Nickelback

My friend, Nicki Gonzalez, sent me an email with this mp3 link yesterday.

http://www.sleeplessnight.net/media/nickelbacksucks.mp3

On the left channels you hear Nickelback’s hit song “Someday”. On the right chanel you hear Nickelback’s hit song, “How You Remind Me”. Notice how now only are the verses and choruses very similar but the places where the song builds are the same.

So does this prove that corporate music and radio sucks? Maybe, but it certainly adds to my belief that it is not innovative and offers the public very few choices.

As I was driving home yesterday, I thought lot about these two songs. I have spent a little time working at EMI, Capital and Island records and I have seen some of the power these company have.

But is this what the public wants? Just because they are practically the same song doesn’t mean I am ready to dismiss them. They are both huge hits. Maybe songs that sound like this are what people want. Or maybe, once you have sold the public on a particular song and sound they want more of that but just a little different. I know I like Maroon 5’s hit “This Love” because it reminds me of a song I used to love in the 80’s.

Nickelback is a band that I should like. Stretching your powers of description you might say Chad Kroeger and I sing and look similar. But I don’t focus on the music when these songs come on the radio. I ignore them. I can’t say I hate them. But they haven’t engaged me either.

Can you like one of these songs and not like the other? And if so, why? Is the magic formula to how to write a song that the public wants to hear? Is what we like about music more about familiarity than innovation? Would you want an entire album that sounds basically the same or each track completely different?

I’m afraid to answer these questions. One of my favorite new albums is Bob Dylan’s “Time Out Of Mind.” I’ve always had a problem remembering which song is which on the album.