Nickelback Plagiarize Themselves

Can a band plagiarize itself? One listener in Canada has implied as much by taking two songs by the band Nickelback and superimposing them over one another to emphasize the similarity.

Mikey Smith, a 21-year-old college student and musician in Alberta, Canada, heard two of the band's songs on the radio and immediately noticed something was strange.

"I kind of noticed, well, you can hum the melody of the other one over this one, and I wondered why this is," Smith says. "So I tried to put them together, one on the left speaker, one on the right speaker. And it was actually ridiculous how similar they were."

What Smith noticed was that Nickelback's earlier hit song, "How You Remind Me," sounded very similar to one of the band's newest songs, "Someday." Once the similarity was discovered, the songs started piggybacking around the Internet with the moniker "How You Remind Me of Someday."

Smith admitted that he tweaked the songs a bit to create his musical Frankenstein, but he says he did so to prove how similar the songs are. He wanted to make a point to his friends and girlfriend, a big Nickelback fan.

Well, she was.

"She pretty much despises Nickelback now," Smith said.

Smith said he put his remixed Nickelback song on his Web page so his friends could listen to it. But once on the Web, Smith's creation got loose.

"A lot more people heard it than I was expecting," he says. "And it's everywhere. I couldn't stop it if I tried."

Responses to Smith's discovery have been mixed. Some say he's a genius, while others have been less complimentary.

Nickelback's publicist has not commented on Smith's discovery, but bassist Mike Kroeger was asked about it in an interview with the Cleveland Free Times. Kroeger told the newspaper, "I think that's remarkable for someone to notice that there's a hit quality. If all hits sound the same, then sorry. When you are a band that has a distinct style, such as us or AC/DC, that happens. When you have a distinct style, you run the risk of sounding similar."

Smith says that's grounds for fraud. He claims Nickelback is ripping off its fans, some of whom might not realize it.

This is not the first time a band has been accused of copying itself. In the mid-1980s, John Fogerty was sued by Fantasy Records, which claimed the singer's "Run Through the Jungle" and "Old Man Down the Road" were the same song. Fogerty won the case with the help of expert witness Gerald Eskelin, a forensic musicologist in California.

Eskelin says that just because the Nickelback songs sound familiar, that doesn't mean they are the same.

"The melodies are different in these two songs," Eskelin says. "The only thing that's the same is the bass line or the chord structure."

Read more at NPR.org.

Comments

[Gein]

This is really old news.

But yes, Nickelback sucks.

[getts182]

I remember being young and naive back in the day and buying Nickelback's Silverside Up CD. The article reminded me of how I need to get rid of their music from my collection. Tonight.

[Comeback Kiddd]

This is no suprise. I thought everyone already knew that

[dcoyle4040]

I heard Laars was going to sew them over this because its the same bass notes used in "Enter Sandman"

Oh man this is like two years old.

Not just that, but he sped up someday and removed a line from one of the verses to make them match up better. He also removed as solo from How You Remind Me.

Funny, but fake and ancient.

[HavokStrife]

This is about as old as those two songs are...

[weirdjohn87]

I was pretty sure everyone new this already?

[GuitarJunkie]

i heard that file of the song over two friggin years ago...THATS THE REASON WHY NO ONE LIKES NICKELBACK...old news.

[jpast]

I almost threw up when the bassist compared his shitty band to AC/DC. Thats bush league

[GuitarJunkie]

This kid is an idiot though? fraud? big deal, the band is bad so they needed two singles and made them sound similar.

[thejester]

thanks UG for keeping us posted on this riveting topic

[2late2know]

It's pretty old news, but seriously I don't see why this guys girlfriend will suddenly hate the band out of something like this. I hardly think she can call herself a nickleback fan (or any fan of a band) if she's willing to drop them that easily.
By the way I don't like nickelback too much, but this is kind of pointless to go through this just for not liking them

[Bootsauce]

its never too late when discussing how nickelback has now become a rotting, putrid, stinking bag o' puke..can a band get any dumber or more irrelevant?

[Metal_Rich]

This should have been made a thread in the pit, not a bloody news article, and even then you would have got 1000 people saying "Old as time itself".

Either way, I still like both songs. If it sounds good, why complain?

[Fly-swatter]

that kid is a loser with obviously no life lol...i'm not even a fan of Nickleback i think that kid is a douche.

[Giant Tool]

i think thats a load of crap. it's not plagerism, look at billy talent, all of their songs sound similar because they have their own style. look at korn, they did freak on a leash, which has had several remixes done, so that smith guy is a retard

[pucci6d6]

this article made me lmao so hard through the whole thing
1st, the songs are the "same" (idk i never heard them)
2nd, his girlfriend hates the band now
3rd, just when i thought the article died, the forensic musicologist, i laughed so hard
i hate nickelback, but what a douche for having so much time to do that and diss a band

[-xCaMRocKx-]

yer.. kinda obvious just by listening to them.. most people would just stop there, but some take it too far by putting them over the top with each other. i think we should tell this guy about blink 182, and see how many more "news" stories we can get outta this subject.

[poona]

Man this news is old...many bands are like that anyway. Blink 182, Sum 41, Dragonforce. Nickelback is no exception. I do like to listen to Someday though, its a nice tune

[Cobalt Blue]

i was gonna say, i thought i had heard 'someday' on the radio and turned it off a long time ago...

' "She pretty much despises Nickelback now," Smith said.'
she picked that reason to hate them? I used to like the band actually but then I got annoyed by a vast majority of their songs have the same sort of song structure... you know slowish verse, heavy chorus, repeat.

