My Favourite Song in Grade 3 was by Nickelback

In grade three my favourite song was Animals by Nickelback. Music Monday was a big deal at my school, and the teacher asked us to write a short paper about our favourite song. Five people were to present their song to the whole school at the Music Monday assembly. Years later, I would still be envious of those who got to present. Not only did I want to share my love for this song but, needed prove to the school that my music taste was supreme. It never occurred to me that my presentation was blacklisted, as the song I chose was very inappropriate.  

            How my dad decided Nickelback and other rock/ hard rock was appropriate for his kids to grow up listening to, I will never know. By the time I reached grade three (2008/9), I was well versed in Nickelback. Yes, I could name 3 songs by them. This article is in remembrance of the Music Monday presentations I never got over, and in honour of the Nickelback concert I recently attended. We’re going to discuss the reasons why I like the song Animals and misogyny in lyrics.

Animals

            Attention grabbing riff. Bass. Lyrics talk about driving. This is pretty much the maximum I could process about this song back in grade 3. These are things I still like about the song Animals. The introductory riff is quite exciting and takes the form of a guitar-drum battle. It hooks the ear very effectively. After the introduction, Mr. Chad wastes no time entering with some quick vocal rhythms. This mostly repeats on a singular note, although there is a second lower note that Chad bounces off of to maintain momentum. The bassline matches this energy with consistent eight notes. The energy invigorates the listener: I would not be able to sit still during this song. The song certainly matches the energy levels of a young child, so it’s no wonder why I would choose this for my Music Monday project.

            There is a total of 7 mentions of driving, the car, or metaphors for both within 12 stanzas (19/49 lines or 39% of text alludes to driving). All this semantics reinforces the image of a car, specifically the one on the cover of the album: a black car speeding down a dark road. As for the other 5 stanzas and the other 30 lines of lyrics? Sex. The rest of the songs is about sex.

There’s nothing wrong with a good old song about sex. There is, however, an uncomfortable effect when a song about sex is blared out during an elementary school assembly. This is the core of the reason why my Music Monday project was not seen by anyone besides the teacher. This whole time I thought I had submitted a poor paper, so I’m glad to finally realize other reasons I was not chosen to present.

Screenshot of a post on Threads. July 11th 2024.

Misogyny in Lyrics

            Here’s a life fact: songs about sex tend to be derogatory towards women. Let’s say that together again. Songs about sex tend to be derogatory towards women. The song Animals is no exception to this, and the band Nickelback is no stranger to writing derogatory lyrics about women. Their song Figured You Out literally starts with “I like your pants around your feet”. Needless to say, it’s another song with sexual themes. A different song not about sex, but with misogynist rhetoric in the lyrics is Next Contestant. This song describes the story of a man who is routinely jealous of any other man that talks to, touches, or is in the near vicinity of his girlfriend. While not as obviously problematic, this song does promote violent reactions to problems that can be dealt with differently. Which ultimately leads to the normalization of extreme possessive behaviour, a precursor to domestic violence.

            Although songs about sex tend to be derogatory towards women, they don’t have to be. Additionally, songs not about sex do still have the potential to be derogatory. I feel like a good test (if you need one) would be to look at the lyrics and ask yourself if you would feel comfortable saying the lyrics to your mom/grandma or to your sister/daughter. Another test is to ask HR if those lyrics are appropriate words to use with a co-worker or not. Most of the time it should be common sense to know what words and phrases are degrading and which ones are not. Holding artists accountable for the words they choose is important, because lyrics impact how real people live their lives and treat the people around them.

            Misogyny in Nickelback lyrics is ultimately why I no longer listen to the band. I would not skip their music if it came on, but I would not add it to my playlists. In between the misogyny the band does have some genuinely beautiful songs. It’s just disappointing that their songs are consistently full of patriarchy. At the Nickelback concert I attended, Ryan (rhythm guitar guy) introduced the song When We Stand Together with a heartfelt speech about charitable humanitarian work. Ultimately, he was raising awareness for the Obakki Foundation, but I thought this speech definitely had potential to be a FREE PALESTINE declaration.

            Essentially, the band proves through songs like When We Stand Together, Someday, and Gotta Be Somebody, that they are capable of writing music that is meaningful and non-offensive. When you look and see that the rest of their songs are either misogynistic, perpetuating toxic masculinity, or about party culture, this is a clear choice of what they want to say. Not every band can be for everyone. If you like listening to misogyny I respect it, but don’t wonder why people don’t like you.

            Nickelback is lucky to have pinpointed a specific audience: “we find a strong correlation between Nickelback interest and Republican voter margin” (Parris, 2024). Additionally, the band was emerging when physical sales (CDs, etc.) were still a large part of the industry. So, marketing to their specific audience they were able to generate lots of cash off sales, and that audience later moved to support the band on streaming platforms. I am no expert in music marketing, distribution or label politics, but I don’t believe Nickelback would have had the same success if they emerged 20 years later than they did.

            I love everything about the music Nickelback makes, except for the lyrics. After proving with several songs that the band is capable of producing meaningful lyrics, it is a huge disappointment that the default chosen is lyrics tending to perpetuate toxic masculinity and misogyny. This is the reason why I don’t really listen to their music anymore, when I used to all the time as a child. There’s no problem with songs about sex, and Chappell Roan has written extremely sexual song lyrics that I love!

My message to the band would be that I loved the concert, really enjoyed the energy, I’m obsessed with the way Chad yells “Ottawa!”, and I screamed out all the lyrics I could remember. However, I’m sure there’s others out there like me, who like the hard rock sound but are tired of it being a vessel for patriarchy and white supremacy. Nickelback, you have proven you can be better, so do it!

Works Cited

“Animals Lyrics by Nickelback”. Lyric Advisor. www.streetdirectory.com/lyricadvisor/song/ecwaff/animals/ . Accessed July 20th 2024.

Parris, Daniel. “Why Do People Hate Nickelback So Much? A Statistical Analysis”. Stat Significant. www.statsignificant.com/p/why-do-people-hate-nickelback-so-1e9 . Accessed July 20th 2024.