How did Nickelback gain a large fan base despite criticism of their music?

I think it went something like this.

Nickleback! Nickleback!

Yay! Nickleback!

Atheists who said that reading the Bible made them an atheist, how? Literally there are millions of people who read the Bible daily and still believe in God. So why say that? I mean unless you want to sound smart & edgy

Nickleback are awesome! My new favourite band! I just got their fourth album. It totally rocks!

Here’s my ranking of Nickleback’s discography. They don’t have a bad album at all. But some are better than others. In last place is their most recent album. I felt it was very uninspired. This track is the best one and that track is pretty good. But the rest of the album doesn’t do much for me…

Hey, have you heard of this new band, Nickleback? Their first album is pretty cool.

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Hey, man, that band I told you about, Nickleback? The dropped their sophomore. It’s really good. Check it out.

(Wow! What’s with this band? So many people are going nuts for them? What’s so special about them? They had a decent song or two. But there’s no originality now. They’re just wearing themselves out chasing their own tail.)

(Nickleback sucks! They’re the worst band ever! I can’t stand them. Why do so many people like them? So unoriginal!)

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(It really bugs me that such a boring, unoriginal band gets so much attention when there are loads of other way more interesting bands out there.)

Something like that. Millions of people love them. Millions claim to hate them. The most honest criticism of the music is that it sounds like it’s being written deliberately for a particular market. I haven’t heard anything since around 2002 or so, so I can’t say for myself. They don’t suck as in bad musicians or bad song writers. They just sell millions of albums while other excellent bands struggle. That’s what the real problem is, I think.

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Dude, you heard that new single by that band, Nickleback? It’s awesome! Holy crap! That song is everywhere! It’s so cool!

(Yeah, it was great at first. But I have heard it a bit too much.)

(It sounds a bit too much like they took what made them popular from the previous album and just did more of that.)

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(Nickleback? They suck. Who cares…)