Music

Londoner starts lazy campaign to keep Nickelback out of England

by Tyler Munro

Sure, they’re one of the biggest rock bands on the planet earth, but Nickelback’s appeal to the lowest common denominator has always made them a mainstay for criticism. Their incredible stands on the charts and in the hearts of wrestling fans everywhere has been matched only by the polarizing hatred that otherwise follows them. Famously, citizens of Detroit and its surrounding areas launched a petition in 2011 prior to the band’s performance at halftime of that NFL season’s Thanksgiving matinee between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions to bar the band from performing what would be “We Stand Together,” the stomp-heavy dad-uniting anthem off Nickelback’s seventh album, Here and Now.

The petition failed. Even with more than 50,000 signatures rallying against them, Nickelback went onto play at halftime. Here and Now has gone onto sell millions of copy. Last year, two years removed from the album’s release, the band still raked in nearly $12 million in earnings.

Oh, and they responded with a pretty funny little video.

The point is, you can’t stop them. Still, a Londoner is trying—albeit not too hard.

Inspired by a recent campaign that sold the Foo Fighters on a show in Richmond, Virginia, England’s Craig Mandall has started a pretty lazy campaign to keep the band out of London. His goals are modest, to say the least: He’s looking for $1,000, which will be put towards… a stern e-mail.

For $1, Mandall will e-mail the band’s management on your behalf. For $5, he’ll be slightly more forceful about it. For $50, he’ll attach some MP3s to the message.

Like, sure. This is funny, and Mandall says he’ll donate the money to charity regardless of the campaign’s outcome. But it’s also lazy, and cheap. Want to avoid Nickelback? Maybe avoid Nickelback. Download Nickelblock. Stop watching WWE Raw. Switch to Formula 1 from NASCAR. But raising $1,000 to send a few e-mails?

Honestly, the guy’s put so little effort into this we’re almost wishing Nickelback would play in London. As of now, they have no dates set, but a six night residency at the O2 Academy capped off with a massive gig at the O2 Arena sounds like a fitting end to this sham of a statement. [h/t the Standard]