date, All the Right Reasons, produced three top-10 and five top-20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Photograph", "Far Away", and "Rockstar", the latter of which was their biggest success in the United Kingdom. Nickelback released eight singles from their sixth album Dark Horse (2008), including the United States top-10 track "Gotta Be Somebody". In 2011, the seventh album Here and Now topped the charts in Canada. The band has since released No Fixed Address (2014), Feed the Machine (2017), and most recently its 10th album Get Rollin'
Nickelback is one of the most commercially successful Canadian rock bands, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. In 2009, Billboard ranked it the most successful rock group and the seventh-most successful artist of that decade; "How You Remind Me" was the best-selling rock song and the fourth-best overall. In 2023, Nickelback were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
by brothers Mike Kroeger and Chad Kroeger; their cousin Brandon Kroeger and Ryan Peake rounded out the band. The band later changed its name to Nickelback, which originated from the nickel in change that band member Mike Kroeger gave customers at his job at Starbucks; he would frequently say, "Here's your nickel back." Nickelback: Biography. Rolling Stone The band performed covers of songs from Led Zeppelin and Metallica. Chad Kroeger then asked his step-father to loan him CA$4,000 so that the band could record their first demo, a seven-track Extended play of original material, called Hesher (1996).
The band spent half the money to record the EP, while Kroeger spent the other half on magic mushrooms to resell.
Roadrunner A&R Ron Burman told HitQuarters that one of his West Coast scouts sent him the self-released album and, suitably impressed, he travelled to Vancouver to see them perform live. Although an unknown property in the industry at the time, the venue was packed out. In Burman's words: "I immediately got the chills! I thought their song 'Leader of Men' was a smash hit." Off the stage he was impressed by their industry and initiative in managing their career. Despite this, it still took Burman three months for him to convince his label bosses to approve the signing, a decision that would mark Roadrunner's first move into mainstream rock. Nickelback signed a record deal with EMI and Roadrunner Records in 1999.
The State was released by Nickelback in 2000 by Roadrunner Records and EMI, followed by its release in Europe in 2001. It spawned 4 singles: "Old Enough", "Worthy to Say", "Leader of Men" and "Breathe", the last two being Top 10 rock hits. The album was the band's first album to be certified gold status and it later went into platinum status in 2008, after the success of their later albums. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 130 and peaked at number 3 in the Billboard Top Heatseekers albums chart and peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Top Independent albums chart.
To record their third album Silver Side Up, Nickelback collaborated with producer Rick Parashar. The album was written before the release of The State and was recorded at the same studio. The album was released on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The album peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 with over 177,000 copies sold in its first week and peaked at number one at the Canadian albums chart, making it the band's first album to do so. The single "How You Remind Me" was a number one single on the Mainstream and Modern rock charts, as well as the pop chart. It also peaked at number two on Adult Top 40 and became the Billboard Hot 100 number one single of the year for 2002. The next single was "Too Bad", which also reached number one on the Mainstream Rock Chart. The final single from the album was "Never Again", which also hit number one on Mainstream Rock.
In 2002, Chad Kroeger collaborated with Josey Scott on the Spider-Man theme song, "Hero". This recording also featured Tyler Connolly, Mike Kroeger, Matt Cameron, and Jeremy Taggart. In 2002, Nickelback released their first DVD Live at Home. On August 19, 2002, an incident occurred while the band was performing at the Ilha do Ermal festival in Portugal. While performing the second song of their set, Chad Kroeger was sprayed with a full bottle of water hurled from somewhere within the audience. After finishing the song, Chad asked the crowd, "Do you want to hear some rock 'n' roll or do you want to go home?" A person in the audience then threw a rock at Chad's head. The band then left stage, with Chad and Vikedal giving the finger to the audience as they left. The band's label, Roadrunner, posted video footage of the entire incident on their website.
In 2003, Nickelback released The Long Road. The album was certified 3Ă— Platinum by the RIAA in March 2005 and it had sold 3,591,000 copies as of April 2011. It has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and, in 2003 alone, the album sold 2 million copies worldwide. It debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. This was their first album produced by Joey Moi, a former classmate of the band's.
