Nickelback Wants You To Stop Playing Guitar Hero

Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger wants all you kids out there to quit wasting time playing Guitar Hero and learn how to play a real instrument instead.

In an MTV interview leading up to the release of the band's latest CD, Dark Horse, Kroeger expressed concern over the shrinking number of bands in the rock and roll business. "I feel like there's not enough rock bands out there, especially when we go on the road," he said. "It's tough to find other bands out there, because either they're making a record, or they just got done touring."

The solution, in Kroeger's eyes, is to encourage people to spend less time pretending to be musicians and more time actually becoming one. "Kids: Start rock bands," he continued. "Set down the Guitar Hero, learn how to play an actual guitar and start a band, because it's hard to find more bands to put a solid rock-and-roll package together, to get out there."

He's doubtlessly overstating things a bit, but I think Kroeger may be on to something. It's hard to imagine that the massive popularity of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band isn't drawing the attention of people who would otherwise be inclined to pick up a real guitar, and as much as we might like to pretend otherwise, being a top-ranked Guitar Hero player has about as much to do with being a rock star as skill in Colin McRae Dirt has to do with making you a ranked WRC driver. On the other hand, it could easily be argued that Guitar Hero exposes a new generation of fans to music they might otherwise miss out on, very possibly inspiring them to genuine musical accomplishment. It really comes down to a question of what the game is supplanting: Listening to music, or playing it.

Which is it?

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Given that they advertise DFS, I wouldn't pay that much attention.

Nickleback? They stink. Other than that, I have no comment.

I think he's forgetting that for all the potential musicians the music games may lure away, it inspires someone who might not have picked up an instrument, to learn to play.

Damn, Malygris already made my point. That'll teach me to skim read things.

Ah yes, because God knows musicians are a dying breed.

I have no interest in learning Guitar, and Guitar Hero is a fun game. And why the fuck should I listen to anything those assholes have to say?! That 'Rock Star' song drove me out of my mind and I hate his stupid, grating voice-

I'll stop now...

Quality of their music aside, the message they're giving out is one I can sympathise with, witnessing first hand a lot kid's antipathy towards playing an instrument, when there's Guitar Hero to play.

I spent fifteen years learning the guitar, and I'm still learning now, and it's the greatest thing in the world to be able to just pick up a guitar and play it. You don't really get that with Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

I think it's funny that NICKLEBACK is saying how kids should start a 'real band' when they themselves suck more then that giant robot maid from Space Balls.

Nickleback: I know you're Canadian, and some from my country think that's enough to justify spending anything on your crappy, sub-par ideas of music. But seriously: Shuttup. The kids who have the passion for music will go for it regardless of the games, and the rest who don't have that drive will spare their parents and neighbors from the terrible shitty few practices in the garage they'd do before realizing they are a bunch of no-talent ass clowns. Much like yourselves.

/rant.

Yes, I do find it humorous that Nickleback is complaining about lack of rock bands when many people consider them not to be.

AAARGH, less bands, less bands!!!

(from a music fan, before you start)

SecretTacoNinja:
I have no interest in learning Guitar, and Guitar Hero is a fun game.

This. I tried picking up a guitar and found I had the coordination of an drunk, injured moose. I can play Guitar Hero (or Rock Band in my case) and enjoy it. I'd rather not be told what to and what not to play by anyone, least of all Nickelback.

And I want Nickelback to stop playing the watered-down, same 4-chords bullshit that they call music, but hey I'm not getting my wish any time soon, and neither are they.

Why would a band that can barely play their own instruments care?

Also, there are LOTS of little bands out there trying to get by, maybe Nickleback should, you know, LOOK for new talent and help it out if they're that worried.

Two things:

1. Nickelback should do us all a favor and put down their instruments and pick up guitar hero.

2. Nickelback is obviously frustrated not by the lack of rock bands, of which there are many, but by the lack of awful post grunge corporate rock bands that could open for them without upstaging them.

Chad, we get it, you think the music died the day Creed broke up.

Hey, if he wants to buy me a guitar, an amp, and lessons, by all means let him pay for it.

Until then, I'll spend my $80 on something I enjoy with my friends and easy to pick up.

Hah, he is right.

I should stop having fun with my friends playing rock band and start my own REAL rock band so I too can have "drug dealers on speed dial" like all the other "rock stars"

But in all seriousness, I am pretty bad when it comes to anything to do with rythm. As are a lot of people. After playing rythm games, I have a whole new medium with which to LEARN rythm, rather than having someone else go "ummmm....no". I find myself with and increase in desire AND ability to learn music, than I would have otherwise.

