Nickelback

Critics have long damned Nickelback with the most hyperbolic hatred possible. A typical Nickelback write-up would have you believe that they’re the most vile hard-rock band of all time, which they’re notthough ironically their openers on this tour, Seether, might be. Ax-grinding singer Shaun Morgan used Seether’s latest album, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, to skewer his famous ex-girlfriend Amy Lee in the most malicious way possible, and on the unctuous hit single “Fake It,” to assail “shallow” celebrity culture. Of course, that single’s cultural critique assumes that listeners find the video games, horror films and WWE SmackDowns that Seether is synonymous with considerably more innocuous than “Access Hollywood.” Compared to Seether’s reckless butt-rock, Nickelback’s righteous post-grunge is downright harmless.