Black Keys vs Nickelback: Rock and Roll Smackdown

Black Keys vs Nickelback: Rock and Roll War of Words, Sort Of – Rochester drums | Examiner.com.

As reported here yesterday, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney had some unkind things to say about ultra-popular band, Nickelback.

In the Rolling Stone cover story, Carney originally said,

“Rock & roll is dying because people became O.K. with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world. So they became O.K. with the idea that the biggest rock band in the world is always going to be shit.”

Throug the joys of social media and immediate communication, Nickelback retorted through their official Twitter account, @nickelback,

“Thanks to the drummer in the Black Keys calling us the Biggest Band in the World in Rolling Stone. Hehe.”

Of course Nickelback chose to overlook the fact that Carney also called them “shit” and “watered-down, post-grunge crap”

Maybe they know how to handle the hate. Back in November 2011, fans in Detroit circulated a petition in protest of Nickelback, who hail from Canada, being chosen as the halftime entertainment during the high-profile Thanksgiving Day NFL game. According to the petition:

“This game is nationally televised, do we really want the rest of the US to associate Detroit with Nickelback? Detroit is home to so many great musicians and they chose Nickelback?!?!?! Does anyone even like Nickelback? Is this some sort of ploy to get people to leave their seats during halftime to spend money on alcoholic beverages and concessions? This is completely unfair to those of us who purchased tickets to the game. At least the people watching at home can mute their TVs. The Lions ought to think about their fans before choosing such an awful band to play at halftime.”

“We get that all the time. We’ve never really been a critics’ darling or anything like that… The people speak. We sell a lot of records and fill a lot of arenas, and we don’t hear many complaints,” frontman Chad Kroeger told Billboard at the time.

Can’t we all just get along?

Do you live in the Rochester, NY area? You can find the latest releases from Nickelback and the Black Keys at local stores, including The Record Archive and The House Of Guitars. While both bands played in the Rochester area in 2010, neither is currently scheduled to appear here in the near future.