• Blog

• All

Apr 01, 2022 By Austin Saalman

By 2005, rock and roll had since breathed its final breath. Gone were the days of golden gods and spiders from Mars. Kurt Cobain was dead, The Smashing Pumpkins had since disbanded, and Bob Dylan was performing in Victoria’s Secret ads. The bleak reality, we feared, had at last settled in: no longer would we rock. In those frosty Bush-era dawns, the disheartened listener could only place their faith in the hands of fate, trusting that the tides would eventually turn and a revelation would appear from above.

Our salvation arrived on September 26, 2005, in the form of Canadian post-grunge outfit Nickelback’s fifth studio album All the Right Reasons. Indeed, the group managed, in one fell swoop, to replenish the withering soul of rock and roll. For indication of the album’s glowing artistic merit, look no further than key tracks “Fight for All the Wrong Reasons,” “Animals,” and “Next Contestant,” whose refreshingly distinguished, hard-rocking melodies serve to accentuate the Dylanesque complexity, poetic eloquence, and progressive sexual politics of their lyrics. When frontman Chad Kroeger declares, “I’ll ask polite if the devil needs a ride/Because the angel on my right ain’t hanging out with me tonight,” one is shaken to the core. It is not only the shredding ferocity of the music that makes All the Right Reasons the understated masterpiece that it is, but also the deep humanity of its words.

One is hard-pressed to find a more intimately relatable lyricist in modern rock than Kroeger, who offers such tidbits of soulful reflection as, “If everyone cared and nobody cried/If everyone loved and nobody lied/And if everyone shared and swallowed their pride/Then we’d see the day when nobody died” and “When I hold you in my arms/And I feel my finger on your trigger/I know nobody can do me no harm.” Of course, there is plenty of rock deity wisdom to be imparted, as well as valid points to be made, with satirical high point “Rockstar” painting a portrait of the burning desire inherent within us all to be “big rockstars/And live in hilltop houses, driving 15 cars.” Ultimately, All the Right Reasons achieves the great feat of being remarkably clever, innovative, and original while boasting an entirely solid tracklist. Every song counts.

While All the Right Reasons succeeded in defining its generation and ushering in a new era in rock, the sonic pleasures of Nickelback don’t end here. It has been said that Born to Run is Springsteen’s masterpiece, but Darkness on the Edge of Town is his best album. Likewise, All the Right Reasons is most definitely Nickelback’s magnum opus, but 2008’s Dark Horse is its greatest release. The creative quality of these two albums puts the rest of the group’s contemporaries to shame, Nickelback’s discography existing within an ethereal realm all its own.

Reconsider Nickelback. Do yourself a favor and give All the Right Reasons another listen—you will not regret it.

www.nickelback.com

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.