Nickelback bashing: How one short piece went viral
There are few things easier for a music journalist than writing something about how much Nickleback sucks and why the Canadian arena rockers are ruining music as we know it.
There are few things easier for a music journalist than writing something about how much Nickleback sucks and why the Canadian arena rockers are ruining music as we know it.
Much of that discussion takes place online, in blogs and on Twitter; Nickleback-bashing articles are a dime-a-dozen. That’s why it is so surprising that a 150-word brief in the Boise Weekly that rips on the Juno Award-winning band has gone viral. Poynter got the story from music critic Josh Gross, who says, “the reaction to the article has consumed approximately 20k percent more time than I spent writing or thinking about it.”
Gross’ original piece outlined a number of things that readers could spend $45 on, instead of buying a ticket to an upcoming Nickleback concert in Boise, Idaho. The list included: Seeing Men in Black III five times, “a lot of pickles” and “an introduction to rock guitar video course that would allow you to surpass the band’s skill level in five hours or less.”
When Poynter asked Gross “Why Nickleback?” the music critic responded:
[node:ad]What makes Nickelback so reprehensible is how boldly bland it is. Art and culture should challenge people to experience new feelings and have new ideas. Nickelback’s music is not just cliche, it is an aggressively mediocre cliche. Art that seems to go to great effort to have nothing to say. I call it music for people that hate music.
The most unfortunate part of the entire thing, though, is that the virality didn’t necessarily bring dollars into the Boise Weekly.
“The one disappointing thing was that it is a photo of the article that went viral, not the article on our website,” Gross told Poynter.
Read the whole story behind the story over on Poynter.