The Long Road was ranked No. 157 on Billboard's 200 Albums of the Decade. It spawned five singles. The lead single was "Someday". The band also released "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good" as a single, which peaked at number three on the Mainstream Rock Charts. "Figured You Out" was also released as a single and topped the Mainstream Rock Charts for 13 consecutive weeks.
The band spent much of 2006 and 2007 touring across the globe. In the fall of 2006, the band opened for Bon Jovi on the European leg of the Have a Nice Day Tour. Over 2 million fans attended Nickelback's shows during those two years.
The band played at Sturgis, South Dakota to over 35,000 people at the 2006 Sturgis Bike Rally. The performance was filmed with 15 high-definition cameras. They released the DVD and Blu-ray of it in 2009, several years after the performance. In November 2006, the band won an American Music Award for best pop/rock album, surprising the band itself. "We just kinda showed up because we were supposed to give one of these away tonight," Chad Kroeger said after receiving the award. He added that he had thought the Red Hot Chili Peppers would win the award.
On November 26, 2008, the band announced the tour for the support of the album. Live Nation produced the tour and the band kicked off in Nashville, Tennessee, with Seether, and Saving Abel as their opening acts. The band then announced that they were about to tour in the UK with Black Stone Cherry as their opening act. The band then announced the second leg of the tour of North America with the opening acts being Hinder, Papa Roach, and once again, Saving Abel. The band then went on tour around Australia and New Zealand with Sick Puppies as their supporting act. For the second leg of the Europe tour, the band played with their opening act Daughtry. The third leg of the North America tour kicked off with Breaking Benjamin, Sick Puppies and Shinedown opening up for the band. The band concluded their tour with the fourth leg in North America which included Buckcherry and Three Days Grace. The tour was very successful and the band sold over 1.6 million tickets with 146 shows.
The album also remained in the top 20 on the Billboard 200 for weeks after its release. Latest Platinum Album Certifications. billboard.com. Accessed on December 15, 2008. The album was certified two times platinum in April 2009, and had by April 2010 sold over 3 million copies in the U.S. However, critical reception of the album has been mostly mixed to negative. In 2009, the band won three Juno Awards for Juno Fan Choice Award, group of the year, and album of the year; "Self-proclaimed "mainstream" Nickelback reigns at Junos". CBC Arts, March 29, 2009 the band performed their single "Something in Your Mouth" at the ceremony. In 2010, Billboard year end charts listed Dark Horse as the top-selling rock and metal album of the year. The band was also listed at the top selling hard rock artist. On January 29, 2010, they released a Tap-Tap rhythm game for on the App Store, contrary to the band's prior comments against other music related video games such as Guitar Hero. On February 28, 2010, Nickelback gave a performance at the beginning of the concert portion of the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony, performing "Burn It to the Ground". In October 2010 Nickelback finished their Dark Horse Tour.
Nickelback announced their new album, Here and Now, on September 8, 2011, along with its two lead singles, "Bottoms Up" and "When We Stand Together". Kroeger said "We're four people who love making music, the way we like to make it. We entered the studio this year with a vision, and it all came together. We're extremely happy with the results, and can't wait to share them with our fans." The album was released on November 21, 2011, with the band calling it "Nickelblack Monday", a play on Nickelback and Black Monday. Two singles were released to radio stations on September 26, and September 27 for purchase on iTunes Store. Here and Now peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 226,714 copies in its first week of release, with Christmas by Michael Bublé taking number one by a margin of only 419 copies.
As part of promotion for the album, Nickelback was booked to perform at the halftime shows for both an NFL Thanksgiving Day game at Ford Field in Detroit on November 24, and the 99th Grey Cup in Vancouver on November 27. Also, as a promotion the band played to Jimmy Kimmel upon the album's release. The band is nominated for 4 Juno Awards in 2012, and scheduled to perform at the ceremony. Nickelback announced their Here and Now Tour on January 11, 2012, they are going to tour with Seether, Bush and My Darkest Days. The band released a music video for their fourth single off of the album Lullaby. The band officially announced the compilation album The Best of Nickelback Volume 1 through social media on October 3, 2013. Frontman Chad Kroeger had previously stated in an interview that the greatest hits album was to feature songs from previous albums along with new songs but the unveiled track listing ultimately contained only previously released material.
