jack’s musings

While I certainly dislike many popular musicians today, there are some “artists” out there that have elevated themselves from “disliked” to “despised” in my eyes. One bright, shining example of a band that made this transition is Nickelback. I’m not entirely sure when they became popular, but it seems like every time I hear their lead singer’s voice, (I refuse to look up his name) I want to jab the nearest sharp object into my ears.

Their 2006 single “Rockstar” really encapsulates why I despise them so much. The lyrics describe how people’s dreams should be the desire for extravageance and excess, and it’s precisely this mentality that has helped America achieve such a poor standing in the world today. Say what you will about the global socio-economic realties of today, but if I’m living in a cave in a desert with only a short-wave radio and underwear full of sand, I’m going to be awfully pissed at a country that desires, flaunts, and celebrates extravagance. Whenever I wonder to myself, “Why do the terrorists hate us?”, I generally only have to wait a millisecond before remembering this horrendous song and the mentality its promoting. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly enjoy the luxuries we have in this country, I just loathe people who abuse the privileges we have. I’m a big fan of the line that says something to the effect of,”I want a credit card with no limit.” Ummm…didn’t most Americans try that already? How’s that working out now? I mean don’t you idiots get it? We have everything already, and it’s this relentless desire for more and more that has gotten the world so pissed at us and wrecked the global economy.

In a way, the song is actually kind of brilliant I guess. Nickelback managed to encapsulate why many foreign countries hate American culture in one song. (They’re Canadian too!) Perhaps they’re in the process of some sort of weird Albert Camus-esque experiment in which they generate millions of fans and then suddenly turn on them and lecture them on how the values expressed in their song were designed to expose the flaws in western culture. (I doubt it.)

The fact that this song is so popular really seems to be indicative of why America is held in such poor standing today. And as a bonus, check out the yahoos that appear in the video as well! For the most part, it’s the “Mount Rushmore of The Aspects of American Culture I Hate.”  Perhaps I should start a new series of blog entries on this site: “How To Tell if Someone is an Idiot.” I think that liking this song would be way up there on that list.