And perhaps the lack of solid rock acts AVAILABLE to (too busy otherwise as stated above) due to the fact that just about ANYONE can get their music out there with all the file sharing and cheaper, better recording equipment. So now unlike decades before, you do not have to be absoloutely exceptional to have a cd or tour (*glares at Nickelback*) you just have to be there and competent.

well... as long as Celine Dion doesent start a music school...

tendo82:
Two things:

1. Nickelback should do us all a favor and put down their instruments and pick up guitar hero.

2. Nickelback is obviously frustrated not by the lack of rock bands, of which there are many, but by the lack of awful post grunge corporate rock bands that could open for them without upstaging them.

Chad, we get it, you think the music died the day Creed broke up.

Ha ha ha, well played!

And I want Nickelback to stop playing all together, but we can't all get what we want.

Pigeon_Grenade:
well... as long as Celine Dion doesent start a music school...

Coming soon...

Prima-Donna hero, all your favorite hits from Celine Dion and Josh Groban!

Time for some flaming

Fuck Off anyone who thinks Nickelback are shit. They're not. They're a brilliant band demonstrating some true skill with their instruments (given Chad Kroeger's voice can be annoying and a bit whiny but that's only 1 instrument out of 6 that's not that good and 5 out of 6 instruments that they play better than most of you). Their music might not appeal to you but that doesn't make them shit, that just means their music doesn't appeal to you. When you can play stuff of their level or above Then you can talk shit, untill then what do you base your argument that it's hit on? that you don't like it?
Ooooooh that's a solid argument :-|

Fanboy-Flame aside: i think it'd enrich a few more lives to learn to play guitar rather than guitar hero, but w/e floats your boat - if you're more into guitar hero than playing guitar you'll never be an amazing guitarist anyway as you won't have the drive for it

Stupid person is stupid! People who are actually interested in playing guitar will actually pick it up themselves.
But I guess Nickelback of all bands would probably miss the point of making music entirely, which is actually simply having fun. And that's definatly going to happen if you keep screaming "PLAY MOAR!!!".

I find it surprising that most of you people don't even mention the right band you're trying to burn to the ground: It's spelt Nickelback people, please, if you want to voice your opinion on a band by saying their music sucks, at least type the damn name correctly.

Now, I like their music and not trying to start a flame war here or anything because we're not talking about whether or not their music is any good. We're talking about music itself, and that more people choose for a rockstar fantasy through means of a screen than actually making it for real. Yes of course it's a fun game and not everyone who plays the crap out of it would be playing a real guitar if it wasn't around but I do see Chad's point since I once wanted to learn how to play bass, then got Guitar Hero and left that 'dream' behind.

Now for everyone who thinks Nickelback doesn't have the right to tell us we should stop playing GH and start playing real instruments because they believe Nickelback can't even play decent themselves: Do you think it would be any different if someone who couldn't play guitar AT ALL would have said what Nickelback said? I bet it has nothing to do with whoever says it but as long as it's someone who the majority over here thinks has no l33t guitar skillz we'll be saying the same thing. My point being we shouldn't burn on Chad or anyone else from Nickelback because they spoke their minds on music. I bet you wouldn't use the "well I'm not listening to you because you don't know shit about playing guitar" if your mom said the excact same thing.
Hell I bet if Jimi Hendrix or Slash said what Chad did as stated in this article everyone here would be very polite in disagreeing with him.

Fruhstuck:
Time for some flaming

Fuck Off anyone who thinks Nickelback are shit. They're not. They're a brilliant band demonstrating some true skill with their instruments (given Chad Kroeger's voice can be annoying and a bit whiny but that's only 1 instrument out of 6 that's not that good and 5 out of 6 instruments that they play better than most of you). Their music might not appeal to you but that doesn't make them shit, that just means their music doesn't appeal to you. When you can play stuff of their level or above Then you can talk shit, untill then what do you base your argument that it's hit on? that you don't like it?
Ooooooh that's a solid argument :-|

Fanboy-Flame aside: i think it'd enrich a few more lives to learn to play guitar rather than guitar hero, but w/e floats your boat - if you're more into guitar hero than playing guitar you'll never be an amazing guitarist anyway as you won't have the drive for it

