The Long Road - Dark Publications

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Similar Items:

•	All the Right Reasons
•	Silver Side Up
•	The State
•	Dark Horse
•	Curb

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
It's never easy following up a multi-platinum success, but Canada's Nickelback's latest seem sure to match the sales of the many-million-selling Silver Side Up. The formula remains pretty much the same--nothing fancy, just radio-friendly grunge that lends an appropriately dramatic backing to the powerful and increasingly confident voice of Chad Kroeger. Aside from the fast and punchy opener "Flat on the Floor," the tough, staccato "Because of You," and the Oasis-like "Figured You Out," the band deal exclusively in soft-rock anthems (soft, that is, by 2003's pulverizing standards). The only real change here lies is in Kroeger's lyrical concerns. Where 2000's The State found him suffering the frustrations of small-town life, now he's tortured by a heavy touring schedule that promotes destructive drug abuse and strains relationships to breaking point. That said, you can't help feeling the ruthlessly analytical Kroeger would turn a visit to the supermarket into a riot of hatred and self-recrimination. For fans of Silver Side Up, Nickelback have delivered the goods once more. --Dominic Wills

Customer Reviews: Read 159 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars

Nickelback: The personification of formulaic rock April 6, 2005
93 out of 162 found this review helpful

I'm sure most of you have heard the infamous mp3 that was floating around titled "How You Remind Me of Someday". Well, i was the creator of that, and i'll tell you why i put those songs together like that. A year or 2 ago my girlfriend was a Nickelback fan. Now that sort of bothers me (i'll get to why later) but it's ok until i have to hear it as well. I began to explain to her why it's difficult for me to enjoy music which follows so rigidly to a formula to pump out songs for their albums, because it's just no FUN when you can tell that's exactly what they are doing, and by the end of the song you've got the whole thing memorized. Most of Nickelbacks songs are 90% the same thing, with the only variance being the vocal melodies (which all STILL stick to the same 4 or 5 notes anyway, just a slightly different arrangement) and a bar or 2 of the "clean section" added occasionally or something like that. I made that pairing of the songs because apparently people can't hear all of that on their own. I made it so my girlfriend could hear VERY clearly what i was talking about, and just how similar they really are.

Don't get me wrong, Nickelback is probably the catchiest rock band out there right now... but is that enough? I answer with a resounding NO! The thing is, mass media expects only the catchiest of songs and treats that as about the only aspect of music worth airing. It's not even their fault though, who could blame them? It's how they are going to generate revenue. The average person (and even those who pretend they are more into music than they really are) only listens to something because it makes them a bit giddy when the chorus of the song comes on. Now, if you're doing anything REMOTELY harmonically adventurous, it's TOO MUCH for a casual listener of the radio to grasp, and they won't be able to get into it. This is WHY you don't hear any songs that are truly "different" on the radio. Ever wonder why all songs are about 3-4 minutes, get to the chorus in 30 seconds or less, and repeat it 5-10 times a song? hardly seems interesting to me. But the point is that when the song ends, you'll have that "catch" in your head and want to buy the album. Unfortunately with that kind of easy consumption, almost inevitably comes a quick and painful downfall. Songs that simple are just too hard to be interesting for a long time.

What am i getting at you ask? well, i'm getting at the fact that music has so much more to offer than what most people are typically exposed to, and it's really a shame that something like Nickelback gets touted as the greatest rock band of our time. Do some of you know that not every band has an album of 12 songs at 3-4 minutes long? did you know some bands release songs upwards of 20 minutes? sounds boring huh? well, it would be if they tried to just repeat the chorus and use the kind of structure Nickelback does. My point is, Nickelback songs go nowhere. They start somewhere nice and simple, go into a chorus which is just stepping on the distortion pedal (don't forget their lame "chug chug chug chug" that they do going into every chorus), and then they do that a few times and end. It's not entertaining to me.

Imagine a song which represents an entire emotional experience, running through the gamut of feelings one can get through the music, and leaving you sitting there when it is all over wondering how that just happened to you. When this happens, you'll realize the power of music doesn't come in small 3 minute chunks of the same thing over and over, it comes from transitions between emotions, a "journey", if you will. The whole is infinitely greater than the sum of it's parts.

