With tracks like 'Rockstar' and 'How You Remind Me' dominated the airwaves and being able to whip up huge demand for their tour dates, Nickelback are seemingly insanely popular - but it's also no secret that a lot of people hate them. Now, an academic study has been released to find out why.
So great is the scorn aimed at the Canadian arena grunge stars, that they've made headlines when police said they were wanted 'for crimes against music', after a Kickstarter campaign was started to prevent the band from ever playing in London again.
Now as Buzzfeed reports - Salli Anttonen, a student at the University Of Eastern Finland, has analysed 14 years of Nickelback reviews to write the academic paper: Hypocritical Bullshit Performed Through Gritted Teeth: Authenticity Discourses In Nickelback’s Album Reviews In Finnish Media.
“It became a phenomenon where the journalists were using the same [reasons] to bash them, and almost making an art out of ridiculing them,” she writes.
She continues: “Nickelback is too much of everything to be enough of somethin. They follow genre expectations too well, which is seen as empty imitation, but also not well enough, which is read as commercial tactics and as a lack of a stable and sincere identity.”
There you go, draw your own conclusions - are you a fan or not?
After dropping their latest album No Fixed Address back in 2014, the band are said to be working on their ninth studio album. Now, they'll be heading back to the UK later this year for a huge run of shows - including gigs at both Wembley Arena and The O2 in London.
“Get ready Europe," said frontman Chad Kroeger, "we are bringing one hell of a loud party to our fans over there!”
Nickelback's full UK arena tour dates are below. For tickets and more information, visit here.
OCTOBER 2016
WEDNESDAY 12 MOTORPOINT ARENA, NOTTINGHAM
FRIDAY 14 GENTING ARENA, BIRMINGHAM
SATURDAY 15 SHEFFIELD ARENA
MONDAY 17 THE SSE ARENA WEMBLEY, LONDON
WEDNESDAY 19 MANCHESTER ARENA
THURSDAY 20 THE O2, LONDON
SATURDAY 22 ECHO ARENA, LIVERPOOL
MONDAY 24 THE SSE HYRDO, GLASGOW
TUESDAY 25 METRO RADIO ARENA, NEWCASTLE
