2000s rock bands that sounded like Nickelback (but better)

Girl

Remember when Chris Daughtry was the most talked about thing in music thanks to his surprise elimination from American Idol in 2006? He was a fan favorite, praised for his belt technique and surprisingly versatile range. Within hours of his dismissal from American Idol, he was offered a leadership position in the Fuel, a decently relevant rock band. But Daughtry said no and made his own way. He quickly formed his own group, and the years 2006 Girl has become one of the most talked about and best selling rock albums in recent memory.

The lead single from the project “It’s Not Over” went platinum, looted all radio stations and landed two Grammy nominations for “Best Rock Song” and “Best Rock Performance Given by a Duo or Group”. The album itself was one of the best-selling efforts of 2006, but critical response has been mixed. Panning as “commercial” and “generic”, Ken Barnes of USA today called them “FuelNickelStaindback,” a fair assessment in hindsight. Remember that weird song they made about serial child abductors?

The second effort of the group Leave this town would be even more popular, with their rock ballad “Life After You” (a song written by Daughtry with Chad Kroeger) once again dominating the charts and defining their legacy.

But slowly, the popularity of the group would disintegrate. Their third effort Break the spell was their lowest album to date (although it was actually one of their best releases), and so their follow-up has strived to be an album of pure pop-rock ballads to rekindle their “Life After You” fanfare. 2013 Baptized, as a result, was the band’s most befitting effort, with gruesome tracks like “Battleships” and “Waiting For Superman” forever sealing their fate as a nerdy and dated rock group.

As cheesy as they are, they’re still better than Nickelback, because this Daughtry can certainly sing.

3 doors down

Another early vanilla rock effort, the band debuted in 2000 Better life remains their best-selling record. It was one of the best-selling endeavors in 2000 and was certified 6x platinum in the United States. This is because “Kryptonite” was unlike anything they had ever released before or would never again be. With a touch of lo-fi, a bit of hazy psychedelia on the vocals and a catchy chorus, the track remains a solid rock song.

But let’s be honest, there’s a good chance casual listeners knew that “Kryptonite” wasn’t as prolific as their magnum opus “Here Without You”. Released on their otherwise immemorable second effort Away from the sun, the rock ballad was a Nickelback-like change the New York quartet would never recover from. Away from the sun was significantly cleaner and more commercial than its predecessor, and “Here Without You” would become the perfect song to document the pent-up emotions of the early days.

Lyrics like “I’m here without you baby, but you’re still with me in my dreams, and tonight girl it’s just you and me”, would keep the band satirized for years to come. to come. The band still make music (they just released their sixth album in 2016), but they have since disbanded into a watered-down rock band with nothing new to say.

That said, “Kryptonite” still slaps a lot, which I can’t say for most of the Nickelback discography.

Task

With a touch of post-grunge angst, Staind roughly equates to a Nickelback with darker eyeliner.

Formed in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1995, the band’s seven albums touched on nu-metal and grunge without ever losing that crisp commercial sound. “It’s Been Awhile” and “Outside”, the sweetest tracks from their second album 5x platinum Break the cycle, remain their most popular singles and have transformed the band from a potential metal band into angsty post-grunge ballads.

“So Far Away”, another rock ballad, was by far the most popular single from the band’s fourth (and surprisingly heavy) album, 14 shades of gray; and Chapter V, the band’s most pop and commercially accessible record, spawned three moderately successful singles, two of which were also ballads. As the group’s dominant status slowly began to fade after Chapter V success, the band actually did some of their best music once the spotlight went out.

the years 2008 Illusion of progress was admired by critics for its versatility as it incorporated blues, country and a new optimism. “Above all, the music packs more punch than ever and more variety,” wrote The Boston Globe. “Staind sometimes strays from his rock-metal ballads for tunes that suggest Pink Floyd … and even the British band Oasis.”

The group’s last self-titled album was released on eve of a sudden breakup, but the record was obsessed with neck snaps, and in turn was the band’s heaviest record to date, devoid of any cheesy ballads, and indicative of the superb metal band they could have been if the celebrity had not locked them up.

That said, Aaron Lewis, who now kills him as a country singer, has always been a much better songwriter than Chad Kroeger. Traversing topics such as mental illness, addiction, fatherhood, and self-discovery, Staind has covered topics far darker than anything the deleted 2000s were willing to discuss. Apart from the old-fashioned ballads, basically, the quartet has always really rocked.

The dead man theory

It’s impossible to talk about the legacy of Nickelback without talking about TOAD. As the first group to sign with Chad Kroeger’s label 604 Records, Theory of a Deadman emerged with a self-titled debut album that sounded so much like Nickelback that people actually thought it was a side project. by Chad Kroeger. It might as well have been, 6 of TOADS ’10 early songs were written by Kroeger himself, and frontman Tyler Connolly had an equally gruff vocal style. “If we do it, we do it,” Connolly said. Oklahoman when asked if he thought his band sounded like Nickelback.

For their second effort, the band sought to stifle any comparison to their label boss, and for Gasoline they collaborated with Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde in hopes of standing out and creating a concept record that “would involve several guest players of Wylde’s stature.” But once the musicians got together, the label “footed the bill”, hoping the sessions would create a “batch of new songs”. TOAD therefore returned to the drawing board.

Always, Gasoline was more versatile than its predecessor and incorporated blues and country with its commercial post-grunge sound, but the Nickelback comparisons stuck. So for their third and heaviest TOAD creatively pushed themselves and created some memorable moments as a result.

“By the Way,” which actually featured backing vocals by Chris Daughtry, was surprisingly heavy and satisfying, but ballads like “All or Nothing” and “Not Meant to Be” still reeked of Nickelback’s cheesy philosophy. But then came “Hate My Life,” a disgruntled track about a blue-collar grunt who hates, well, pretty much everything. The song was kitsch, but fun in a crass and misogynistic way. The single achieved moderate success and the band clung to their niche.

Their fourth effort, “The truth is …“fully leaned into TOAD’s new aesthetic of being the soundtrack of The Angry White Trash. The lead single from the album” Lowlife “is practically” Hate My Life “part 2, and the title track from the album. project is an ode to crazy ex-girlfriends who lie about everything, driven only by an original ukulele. Of course, making white trash music means you are inevitably going to be offensive:“I like her so much better when she’s on her knees,” Connolly croons in “B * tch Came Back”. “Because when she’s in my face that’s when I start to see / All my friends are laughing thinking we’re wrong / Well she’s so dumb she sings along with her. ”

Of course, the vibe behind The truth is… Never had any real stamina given his derogatory nature, and he fell into obscurity as quickly as he appeared. So TOAD returned to alt-metal in 2014 and released Savages, their best and heaviest job. But the damage was already done, and they still looked like a dated rock band. So they went pop with 2017 Telephone alarm clock and have since continued down this path to make more inspiring tunes.

“I think the #MeToo movement is so big and powerful,” Connolly said Dust in an exclusive interview, “and it’s fantastic that women are gaining strength and [fighting] for equality. Being an all-male group, I think we’re backing, that’s what we’re looking to do.