People can be changed through music... the sheer power of what some people have created is overwhelming, and it's extremely unfortunate that such a small number of people will ever come to realize this. My girlfriend despises Nickelback now, once i explained what it was that makes them unworthy of the praise they get. Let me say though, they are not without talent. I do think Chad has got an excellent ear for melody, and has a unique and fairly pleasing vocal tone. Lucky for him, that's EXACTLY all you need to make it in the pop world, so that's the end of that. Superstardom. I urge you, however, to try to seek more out of your music than just a catchy voice. If you just spend a little time looking (the radio won't help you here), you just may find something that will change your outlook on music, and bands like Nickelback will no longer cut it. Sorry, Nickelback, you're forever pegged to be attacked for what you do musically, but i guess SOMEONE'S gotta be the simplest and catchiest rock band on the radio. After all, most people love that.

1 out of 5 stars

What a load of dung.... April 17, 2006
17 out of 31 found this review helpful

When I first heard Nickelback about 7 or 8 years ago (The State), I thought they were decent, nothing great, but decent. I still think The State is an OK disc. But like most bands, once they sell out and find fame, the quality of the product goes down the tubes. Besides being musically bland, and never changing...the lyrics are just about as deep as a rain puddle after a drizzle. "Figured you out" has to be the worst...any 8th grade dropout could write that, its just plain dumb, as well as vulgar.

1 out of 5 stars

Bland, derivative mainstream radio fodder May 5, 2004
16 out of 21 found this review helpful

Nickelback is the very prototype of corporate rock: They're playing a style of music that has already been played to death, only they're even more commercial and radio-friendly than their influences, and their trite, simplistic lyrics (i.e. "I like your pants around your feet / I like the dirt that's on your knees") also give them widespread appeal. Essentially, Nickelback has no important statements to make, and nothing relevant to contribute to music as an art form - they're just a mindless corporate rock entity that's perfect for cranking up REALLY loud at your next fraternity party.

The band's fourth release, The Long Road, finds Nickelback rehashing the same themes and sounds as albums prior - is it just me, or do "How You Remind Me" and "Someday" sound like practically the same song? Go figure - leave it to corporate hacks like these guys to go and rewrite their hit songs. Frontman Chad Kroeger's angst comes off as artificial and contrived - rather than covering themes of abusive relationships and his father not being there when he needed him, now he's upset because of his band's touring commitments. I can't wait for Nickelback's next album - perhaps Kroeger will be irate about spilling a glass of milk, or maybe running out of cigarettes will ruin his day the next time around.

The bland watered-down fourth-tier grunge of Silver Side Up has been diluted even further, making the album even more accessible to adult contemporary audiences - one can imagine just as many soccer moms going to their concerts as frat boys. I don't picture this album as warranting repeated listening either: They made the mistake of putting the one energetic track on the album ("Flat On The Floor") at the very beginning - after that it's a monotonous stream of mid-tempo mediocrity ... if they had any idea of how to sequence an album, they would have put that track somewhere in the middle.

In summary: Nickelback doesn't fix what isn't broken - it's another album of slick, polished pseudo-grunge that takes even fewer chances than their previous releases. All the polish and glitz of this album's production can't hide the weak songwriting and unoriginality of this band.

1 out of 5 stars Gives new meaning to the word generic August 26, 2004
16 out of 41 found this review helpful

How this band got popular is beyond me. All the songs sound exactly the same and Chad Kroeger may possibly have the most annoying voice in the world. This band defines so many terms perfectly. Boring, Generic, Bored to Death (you'll wanna die after a minute or two) lame...etc. All come to mind when I think of this. I can see why Fear Factory, Deicide, Type O Negative Cynic, and all the other smart bands left Roadrunner. I wouldn't want to be in the same building as Nickelback, much less associated with them. Finally, no I'm not just saying that cause I'm an ignorant American and hate Canada. If you wanna support Canada at least buy something that deserves to be popular like Devin Townsend.

1 out of 5 stars Despicable February 13, 2005
16 out of 31 found this review helpful

Alright Nickelback fans, please, Im begging you. Before you buy this album, before you give a four or five star review or before you automatically click the "no" button at the bottom of this review, do something for me. If you happen to have 2 cd players handy, listen to "Someday" and "How You Remind Me" at the same time. Beat for beat, line for line, they are the EXACT same song. These guys have absolutely no originality; from the start theyve been ripping off grunge bands such as Pearl Jam and Days Of The New. And now theyre just writing the same songs over and over to sell to the naive, impressionable people who buy this junk and dont realize that Nickelback are only in it for the money. Stop supporting this band and all of its sound alikes.

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