Come on, Kroeger is a hack and you know he is. Payola and a change in Canada's Media Laws (Which required radio stations to increase airplay from Canadian acts to, if I am not mistaken, 2/3 of the play hours) got Nickelback to where they are. That is because the Program Directors up in Canada had to run crazy looking for anything to fill the hours. Hell, If Nightwish, Emperor, and Immortal were Canadian acts around 2000, they very well might have been, and become, far bigger than they are. That, and coupled with a push from the Majors, rammed Nickelback down our throats.
That has nothing to do with the millions of albums sold worldwide, and the thousands of people that fill arenas worldwide to see them. I'll be clear, I LOVE Canada. It is a beautiful country, I love their government programs, I love their food, and I love many of their artists. However, Canada is one of the worst music markets in the world. Selling 15,000-20,000 albums in Canada (not first week, but for a whole cycle) is generally considered a success and anything over 50,000 is rare and a huge deal. There's a reason why most North American tours only usually hit up Montreal, Toronto, and maybe Winnipeg: because those are the only markets where people give a fuck really.
Here's an example: Ninjaspy is a great Canadian band that opened for Coheed and Cambria over there and draws HUGE crowds all over the country. No record deal. Nobody outside of Canada cares. Nickelback's success came from Silver Side Up going Platinum in the US. That's it. Nothing more and nothing less. MTV played it, and people bought it.
The sad fact is that with enough payola, Emperor could be a Number One act here in the US. Hell, Van Canto could be challenging the Peas for A-List status with the payola the Peas get. That is the reality of the music business.
Not really. Most big bands got big because they invested money sure, but that investment is in things like a van, gas, things to keep you on the road, a record, etc. Poring blood sweat and tears gets you signed and subsequently gets you big, not getting on College radio or whatever. Emperor never worked very hard over here, and that's why they never got that big. After all, why would Emperor want to have to pay tour support and lose money on Rockstar Mayhem Fest or tour support for bus rental to open for Metallica, when they could make tens of thousands playing 3 small shows and force promoters to sell tickets at ridiculous prices?
And, what is your hard-on with the Metal Archives? Found some nice underground bands, and it is the first site I check after the PPUSA bands are announced. Gives me enough ammo to go figure out if I would like a band or not. Especially if I fine a lonely video I like on YouTube.
Metal Archives makes Dungeons and Dragons boards look good. Why would I have a hard on for it? I find it informative sometimes, but I'm not the one basing my criteria for cool on it...
