Nickelback has a new documentary hitting theaters, “Hate To Love: Nickelback,” this week. The film explores why they’ve been dubbed “the most hated band in the world.”
Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Ryan Peake talked about the film with Virgin Radio in the U.K. They were both asked point blank why Nickelback gets so much hate.
“I think people talk about it these days where, the phrase I keep hearing is ‘the Internet isn’t real,’” Kroeger said. “Because the things that become big on social media — especially social media — sometimes it’s a really motivated, loud minority. I mean, not always, but a lot of times, there’s a lot of hoopla about something that really isn’t. And that was the disconnect this whole time for us is that when we would see the jokes and memes — and funny’s funny. Don’t get me wrong — I like a good, funny meme online, but things started to kinda get outta hand just about being a bit of a punching bag in a sense. And you grow thick skin.”
Peake weighed in: “Well, I don’t know (why we get so much hate). And then that’s the thing, and that’s the part we talk about in the documentary, and then we would try to be as honest as we can. Is it about some of the lyrics and some of the lyrical content? Sure. Fair enough. If there’s some fair criticism leveled at us, we’ll be fine with that. Is it something about how the band looks? Is it the type of songs? Is it the songs might be a certain style, formulaic? Sure, you can say all that kind of stuff. And you hear that, and you go, ‘Well, there’s other bands that do the same thing. Why are we getting all of this? Why are we the target?’ And it just felt like it was something. And whether it was or not, it felt like it was something. And it was just across the board, just not necessarily positive. But if the people just stopped coming to shows, I’d be, like, ‘Wow, this is very real.’ But it never happened. We always had lots of fans and people bought albums and listened to music. And we’re, like, ‘I don’t really get it.'”
Kroeger said that online it became a bit of a pile-on effect. “It’s Roman in nature,” he said. “Everybody wants to see the man bleed in the arena — as long as it’s not them. That’s what makes it very interesting.”
Peake concluded: “But it made us think about it a bit, and whether these are direct reasons or not — I mean, there’s probably a confluence of many things probably that happened at the same time — we saw some serious success with our album ‘All The Right Reasons’ in 2005, 2007. In 2007, the iPhone comes out. We thought about that — we’re, like, ‘Is that the reason?’ Well, I don’t know necessarily, but that’s when you began to start hearing what everybody wanted to say on the Internet and everybody’s opinion mattered. And that’s the mob mentality.”
The trailer for “Hate To Love: Nickelback,” and Kroeger and Peake’s full interview can both be viewed below.
- Chris Jericho Debuts New Entrance Music On Dynamite - April 25, 2024
- Details Revealed On New Chris Jericho Horror Film - April 25, 2024
- Sebastian Bach Reveals What’s Standing In Way Of Skid Row Reunion - April 23, 2024
