Top 10 Songs by Nickelback/Chad Kroeger

Chad Kroeger and the Canadian band Nickelback who hail from the small town of Hanna, Alberta, hit the rock scene in 1996 and gradually made their way into rock and roll stardom. Dismissed by critics and some rock fans as "arena rock" and "sellouts" Nickelback, led by raspy voiced lead singer Chad Kroeger, have ignored the naysayers to become fixtures on rock radio the last few years in particular.

I suppose the critics would have the band toil in anonymity in distant outposts like Moosejaw, Saskatchewan if they had their way, but who cares? Who do these guys think they are to play rock songs about something other than sex and drugs and rock and roll?

Many of the rest of us like Nickelback and Chad Kroeger has one of the top voices in rock and roll history in my opinion. The man's vocal chords could cut through a master lock faster than bolt cutters. His voice could even cut diamonds, I believe.

I wasn't that big a fan of Nickelback until the last few years and never owned one of their CDs until I bought All The Right Reasons a few years back. That was the disc that allowed Nickelback to break through to superstar status. Here are my Top 10 Nickelback/Chad Kroeger songs:

Hero/Chad Kroeger with Josey Scott of Saliva.
The theme song from Spiderman helped to propel Kroeger to the heights he and Nickelback now enjoy as the film was viewed by millions. And they say that a hero can save us, I'm not gonna stand in the way, I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles and watch as they all fly away. That is an irrestible melody and one I often found myself humming in the summer of 2002, I believe it was.

Feelin' Way Too Damn Good/ Nickelback
I had forgotten about this song until recently. My loss, 'cause it's a good one.
Sometimes I think best if left in the memory, it's better kept inside than left for good, lookin' back each time they tried to tell me, that something's gotta go wrong 'cause I'm feelin' way too damn good.

Why Don't You And I/Chad Kroeger and Carlos Santana
There were two versions of this single released, one with Chad Kroeger singing lead and one with Alex Band, lead singer of The Calling. Something to do with record company contracts. Either singer backed by Santana is a winner on this uptempo love song.

So I'll say why don't you and I get together, take on the world and be together forever, heads we will, tails we'll try again, so I say why don't you and I hold each other, fly to the moon and straight onto Heaven, 'cause without you they're never gonna let me in. The musical genius of Carlos Santana mixed with sand paper voiced Chad Kroeger, Wow!

Someday/Nickelback
How the hell'd we wind up like this, why weren't we able, to see the signs that we missed, try and turn the tables...obviously the tale of a love gone bad. Who can't relate to that? Someday, somehow, gonna make it right, but not right now, I know you're wondering when.

Far Away/ Nickelback
Another rock ballad about relationship problems, this one seems to be concerning life on the road. This time, this place, misused, mistakes, too long, too late, who was I to make you wait? From the smash CD All The Right Reasons.

Photograph

Also from All The Right Reasons, this song is a walk down memory lane which is what photographs are mostly for, eh? Look at this photograph, every time I do it makes me laugh, how did our eyes get so red, and what the hell is that on Joey's head?

Savin' Me

Again, from All the Right Reasons. This song sounds like the story of a man behind bars, but could be interpreted to mean any man-made prison that people find themselves in from debt to bad relationships or a bad job.

Prison gates won't open up for me, on these hands and knees I'm crawlin', oh I reach for you, well I'm terrified of these four walls, these iron bars can't hold my soul in, all I need is you, come please I'm callin', oh I scream for you, hurry I'm fallin'/ show me what it's like to be the last one standing, teach me wrong from right and I'll show you what I can be, say for me, say it for me.

If Everyone Cared

From underneath the trees we watch the sky, confusing stars with satellites, I never dreamed that you'd be mine, but here we are, we're here tonight, singin' Amen I, I'm alive..If everyone cared and nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied, if everyone shared and swallowed their pride, we'd see the day that nobody died..

Whatever happened to lyrics like "I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day?" Thankfully they have been retired and Chad Kroeger and Nickelback do these songs in such a way that the listener doesn't feel as if they are being preached to.

Rockstar

This has to be one of the funniest rock songs of all time as Nickelback lampoons the stereotype of the "rock star". If one took the lyrics literally, millions would be offended, but as I explained to my son, the song is a joke with all the over the top references to drugs and bathrooms big enough to "play baseball in". There are also references to "washed up singers", "golddiggers" and "playboy bunnies with the bleach blonde hair".

The video had appearances by celebrities ranging from Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to Kid Rock, Gene Simmons of KISS, NBA roundballer Grant Hill, Wayne Gretzky and country star John Rich of Big and Rich.

I'm through with standin' in line to clubs I'll never get in, it's like the bottom of the 9th and I'm never gonna win, this life hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be, I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs, and a bathroom I can play baseball in, and a Kingsize tub with room enough for ten plus me...

If Today Was Your Last Day

This is a Nickelback single with some similarities to Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying from their most recent CD, Dark Horse . Against the grain should be a way of life, what's worth the price is always worth the fight...if today was your last day and tomorrow was too late, could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Against the grain is the path that Nickelback has taken to stardom, defying critics and many detractors along the way