They may be one of the most divisive bands in the history of music, but Nickelback are pressing ahead and their 9th studio album Feed The Machine will be released later this year.
So if you're someone whose written them off, here's five reasons you should give them another chance.
They’re still making music and selling records after 22 years
Nickelback formed in 1995, and although they’re undoubtedly past their peak, Chad Kroeger and co. have to be admired to continuing to take the mixture of praise and criticism in their stride and keep doing what they’re passionate about. Even their most recent albums have sold hundreds of thousands of copies so they’ve still got to be doing something right… Don’t they?
Without them the number of memes in the world would be drastically reduced
Google trends indicates that searches including the word Nickelback spiked massively in 2011, well after their popularity had begun to wane. The only logical explanation here is their contribution to some of the greatest memes of all time.
They’ve provided us with some of the greatest drunk karaoke hits of all time
Even those among us who profess to hate the Canadian rockers and claim they’d never listen to them are partial to belting out 2007’s ‘This Is How You Remind Me’. We can hear you denying it, but your inner drunk is screaming 'yes!'.
They’re now embracing the hate because its actually helping them sell records
Though the majority of content about Nickelback online in the past few years has been jokes and hate, their still making money, so it seems that the old adage ‘all publicity is good publicity’ rings true in this case. During the presidential race last year they even began reposting jokes about themselves, showing they’re not phased by what you think of them in the slightest.
The first single from their new record actually isn't all that bad
Could it be possible that 2017 is the year that Nickelback rise back to glory? Whilst it's doubtful that they could ever recapture their fame of 2007 and surrounding years, their forthcoming album Feed The Machine could be a resurgance of the heavy side of the band. The first single from the record which shares its name was released at the beginning of February and if the rest of the album goes in the same direction it could be the rebirth that Nickelback have been craving.