*shudder* i hope nobody compares Nickleback to AC/DC ever again though.

[dieloony2]

who cares, its nickleback, there not exactly musical geniuses

[South-of-Heaven]

Old. And who cares about complexity?

[Ba11sINurFAC3]

Haha as if there needed to be some innovative experiment to demonstrate how much this band blows.

[break-me-in]

Metal_Rich wrote:

This should have been made a thread in the pit, not a bloody news article, and even then you would have got 1000 people saying "Old as time itself".

Either way, I still like both songs. If it sounds good, why complain?

I agree.

Besides, plenty of bands have done this. Sum 41 have done it, Nirvana intentionally made Rape Me sound like Teen Spirit, AC/DC have so many similar songs it's ridiculous, New Born and Sunburn by Muse have a similar structure, DragonForce have some very similar songs, as do Snow Patrol... The list goes on.

[Ali-b912]

shit i need an edit button,

poona wrote:

Man this news is old...many bands are like that anyway. Blink 182, Sum 41, Dragonforce. Nickelback is no exception. I do like to listen to Someday though, its a nice tune

one of my friends was humming the part after the line take your pants off from the blink 182 song and i realised was identical to dammit also by blink. i played i too him and we laughed our asses off at it for like 5 minutes. i havent heard the take ur pants off one but he hadnt heard dammit and he says they are identical (he has nearly perfect pitch, like a semittone off)

[ironman316]

yeah i heard about this like 6 years ago. he didn't find it out. selfish bastard. lol. i found out on the radio!

[Korzack]

Haha well that's gotta be a first, eh? Specially considering how you remind me's still the song most folk know the band for

[senor_penguin]

hahah pwnd

[CJRocker]

Slow news day I guess...

[stumaster18]

Nickelback is anything but shitty. They are not a joke. AC/DC is a joke. Probably the biggest joke band of all time. Talented, but a joke band. Nickelback is a fantastic live band, and if TWO of their hundreds of songs sound the same, I think it's safe to say we can cut them a break. Like c'mon.

[GuitarGod610]

Distinct style my ass. Nickelback is anything but distinct. They represent everything about music that is bland and stale like a bagel that you leave outside for weeks, or in this case, years. If anything, they're an exact Creed clone at best. Besides that, every Nickelback song I've heard on the radio is the same stuff that they've been spitting out their entire career, not to mention that it's insanely hard to tell all those hits apart from eachother because they're essentially the same song.

[CyreniaBass]

Let them write the music. They have a style that works for them.

[Jondy]

while I agree they could just as well hire a techy to write a nickelback song generator script, this is so old the dinosaurs heard about it before they died.

[Nor'Easterbass]

i heard the mashup on 104.1 WBCN over a year ago. damn this is old news.

[Nebblacktip]

You know, i really hate Nickleback (see GuitarGods610 for all the reasons why, he covered it quite well) And i heard about this and saw the video thingy about two years ago. My roommates and i laughed about it and that was it. Not to compare Nickleback to bands with actual talent, but The entirety of the Ramones First Album Sounds the same, and i love it to death anyway. If the band is good, who cares?

However, i still think Nickleback Sucks. Gabba Gabba Hey

[Paradise Lost]

Just like trivium did with The Crusade/Ascendancy.

They also suck.

[beggles]

The crusade and ascendancy are two completely different albums, you just bought trivium into this so you could say they suck, dont be stupid

[kjlee2112]

i'm pretty sure that you have no life if you pay this much attention to something as dumb as this. if somebody likes the song, let them. jesus. did anybody say this crap about led zeppelin? they have tons of similar sounding songs.

[IlikeMetal]

old as hell news, but its from NPR so...

[IlikeMetal]

...or is it some anti-nickelback person trying to influence public opinion?

im going with some retard stirring up nearly 3yo news, to try and ruin a bands credibility

[Captain Chaos]

Its the first time I hear about this.

[taytay8b]

this is really sad, if you dont like the band, then who cares. obviously i dont care, and neither does anyone else. you got nothing good to say, then dont say it. as well, yes nickelback have their distinct genre of alternative/rock but look at AC/DC, or Billy Talent, or Creed etc. etc. It all sounds the same, song after song after song. As well, if you guys have already listened to this the guy tweaked each song so much that you couldnt even tell what you were listening to. He pulled out a whole bunch of verses from how you remind me and sped up Someday like crazy. So, In my opinion, there not the same song. The chord patters and strum patters dont even match. And as the for the guy who did this to prove his point, what a douche, he obviously has no life. Okay, if a band has a distinct genre then yes you will get stuff that sounds similar. And everyone who thinks this douchebag is right should really post what type of music you listen to so i can make of it too.

[tim311mahoney]

mike kroeger is right, even if his band hasn't put out a good album since The State. but nickelback fans are the MTV type and thus too uneducated to realize the similarities. So no harm, no foul.

[deansouthpaw]

don't you compare zeppelin to nickelback

don't you put that curse on me ricky bobby

[PekarGuitar]

kjlee2112 wrote:

i'm pretty sure that you have no life if you pay this much attention to something as dumb as this. if somebody likes the song, let them. jesus. did anybody say this crap about led zeppelin? they have tons of similar sounding songs.

Man,comparing Nickelback to Zep? At best that is ballsy and ignorant. At worst that is music heresy and a musical inquisition must be started. Begone Music Heathens!