No Fixed Address Tour was their fifth headlining concert tour, in support of No Fixed Address. The tour was announced on November 5, 2014, as well as The Pretty Reckless, Pop Evil, and Lifehouse as the support act for the majority of the shows in North American while Monster Truck was support act in Australia and Europe (2016). The second North American leg of the tour had to be canceled when lead vocalist Chad Kroeger required surgery for a cyst on his voice box. The entire leg of the European tour was postponed until Autumn 2016.
On August 19, 2016, Nickelback released a cover of Don Henley's song "Dirty Laundry" to streaming services. On January 23, 2017, a new single, "Feed the Machine" was announced to be released on February 1, alongside specific details of a 2017 tour. On January 25, Nickelback signed with BMG Rights Management to release their ninth album, also titled Feed the Machine. The album was released on June 16, 2017. The band released their second single from the album, "Song on Fire", on April 28, 2017. Shortly after the release of the album, the band began a 44-city tour on June 23, 2017, in North America, co-headlined with Daughtry, Shaman's Harvest and Cheap Trick as supporting acts.
On August 14, 2020, the band released a cover of The Charlie Daniels Band song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", featuring Dave Martone.
In a July 2021 interview Mike Kroeger commented when asked about the band's progress on new music saying "That is happening right now, music is being composed and recorded up in Canada. We were out there, and something came up and our producer had to take some time off. So I took that opportunity to return home to Los Angeles with family and spend a little time at home but I'll be headed back up there in a couple of weeks to pick it up again." When asked about a potential timeframe for a release date, Kroeger said "it'll be done when it's done", explaining that the band would rather not be confined to a timescale for fear of making "a shitty record". "Release dates are primarily arrived at by business interests, like record labels and whatever. We don't have one of those", he said. "We've been managing ourselves for about a year. So, the answer is no. We're doing it on our schedule, at our own pace, and it'll be done when it's done. 'Cause we've blown up deadlines in the past lots of times. Because we feel that you can make a good record and be late, but you can't, or you shouldn't, make a shitty record to be on time. So we won't be pressed for time.
In August 2022, Nickelback began posting small snippets and teasers of new music via their official social media accounts with the date "09.07.2022" being branded on the posts.
On August 26, 2022, students attending school at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia received a newsletter stating they were invited to attend and participate in a video shoot Nickelback would be hosting on August 30, 2022, for their single, outside the Convocation Mall on campus.
The album title was revealed to be Get Rollin'. The lead single "San Quentin" was released on September 7, 2022. The second single "Those Days" was released on October 5, 2022, followed by a music video on October 26. The band embarked on its "Get Rollin' Tour" with opening acts Brantley Gilbert and Josh Ross. They performed on thirty-eight dates in Canada and the United States from June 2023 to August 2023.
Nickelback have cited bands and musicians such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Marley, Metallica, Nirvana,
Various fellow musicians, like Chris Martin of Coldplay as well as producer Timbaland and singer Keyshia Cole, have publicly shown support for the band. Following their 2008 album Dark Horse, ChartAttack credited the band's success to knowing their target audience: "Chad Kroeger is a genius because he knows exactly what people want and precisely how far he can go. He turned out an extremely racy album that's loaded with songs about gettin' drunk and doin' it all without breaking any taboos, and with enough love and moral authority to grease its passage into the mainstream. Rejoice, North America. This is your world." Billboard praised the band in a review of Dark Horse by saying: "The bulletproof Nickelback provides affordable fun that promises good returns in hard times." In a review for the band's ninth album Feed the Machine, AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that they had mostly done away with the crude and vulgar lyrical content they had become known for, and praised the band for evolving their sound. 2023]]Journalist Sage Lazzaro claimed that Nickelback's negative reputation began when the band signed to Roadrunner Records and was disliked by the label's followers, which at the time was known for heavy metal music. In addition, Lazzaro also cites a frequently-aired 2003 commercial for Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn insulting Nickelback which gained mass exposure. In 2018, the band was defended in a teaser trailer for the film Once Upon a Deadpool by the Deadpool. In response, Nickelback released a video in 2024 defending the sequel Deadpool & Wolverine from criticism.
The band is profiled in , a 2023 documentary film by Leigh Brooks which focuses on the band's reputation. "Nickelback Documentary To Debut At TIFF". iHeartRadio Canada, July 24, 2023.
Former members
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