Kudos to you for not jumping on the bandwagon

Fruhstuck:
Time for some flaming

Fuck Off anyone who thinks Nickelback are shit. They're not. They're a brilliant band demonstrating some true skill with their instruments (given Chad Kroeger's voice can be annoying and a bit whiny but that's only 1 instrument out of 6 that's not that good and 5 out of 6 instruments that they play better than most of you). Their music might not appeal to you but that doesn't make them shit, that just means their music doesn't appeal to you. When you can play stuff of their level or above Then you can talk shit, untill then what do you base your argument that it's hit on? that you don't like it?
Ooooooh that's a solid argument :-|

Well let's see, i'm by no means a great guitarist but I know more than 4 chords and if I really wanted to be a souless dump-for-brains I could unlearn a few of them and only mix around the 4 I remembered to make a whole album that sounds the same but still sells a lot. People like you and them are why music is becoming shit and bands like Airborne get to rip off AC/DC without anybody calling them on it and Kid Rock gets to mash-up two songs by far more talented artists so he can sing his drug-fueled ballad about Flint, Michigan. And if I want to play guitar hero with my friends I am not going to let Chad "I sucked my own dick once" Kroger tell me otherwise!

I see Rockband as the replacement for Air Guitar and Kareoke, not for real instruments since I've never had any ambition to do anything musically.

Fruhstuck:
Fuck Off anyone who thinks Nickelback are shit. They're not. They're a brilliant band demonstrating some true skill with their instruments (given Chad Kroeger's voice can be annoying and a bit whiny but that's only 1 instrument out of 6 that's not that good and 5 out of 6 instruments that they play better than most of you). Their music might not appeal to you but that doesn't make them shit, that just means their music doesn't appeal to you. When you can play stuff of their level or above Then you can talk shit, untill then what do you base your argument that it's hit on? that you don't like it?
Ooooooh that's a solid argument :-|

Yeah guys! Never mind that their songs all sound the same! That's not the point! They play that same riff really REALLY well! And just because they are shitty to you, that doesn't mean that other people don't tolerate musical mediocrity! Some of us don't want to think too hard about music! We like to be able to pick up our acoustic guitar at school and impress the stupid girls with the newest single that sounds like the last one! Music doesn't always have to be 'good' or 'great', you know. It's allowed to be 'merely ok', or even 'not very good'.

Besides! When you've got a good formula (You know, like the chords, tempo, and beat) why mess with a good thing? If it'll work once, it'll work for every other album! Duh!

/sarcasm.

I think that people play instruments for the same reason that they play games, personal enjoyment or accomplishment. I, for one, am insulted whenever anyone tells me how to pursue personal enjoyment. Especially when it comes from people with the talent pool of Nickelback, which is to say "not much".

I've always liked Nickelback, but I guess that's taste. I have to go against Chad's theory on this one, it's natural selection. Only the people with real skill will go to the music industry, while the less skilled and less self-esteemed fellows will push buttons, so technically it should be good evolution for music.

AceDiamond:

Fruhstuck:
Time for some flaming

Fuck Off anyone who thinks Nickelback are shit. They're not. They're a brilliant band demonstrating some true skill with their instruments (given Chad Kroeger's voice can be annoying and a bit whiny but that's only 1 instrument out of 6 that's not that good and 5 out of 6 instruments that they play better than most of you). Their music might not appeal to you but that doesn't make them shit, that just means their music doesn't appeal to you. When you can play stuff of their level or above Then you can talk shit, untill then what do you base your argument that it's hit on? that you don't like it?
Ooooooh that's a solid argument :-|

Well let's see, i'm by no means a great guitarist but I know more than 4 chords and if I really wanted to be a souless dump-for-brains I could unlearn a few of them and only mix around the 4 I remembered to make a whole album that sounds the same but still sells a lot. People like you and them are why music is becoming shit and bands like Airborne get to rip off AC/DC without anybody calling them on it and Kid Rock gets to mash-up two songs lazily to sing about Flint, Michigan. And if I want to play guitar hero with my friends I am not going to let Chad "I sucked my own dick once" Kroger tell me otherwise!