[TJ1991]

cos no band has ever had 2 slightly similar songs...?

[Hexagram]

Paradise Lost wrote:

Just like trivium did with The Crusade/Ascendancy.

They also suck.

I'm sorry Helen Keller, but you must not have even listened to the albums

[alquinna]

Honestly, this was kinda old news man. Other band like linkin Park, Sum 41 and Billy Talent do that. But so what, I still like it. But why would nickleback release their singles sounding like each other. I mean, if you buy their albums, there has to be a few songs that sound diffrent but yet, they release ones that are similar. Im not saying its bad or anything but if they release singles that are diffrent from what they usually do, it would then show how diverse they really are.

[xmurderoticax]

"I think that's remarkable for someone to notice that there's a hit quality. If all hits sound the same, then sorry. When you are a band that has a distinct style, such as us or AC/DC, that happens. When you have a distinct style, you run the risk of sounding similar."

I think he means "When you're a shitty band making shitty music, you tend to lose all creative thought and start dishing out rehashed radio garbage so that we can bullshit our fans into buying our albums (but we honestly still don't know why they do)."

[dcoyle4040]

I like a range of music and someday all you Metal heads will grow up and realize that Nickelback wasnt as bad as you thought. Trust me you will. Then you'll realize that they made millions off there style of music and you ended up as a floor cleaning tech. because you were to naive to open your minds to more than one style of music.
I like music not just one type of music.
Beatles, AD/CD, Metalica, Megadeth, Sabath, Slayer, Judist Priest, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Mamas and Papas, James Taylor, Ben Harper, Cat Stevens, Yellowcard, Greenday, Cross Canadian Ragweed.....You get it yet?
There popular for a reason.. and its not cuz they suck

[IainDavies_2]

I love Nickelback, and it may be true that Someday and How You Remind Me sound similar but the guy is a loser to think that he's proving something to the world. Although i love AC/DC, you can listen to all of their songs and find that they plagiarised themselves, they always use the same chords, but they're still good. What a loser to think he's proving something. Oh and to Paradise Lost: to Trivium do not suck,YOU SUCK!!! Ascendancy and The Crusade are two completely different albums.

[HukedAnFonix]

If they wrote the song they "copied" and they can get by recycling their own stuff, more power to them. Its their stuff, they can do what they wish with it. Its not the first time its been done, it certainly won't be the last. Listen to Wonderwall, by Oasis, and then listen to their song Do You Know What I Mean? In the non-chorus part, it sounds almost exactly the same. Also Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, and There's No Home For You Here, by the White Stripes, are quite similar in some parts as well. Woohoo. People tweak material that THEY wrote themselves. Not a big deal in my opinion. (Granted the guys from Oasis admit ripping off some people at times, but I don't think Wonderwall ripped anyone off).

[dcoyle4040]

Just to clarify I dont think there the best band ever or anything. Just give them some slack every artist thats written hundreds of songs is bound to change something they like up into something else

[alex-led-zepp91]

im sorry but did kroeger jus call nickleback "distinct"and compare them to ac/dc,
he's havin a laugh

[ze monsta]

rofl, comparing AC/DC to nickelback...

[psychokiller99]

stumaster18 wrote:

Nickelback is anything but shitty. They are not a joke. AC/DC is a joke. Probably the biggest joke band of all time. Talented, but a joke band. Nickelback is a fantastic live band, and if TWO of their hundreds of songs sound the same, I think it's safe to say we can cut them a break. Like c'mon.

lol, wow, ACDC owns nickelback, i don't care from what angle you look at it, commercial success, creativity, talent, malcom and angus could play a lot of different shit, but they wanna rock n' roll, they are great at what they do...those fools from nickelback play what the record label execs tell them to play...garbage

[jdyoungca]

I found this article reasonably hilarious. Living in Canada we tend to get bombarded with bands like Nickleback due to Canadian content rules on the radio, and I have joked in the past that Nickleback has only ever actually written about 3 songs and they just keep cutting them and sticking them back together in a different order and repackaging them for release. But now its been scientifically proven!

[troyponce]

Old news is OLD.

[2mins2midnite]

WAT!!!!
This is stupid, nickleback cannot plagerize themselfs casue they made the music so they cannot get charged.

[mrryan]

if they were metallica they would be suing themselves.

[Metallica708]

This is incredibly old...

[ibanezguitarz07]

who cares if two of their songs sound alike? if people still like the song then why make a big deal just because it sounds like another one of their songs

[ready2breakdown]

Shadows Fall should be the next one to fall out for this out too. But the thing is it's way more evident with them. Most of the Threads of Life sounds like riffs from older songs, riffs and even solos!!! lmao.

[SchitzoJoe]

"When you are a band that has a distinct style, such as us or AC/DC, that happens. When you have a distinct style, you run the risk of sounding similar."

Hah. The Beatles have a distinct style, and none of their songs sound similar. Slipknot has a distinct style and none of their songs sound similar. Avenged Sevenfold sounds distinct and none of their songs sound similar. Tool has a VERY distinct sound and 99% of their songs don't sound similar.

He's such a retard.

[Junesongtrigger]

Mikey Smith is a fantastic guitarist, he's from where I live. He isn't an idiot, he just took this a lot further than it had to be taken. It is clear that Nickelback use the same structure in practically every song and every song is very similar but that just proves that people like repetition. Check out Mikey Smiths purevolume website and listen to a song called "On The Wing" because it is wonderful.

