Of all the music that I use in my lessons the band that seem to evoke the most sustained concentration and inspiration is Nickleback. Specifically their song “Far Away.”I have no idea why Nickelback. Complete blank. I’ve tried all sorts of music on them. From the Beetles to Beth Rowley; from the Stones to Scissor Sisters; Mozart to the Monkees. Some of them were good – Sigur Rós produced excellent results, and there was one stunning poem written while listening to Amy Winehouse – but nothing compared to what I see after using Chad Kroeger and his little bunch of Canadians.
Coincidentally Nickelback have a new album out. You may not have heard about it – the band have decided not to do any interviews in papers or magazines. Apparently they’ve had bad experiences in the past. The New York Times once said that the band had "the worst rock lyrics ever recorded" and later that the band were known for "undeniably pretty melodies with literal, wildly unimaginative and often insipid lyrics."
I think that’s harsh. The fact that their last album was in the US top 30 for over two years suggests that I’m not alone – if it is insipid and unimaginative clearly the masses like insipid unimagination. Although the Daily Mail disagree: "Millions of people buy Nickelback albums, but millions people once voted for George W. Bush too. Both facts are equally baffling." – an imaginative comment, but it doesn’t really tell us much – I mean two and a half million people read the Mail everyday and I don’t judge them (well, actually I do)
I won’t be rushing out to buy “Dark Horse” but I will check out the tracks on Itunes and if there’s any that might have a similar effect to “Far Away” I’ll buy it faster than you can sing the chorus of Rockstar.
I don’t care what other people think; I have seen such good work created by pupils while listening to them that I am thinking of asking if they’ll do a live set during our exams. We already have a stage in the exam hall – what else would it be used for?
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