Airborne and Kid Rock = shit. don't ever categorise me as someone that likes those bands. I like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Eric Clapton, The Blackout, Stone Sour and Kelly Clarkson :) (she's got catchy songs ok!!). When Airborne came out i said "fuck this is just AC/DC ripped off" and have hated them ever since. Kid Rock's a ponce; But Nickelback are good. They got a solid rock 'n' roll meets grunge feel, chunky riffs, a drummer who can jam like a mother-fucker and they bloody well are good with their instruments (they're no Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen or Cliff Burton but who is?)
The band will never be as good as Zeppelin or Sabbath or any of the "Legendary" bands, but that doesn't make them crap, i'm never going to be as good as Travis Barker on drums but that doesn't make me shit (i'm alright on drums - kinda)

you know what, i don't like nickelback but i think they are right, in fact anyone who actually defends guitar hero or rockband seriously needs to be put in some type of holding institution for being retarded. i like playing rockband and guitar hero sure, but when you can play all the songs on expert and 5 star them and all that jazz, or even play it for a couple hours a day, if you would have picked up ANY instrument instead you would be pretty good by now, and that is a problem. instead of making music and doing something different with your lives, you are gonna play a little squeaky plastic guitar and then have nothing to show for it. that is why guitar hero and rockband are bad.

and a side note, i dont give a fuck how good you are at playing FAKE guitar because in the end you are just a nobody loser who will probably be sitting in your room acting like you are above everyone else because you can play "insert name of rediculously hard song here" on expert.

Baby Tea:

Fruhstuck:
Fuck Off anyone who thinks Nickelback are shit. They're not. They're a brilliant band demonstrating some true skill with their instruments (given Chad Kroeger's voice can be annoying and a bit whiny but that's only 1 instrument out of 6 that's not that good and 5 out of 6 instruments that they play better than most of you). Their music might not appeal to you but that doesn't make them shit, that just means their music doesn't appeal to you. When you can play stuff of their level or above Then you can talk shit, untill then what do you base your argument that it's hit on? that you don't like it?
Ooooooh that's a solid argument :-|

Yeah guys! Never mind that their songs all sound the same! That's not the point! They play that same riff really REALLY well! And just because they are shitty to you, that doesn't mean that other people don't tolerate musical mediocrity! Some of us don't want to think too hard about music! We like to be able to pick up our acoustic guitar at school and impress the stupid girls with the newest single that sounds like the last one! Music doesn't always have to be 'good' or 'great', you know. It's allowed to be 'merely ok', or even 'not very good'.

Besides! When you've got a good formula (You know, like the chords, tempo, and beat) why mess with a good thing? If it'll work once, it'll work for every other album! Duh!

/sarcasm.

They only sound as similar as every other bands songs sound
Everyone of Muse's, Maiden's, Guns 'n' Roses', Motley Crue's, Elliot Minor's, Jay-Z's, Metallica's songs have massive similarities in them, Why? because it's that band playing them, they all like to play stuff like that, does the fact that it's similar to the other stuff they do mean it's crap? no, it just means it's similar, if that's not what you like then toodle off and listen to whatever you Do like but it doesn't make it crap just being similar to what they've done before, every band does that

Nickelback, eh?
Let me sum this up as best I can.

They are either (depending on your viewpoint):

Whiny/Expressive
Repetitive/Solid
Bland/Inoffensive (good thing? maybe/maybe not)
Corporate/Succesful
Greedy/Succesful (again)
Poor musicians/I can't think of anything to counter-act this one, as it's oh so true.

Let me explain why I don't like Nickelback.
They play their instruments terribly. I've seen Chad "attempt" a solo before, and I could rip him to shreds in a guitar duel.

Chad cannot sing to save his life.

I'm sure if we analyzed the sound-waves they'd all look the same (something they did with Linkin Park, leading to hilarious results).

Their egos are bigger than their pre-teen fanbase.

Their songs could quite possibly have been written by their label's Marketing Director.

They look silly.

If Nickelback puts down their instruments for a copy of guitar hero, I'll take them up on this offer.

Al X and Ur:
you know what, i don't like nickelback but i think they are right, in fact anyone who actually defends guitar hero or rockband seriously needs to be put in some type of holding institution for being retarded. i like playing rockband and guitar hero sure, but when you can play all the songs on expert and 5 star them and all that jazz, or even play it for a couple hours a day, if you would have picked up ANY instrument instead you would be pretty good by now, and that is a problem. instead of making music and doing something different with your lives, you are gonna play a little squeaky plastic guitar and then have nothing to show for it. that is why guitar hero and rockband are bad.

and a side note, i dont give a fuck how good you are at playing FAKE guitar because in the end you are just a nobody loser who will probably be sitting in your room acting like you are above everyone else because you can play "insert name of rediculously hard song here" on expert.

You, sir, are correct, however I may have worded it differently....

Oh, and your avatar's taken, change it.