[Jondy]

alquinna wrote:

Honestly, this was kinda old news man. Other band like linkin Park, Sum 41 and Billy Talent do that. But so what, I still like it. But why would nickleback release their singles sounding like each other. I mean, if you buy their albums, there has to be a few songs that sound diffrent but yet, they release ones that are similar. Im not saying its bad or anything but if they release singles that are diffrent from what they usually do, it would then show how diverse they really are.

it's because to our ears it sounds very lazy. linkin park you can tell from listening to it, inspite of a formula, that they did spend alot of time and worked very hard on their stuff. nickelback's stuff just sounds very lazy. they never do anything different... hell if they just experiment with effects some more or try new guitar tones it might be different.

[9badarv]

dude, who cares if 2 songs from the same band sound similar. bands usually have a signature sound

[Metallica rulz]

duhh.. every song sounds exactly the same, known that for years. i think its because they use the same picking pattern on the acoustic songs, and on the others...well they just sound the same, no excuse.

[DaddyTwoFoot]

This is literally years old.

[taytay8b]

ok this is pissing me off, the bassist in the interview didnt compare nickelback to AC/DC goddammit! He's using an example, not comparing what bands are better. He said that you'll get other bands LIKE AC/DC using the same distinct style. He didnt say, We're better than AC/DC and we're comparing them and our band is better! You guys should really read before you say shit. And yes I know AC/DC is probably about 10x better than Nickelback, I'm just trying to correct some of you asses who can't read.

[sardonicgoat]

the fact that nickleback makes similar sounding songs doesn't make them a bad band. It's the fact that they suck at making good music that makes them a bad band. i mean there are bands that have distinct sounds, like i can always tell when a song is by the Smashing Pumpkins, or the Mars Volta, or Weezer, or Slipknot, or Jimi Hendrix, or.....you get the point. The good bands have a distinct sound that when you hear them you know it's them and it doesn't remind you of anyone else. The problem with Nickleback is that they have a distinct sound that sounds like every other "rock" band out there today. Not to be a cynic, but the vast majority of new "rock" music sounds the same, except for a few very talented bands.

[bbsbass]

Ali-b912 wrote:
one of my friends was humming the part after the line take your pants off from the blink 182 song and i realised was identical to dammit also by blink. i played i too him and we laughed our asses off at it for like 5 minutes. i havent heard the take ur pants off one but he hadnt heard dammit and he says they are identical (he has nearly perfect pitch, like a semittone off)

ahahahaha! you're both talking about the same song douche. when blink played damnit live sometimes they would say "take your pants off" at the beginning of the song during the intro riff, which is the riff that you're talking about. so yes, i can understand why they would sound the same. since it's the same song. way to go

[samerika]

sardonicgoat wrote:

i mean there are bands that have distinct sounds, like Weezer.
The good bands have a distinct sound that when you hear them you know it's them and it doesn't remind you of anyone else.

Oh yeah i always feel better of being a big weezer fan :P

And yes you are right, every song sounds a bit similar,
for example take the green album, on which eveyr song is very similar.
Or Make believe, you can notice that Cuomo bought a new talkbox, because it is in lots of solos, and only in that album.

This news reminds me a bit of oasis, who have "copied" their selves lots of times, for example they have two songs that use the same chords in the same order and with similar rhythm.

[Megalomaniac16]

Wow, I never realized Nickelback's songs sounded similar! Good thing this article was written!

[lead131619]

OLD! haha i heard a clip that did the same thing a couple years ago when someday first came out..

[Regular_Guy]

A lot of people are complaining about the ACDC comparison in the article. Although ACDC is certainly a much better band, it is true that they are lacking in the variety department, all their songs sound very alike. A lot of bands have songs that sound really similar, Nickelback just happens to have been called on it.
That being said, Nickelback sucks.

Checked.

[CobenBlack]

i dont think it matters, they are a good modern band and in my anything but humble opinion there arent enough of those.

[aliceinnirvana]

I really, really dislike Nickelback.
I liked them when I first heard them.
Then every single that followed sounded identical.
Now every time I hear the singers' voice I want to puke.
Also, yea, this article is about something ancient.

[HumanitysDeath]

You could say the same damn thing about AC/DC, so who cares.

[MrGtD]

When you are a band that has a distinct style, such as us or AC/DC,

Did he just compare Nickelback to AC/DC?!

[fiendcracker]

nicleback=posers >.

[scarfacesuit]

nickelback has always sounded the same. this is old.

MrGtD wrote:

When you are a band that has a distinct style, such as us or AC/DC,

Did he just compare Nickelback to AC/DC?!

no, he said nickelback sounded the same in their music, and AC/DC does too. he means that they both have distinct styles, not that they're the same style.
i mean, i still like both bands, but this guy has a point.

[radioplay]

Giant Tool wrote:

i think thats a load of crap. it's not plagerism, look at billy talent, all of their songs sound similar because they have their own style. look at korn, they did freak on a leash, which has had several remixes done, so that smith guy is a retard

i agree,and as much im not a huge nickelback fan, look at bands like Boston, U2 and AC/DC...i love AC/DC but to me almost every one of their songs sounds the exact same

the only reason this is on UG is people actually like AC/DC.

[Ishiga]

Everyone knows that Nickelback couldn't write a unique song if their life depended on it. They're a carbon-copy generic piece of sh!t excuse for noise.

They're there for one reason and one reason only.

Saturday night, nothing to do, lots of sound in your ears. That's the one purpose they serve rather well.

[werty22]

Not surprising.

[Elypson]

dieloony2 wrote:

who cares, its nickleback, there not exactly musical geniuses

So you have to be a musical genius to write good music?
Songs dont have to be technical to be good...

I like Nickelback and saw that website 2 years ago. I stil like them, i think they write good tunes.. my music taste goes from one extreme to the other and somedays i just want to listen to something thats easy listening..

Besidses, its not like they claim to be something amazing, if you watch any interviews they do they seem to be pretty humble about their success. Give em a break. Even if they arent your cup of tea..

[earplay]

haha @ haters.

Nickelback is an incredible band.

the end.

[matt_fender_3]

all of ac/dc's songs sound the same. yet no article.
eww i don't like that band

[euan_soad]

Who cares, Maiden use teh same chord progression in nearly every song and look how good they are \m/

[protestthehero8]

jpast wrote:

I almost threw up when the bassist compared his shitty band to AC/DC. Thats bush league

ac/dc is gay anyways. i'd rather listen to Nickelback any day than hear ac/dc's singer's annoying voice. and yes, i know, chad kroeger has an annoying voice as well, but personally i think that ac/dc's singer;s voice is so much more aggravating.

[protestthehero8]

euan_soad wrote:

Who cares, Maiden use teh same chord progression in nearly every song and look how good they are \m/

AMEN. Maiden rule.

[Wylde-Carde]

Egads..Nickelback recorded two songs that sound the same...with some tweaking....just like AC/DC did with the riffs in "Who Made Who"(1986) and "Thunderstruck"(1990), and just like Alice Cooper did with his songs "Reflected" from Pretties For You(1969) and "Elected" from Billion Dollar Babies(1973)..

[yonathon]

i think nickelback are pretty awesome so screw you all hahahahahah

[吉他手成年]

Yeah i heard about this a while ago on some news station

[British Josh]

i laughed at that forensic musicologist guy. seriously. its like "What do you do for a living?" "Oh, I'm a t.v. repair man. And you" "Oh, well I'm a forensic musicologist." haha

[the boogieman]

very old news

but it gives me hope that society will finally boycott nickelback

[tamargoguitar]

I love these guys but i hate the fact that they compare themselves to ac/dc

[LosVatos88]

nickelback is a terrible band with hardly any technical skill or creativity at all...not trying to offend anyone, just stating what i believe to be true

[Cresspo]

taytay8b wrote:

this is really sad, if you dont like the band, then who cares. obviously i dont care, and neither does anyone else. you got nothing good to say, then dont say it. as well, yes nickelback have their distinct genre of alternative/rock but look at AC/DC, or Billy Talent, or Creed etc. etc. It all sounds the same, song after song after song. As well, if you guys have already listened to this the guy tweaked each song so much that you couldnt even tell what you were listening to. He pulled out a whole bunch of verses from how you remind me and sped up Someday like crazy. So, In my opinion, there not the same song. The chord patters and strum patters dont even match. And as the for the guy who did this to prove his point, what a douche, he obviously has no life. Okay, if a band has a distinct genre then yes you will get stuff that sounds similar. And everyone who thinks this douchebag is right should really post what type of music you listen to so i can make of it too.

Dream Theater, Symphony X....well, not really sounding EXACTLY the same all the time right?

on topic:
I have this wma file on my pc...(yeah i know, start the flaming) and it's indeed weird but i really hated to see someone compare nickelback with ac/dc....it;'s just disgusting

[rebreh]

It is pretty old news. Besides I rember when they fist came out they were good. But they sold out to pop rock now there songs suck huge ginormous eggs

[guitgrinder]

OK, so I've discovered a couple things reading the comments here:
1) It is musical "heresy" to compare NB to AC/DC or Zeppelin, and 2) You're all saying the smae things over, and over, and over...

I'm not the biggest Nickleback fan, though they've got a few that are decent, but I'm gonna defend a statement from them here. He didn't say "we're just as good as AC/DC," he basically said that some bands have "predictable songwriting." And if you argue that AC/DC does not, then you're an idiot, 'cuz even they themselves know that. It's all about giving the fans (whoever they may be) what they want to hear. Some bands just choose not to be so adventerous in their sound... especially when it's one guy doing 98% of the songwriting. Since it's "blasphemy" to compare them to AC/DC and Zep (which, btw, LZ I & II are basically the same album), I'm gonna compare them to the almighty Slayer. Slayer have done like, 10 songs over and over throughout the past 20 years or so. Kerry even admitted that. I guess what I'm sayin' is that it don't really matter if you play the same 3 chords in two diff. songs as long as you find other things to do differently... like lyrics, drum patterns, whatever. If you hate Nickleback, why do you care? If you like Nickleback, why would you care?

[Second Rate]

I don't dig nickleback, but there is nothing wrong with a band copying itself. It's just a formula they know is gonna work..... A "security blanket" you could call it. If they had written their singles by swiping riffs and melodies from other artists (like i dunno... Green Day or Lamb of God), then I could see a reason to complain.

[chuckschuldiner]

Old or not, this isn't news at all. Just a real obvious fact that everyone should have been able to point out by themselves.

[koolfoolinapool]

leadgtr wrote:

dcoyle4040 wrote:

I heard Laars was going to sew them over this because its the same bass notes used in "Enter Sandman"



THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE BECAUSE METALLICA WOULD SUE ANYTHING THAT HAD A PULSE IF THEY COULD!!

All they ever sued was Napster.

They actually supported Beatallica when they were getting sued.

But I'd be pretty pissed if someone stole my bass notes and put em in their song.

[Kegan]

dcoyle4040 wrote:

I like a range of music and someday all you Metal heads will grow up and realize that Nickelback wasnt as bad as you thought. Trust me you will. Then you'll realize that they made millions off there style of music and you ended up as a floor cleaning tech. because you were to naive to open your minds to more than one style of music.
I like music not just one type of music.
Beatles, AD/CD, Metalica, Megadeth, Sabath, Slayer, Judist Priest, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Mamas and Papas, James Taylor, Ben Harper, Cat Stevens, Yellowcard, Greenday, Cross Canadian Ragweed.....You get it yet?
There popular for a reason.. and its not cuz they suck

comparing the beatles and bands like yellowcard or green day is about as stupid as you can get.

The beatles have (or had, rather) talent and brilliant songwriting ability, while yellowcard writes whiny punk songs for teenage kids without musical taste. The beatles have over twenty-five or so singles, while yellowcard has less than ten. It takes actual musicians to write good albums from beginning to end. Listen to Rubber Soul or Revolver for a week, and then try and compare the two bands.

And, of course, Nickelback is crap, but so is a good 45% or so of music. Apparently this is old news anyways.

[Seidenschnur]

I spoke to Chad Kroeger once about how I heard "This Is How You Remind Me" on the radio about 30 times a day. He then pointed to the venue (Aragon Ballroom, Chicago--around 5,000) and said, "We wouldn't be able to pack this place if you didn't hear it!" I shit you not. He was remarkably clever and he also was about 5'10" tops. He's just an average sized Canadian dude who writes the most predictable pop drivel since 'Nookie' by Limp Bizkit. Thanks for nothing, Chad.

[MrDude]

Oops I Did It Again and Hit Me Baby One More Time are pretty much the exact same song.

Also, Sum 41's new song Underclass Hero is basically a mash-up of some of their old songs.

[Major Seventh]

Nickelback... 5 albums, 4 chords. Although I don't actively hate them, they are probably one of the blandest bands in existence.

[Astaldo]

i really like nickelback
the guitar is my tone and chads voice is awesome

[BLS australia]

Hey stuff all u freakin idiots. YOU DONT EVEN KNOW GOOD MUSIC EVEN IF IT HITS U IN THE FACE! Nickelback are one of the only bands which can pull off countless number one's. They deserve more than all u people out there abusing and degrading them.

[wyldeshredder]

BLS australia wrote:

Hey stuff all u freakin idiots. YOU DONT EVEN KNOW GOOD MUSIC EVEN IF IT HITS U IN THE FACE! Nickelback are one of the only bands which can pull off countless number one's. They deserve more than all u people out there abusing and degrading them.

manufactured,plastic ass,push my wheelbarrow of money to the bank pop/rock...i guess if thats what makes u tick....

[Longshanks]

Has anyone noticed that Linkin Park does this in like every one of their songs?

[thankyougermany]

mrryan wrote:

if they were metallica they would be suing themselves.

ROFL!

[SoftParade1967]

So what? Nickelback is an amazing band and nothing can change that. And for what wyldeshredder said. THERE NOT FUCKING POP ROCK!!!! there ****ing metal!! Listen to there good songs! Side of A Bullet, Animals, Woke Up This Morning, Holdout your Hand, and contless other songs. Those are ****ing metal riffs!!

Nickelback owns all the modern day bands.

[jplay5]

well first off, i hate nickelback...ruining the record industry

secondly, when everyone finally gets tired of nickleback, the singer can sue Hinder, because those two bands are ****ing identical pieces of shit

[Longshanks]

SoftParade1967 wrote:

So what? Nickelback is an amazing band and nothing can change that. And for what wyldeshredder said. THERE NOT FUCKING POP ROCK!!!! there ****ing metal!! Listen to there good songs! Side of A Bullet, Animals, Woke Up This Morning, Holdout your Hand, and contless other songs. Those are ****ing metal riffs!!

Nickelback owns all the modern day bands.

Learn to use the correct use of the word "there" (there, they're, their).

[DopeDanny]

omg a band copied themselves!! yea ok shit like that where songs sound alike has been around with the ramones and misfits and probably way before that shit like the old jazz guys n shit would do each others song and so on n so fourth

[nickel3t]

stumaster18 wrote:

Nickelback is anything but shitty. They are not a joke. AC/DC is a joke. Probably the biggest joke band of all time. Talented, but a joke band. Nickelback is a fantastic live band, and if TWO of their hundreds of songs sound the same, I think it's safe to say we can cut them a break. Like c'mon.

AC/DC is no joke...ur the joke

[BLS australia]

Nickelback are a band which sound as awesome live as the studio recording! people dont realise how good of a songwriter Chad Kroeger is.

[dann_blood]

the1 wrote:

Nickleback suck ass. Radio Rock with predictable chord changes and cheesy as hell tunes that make youy cringe.

Yes, because you are obviously the guitar virtuoso of our time.
But wait, according to 90% of UG, you have to be writing music as technical as say John Petrucci or Paul Gilbert to be considered good!
Not to mention that half you twats complain about hearing radio songs. TURN OFF YOUR FUCKING RADIO'S!! Download the albums from torrentz and you'll see that the other half of the albums are decent hard rock tunes.
And again, most of you fail to realise what the point of releasing a "single" is about - getting popularity. What music company in their right mind is going to put a single out that the minority might like, but the majority wont?
When someone defines why Nickelback is actually a bad band, apart from the ever useful "but they play teh powerchordz!!!, they sound like teh popzorz rockzorz, they arent Led Zeppelin!!!", then maybe I will change my opinion on them.

[BLS australia]

HASN'T ANYONE HEARD SIDE OF A BULLET? IT WAS DEDICATED TO THE ONE AND ONLY DIMEBAG DARRELL! IF ANYONE SAYS THAT SONG IS BAD OR EVEN HINTING TO IT, THEN U R SERIOUSLY F**KED IN THE HEAD!

[sum_ugly_man]

nickelback's only "good" song is the tribute to only and only dimebag darrell, the rest are too, i donno, too nickelback-ish, theyre really overrated, and im a canadian who's saying that

[fluffylump2]

OH REALLY?

[BLS australia]

Stuff all that prog crap, who cares if ur a virtuoso which can shred 100 notes per second. It doesnt always have to be technical, like all those crappy ass prog bands like dream theatre. The things they lack which good bands like nickelback have. MELODY, MEMORABLE LYRICS AND CATCHY SONGS. ( these are just some of the many feats of nickelback and their awesome musicianship.)

[sherwood123]

BLS australia wrote:

Stuff all that prog crap, who cares if ur a virtuoso which can shred 100 notes per second. It doesnt always have to be technical, like all those crappy ass prog bands like dream theatre. The things they lack which good bands like nickelback have. MELODY, MEMORABLE LYRICS AND CATCHY SONGS. ( these are just some of the many feats of nickelback and their awesome musicianship.)

that made me LOL so hard. Just give up now, you will NOT win this argument. Old news too.

[Heavy Metal Man]

BLS australia wrote:

HASN'T ANYONE HEARD SIDE OF A BULLET? IT WAS DEDICATED TO THE ONE AND ONLY DIMEBAG DARRELL! IF ANYONE SAYS THAT SONG IS BAD OR EVEN HINTING TO IT, THEN U R SERIOUSLY F**KED IN THE HEAD!

I agree, side of a bullet is a awsome song. Nickelback are a awsome band!!!!!
Who cares if two songs sound remotely the same, no true nickelback fan would give a S**t.

NICKELBACK ROCK!!!!!

[evilangel98]

pretty much every band does this.....i don't see what the big deal is. I'm not the biggest nickelback fan, but i like some of their songs.

[The Man Himself]

Did you guys know that Dirty Deeds by Acdc also sounds like TNT by Acdc? Nobody cares, Nickleback sucks because they ***** themselves out. Nickleback is pop and pop is designed to appeal to a larger audience, thats why it has things about it like the whole song surrounding the chorus just to get one catchy hook. Some people like a catchy hook and some people hate it because they look more into whats going into the music. Nobody has to shred 100 notes per second they just have to be doing it for the right reasons.

[vIsIbleNoIsE]

his girlfriend is an idiot for consequently hating nickelback

[motorbreath_445]

im not so sure everyone knows about this, but john fogerty was allready accused of "plagerising himself", only it was by his old lable. and as i seem to recall (after decided in the U.S. supreme court) that you cannot plagerize yourself. so in conclusion...shut the **** up for the love of god

[laxslinger]

Nickelback are popular whipping boys for wanna-be rockers and 'serious' music fans, much like Beavis and Butthead. But clearly many people love them as their last three CD's have sold more than any rock group out there right now. Many people love to hate them but millions just plain love em.

[guitarsolo_17]

yep...hey to let the poster of this know...Yngwie Malmsteen is considered an amazing guitarist, and he uses the same licks in alot of his music..but it's still great listening...really quite pointless to try and find similarities...

[GreekRockr9]

jpast wrote:

I almost threw up when the bassist compared his shitty band to AC/DC. Thats bush league

True dat brother.
I hates me some Nickelback.
The guys girlfriend needs to get over herself.
And lately I've been half expecting a UG headline saying "GUITAR LEGEND JIMI HENDRIX DIES FROM CHOKING ON VOMIT".

Don't flame each other.

Checked.

[taytay8b]

okay, if you guys think nickelback is so crapy, then listem to their first full-length album "Curb", it was an indi release, its been re-released as a major but its all very very heavy grunge/metal riffs that appeal to metal fans. They lost this heavy-ish type of sound when they went mainstream, trust me, do some downloading or something, Curb is their best and heaviest album, with some good old style metal riffs straight from 1996!

[smurfpiss]

This is insanely childish, both songs just happen to be in the same key utilizing the same scale. The melodies are different and more importantly in the type of music Nickelback does it's the lyrics that are most important so NEWSFLASH! the lyrics are different and that is more than enough to separate them. They are telling two totally different stories discussing two different issues...

Moreover tell me how many songs in the world use the oh so famous I-IV-V progression? Every one is plagiarizing each other then..

When it comes down to it production qualities, lyrics and arrangement really separate songs from each other not some stupid chord progression..

[kryzay311]

a radio station around here did that with 2 Creed songs, too. funny how Creed and Nickelback are both pretty bland

[PAsistem]

PekarGuitar wrote:

kjlee2112 wrote:

i'm pretty sure that you have no life if you pay this much attention to something as dumb as this. if somebody likes the song, let them. jesus. did anybody say this crap about led zeppelin? they have tons of similar sounding songs.


Man,comparing Nickelback to Zep? At best that is ballsy and ignorant. At worst that is music heresy and a musical inquisition must be started. Begone Music Heathens!

thats ballsy? well then i must have bowling balls for what im about to say. there is NOTHING good about led zeppelin. all of their songs drag on and on and go nowhere and they are terribly overrated. but i guess theyre the COOL band to like and jimmie page is the dude to have a hard over. at least nickelback songs dont make me want to fall asleep. led zep is DATED. i will listen to nickelback and like what i hear. and that, my friends, makes me feel a lot better than going on a thread getting on the anti-creed/nickelback bandwagon.

Checked.

[true_rocker3122]

lmfao!! i knew all of their songs sounded the same....like crap

[Masonpwiley]

Old news. Every Nickelback song sounds the same to me.

[the_bi99man]

Cobalt Blue wrote:

i was gonna say, i thought i had heard 'someday' on the radio and turned it off a long time ago...

' "She pretty much despises Nickelback now," Smith said.'
she picked that reason to hate them? I used to like the band actually but then I got annoyed by a vast majority of their songs have the same sort of song structure... you know slowish verse, heavy chorus, repeat.

*shudder* i hope nobody compares Nickleback to AC/DC ever again though.

He wasn't even comparing Nickelback to AC/DC in a musical sense, or a quality-of-music sense, he was just pointing out that AC/DC is another band that everyone loves who has an extremely distict style that makes them sound so similar to themselves that could release a brand new song that no one in the world has ever heard, tomorrow, and anyone who listens to AC/DC would know it was them after the third powerchord. On to Nickelback: No one cares if their songs sound the same, as tons of people have already said. Turn on your local pop music station and listen for 20 minutes, you'll see. Nickelback is still better than just about every other pop-rock band out there, mostly because they know how to write a good metal riff when they need to. Seriously, their newest album is loaded with great metal riffs. "Follow you Home", "Fight for all the Wrong Reasons", "Side of a Bullet". Good old-fashioned metal -minus the vocals. I know I'd rather listen to anything by Nickelback than Fallout Boy, Hinder, Doughtry, or anything else that gets play on pop music stations with electric guitars.

[Bobbito315]

First of all imo the man did imply that he was in the same league as acdc. Which would be a false statement.
To me nickelback is a band that writes songs based on what people want to hear rather than on talent and skill. But I don't blame them, I would write the same pop bullshit that you hear on the radio every five minutes if it sold 5 million of my albums like it has for them. As far as side of a bullet goes, it sounds so heavy to you mainstreamers because they purposefully tried to imitate the style of dimebag as tribute, they've said it themselves the article's probably still here on UG. Nickelback is indeed the very definition of a mainstream rock band, not hard rock. Hard rock to me would be something like present day Metallica. And as for the creed comparisons, Creed had Mark Tremonti who is one hell of a guitarist, I don't even know who the guitarist is for nickelback. So imo Creed>nickelback.
And I don't know anything about their old stuff so everything I said above is only relevant to present day.

[Thrasher21]

nickelback suck, why does anyone even care about there music, its pathetic, now kreator and venom thats music right there...

[pratt121]

Nickelback... cheesiest lyrics ever?

Every song sounds the same, the lyrics are shallow and loser-esque, and I strive to be as far from them musically as possible. I can't understand how they're so commercially successful, but that's America for you.

[Rockwillnevrdie]

well clearly nickelback sucks, that must be why they have sold so many albums and made more money then any of you will ever see, yeah they definitley suck live too, thats why they have sold out shows all over the country, and the way that their songs are played on the radio and all of yours aren't....that definitley says they suck eh

...tools, get a clue

[rockr09]

I like some of their songs, such side of a bullet and How you remind me, well, and some of their singles when I haven't heard them a million times. They aren't the best band, but their certaintly no Fall Out Boy or other various "wannabe" emo bands.
And Side of a Bullet is not metal, just cause they detune their guitars, turn the gain up some, put in a pinch harmonic everynow in then, and put in a "Chopped up Dimebag Solo" does not make it metal.

[DANZIG767]

rockr09 wrote:

I like some of their songs, such side of a bullet and How you remind me, well, and some of their singles when I haven't heard them a million times. They aren't the best band, but their certaintly no Fall Out Boy or other various "wannabe" emo bands.
And Side of a Bullet is not metal, just cause they detune their guitars, turn the gain up some, put in a pinch harmonic everynow in then, and put in a "Chopped up Dimebag Solo" does not make it metal.

THANK YOU!! i HATE side of a bullet, its a terrible song, leave the real metal to the real metal bands

[Crack_Hitler]

Nickelback songs all sound the same? Tell us something we don't know.

[breadfan82]

It's about time somebody called Nickelback's bluff. Their song do all sound the same. Now, if we could just get someone to do the same to Godsmack...

[breadfan82]

*songs

[super_wipper]

Big deal, atleast they didn´t copy someone else,like two hundred other bands out there does. Why hate them for using a kick ass bass line and chord structure again, that they come up with? Metal fans are the most childish and crying fans there is. Look at blues or jazz its pretty much always the same chord structure.

[Sloofus]

Should try the same thing with audioslave

[Rajah]

As most have already said, this is so damn old! Not even worthy of a news story. There was a MP3 of the exact song doing the rounds years ago.
You'd get the same thing with many bands.

[Rajah]

And for those who haven't heard it, where have you been?
http://jeffmilner.com/2005/02/this-is-how-you-remind- me-someday.htm
Posted in May of 2005.

[metallica72487]

thats no suprise alot of songs sound alike especially ones on the radio thats kinda of funny that guy would put that much time in effort in just to try to figure that out even if a song does sound similar just because you just realized that doesnt really mean you