If there's one thing I don't get, it's the haterizing going on in Detroit over the Canadian rock group, Nickelback, who've been selected to appear Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field to provide halftime entertainment for the Lions-Packers game, airing on Fox.
Yes, Detroit has a rich history in music, from Smokey Robinson & Stevie Wonder to Aretha Franklin & Bob Seger to Ted Nugent & Kiss to Eminem & Kid Rock. But to read of Lions fans having a serious cow over Chad Kroeger and company playing on Thanksgiving, with the Lions a playoff contender for the first time in at least two decades, makes no sense. What I think the people of Detroit fail to understand is that this may not have been the Lions' call. I think the league and its TV partners, in this case, Fox, make the decision based on who could bring in the most ratings.
Nickelback has been a constant presence for at least the last decade, and Kroeger, their lead singer, has recorded not one, but two tracks with guitar icon Carlos Santana. Now, if that doesn't tell you anything about how popular the band is, I don't know what does, except maybe this 2007 all-star clip for "Rockstar". The guest list includes Detroit's own Kid Rock, Nugent, and Kiss bassist-vocalist-turned-reality star Gene Simmons, ex-Piston Grant Hill, Chuck Liddell, the Playboy Girls Next Door, Wayne Gretzky, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Eliza Dushku, Twista, Wayne Gretzky, and the Teutels from American Chopper, just to name a few......
Nickelback, of course, has loaned out the use of a more recent single, "Burn it to the Ground", to WWE as the theme for Monday Night Raw, but what in the name of Slim Shady has got Motown up in arms over the band in the first place? The Yahoo! article I read didn't elaborate, only saying there are people asking the NFL to find someone else to play in place of Nickelback. Like, I know Thanksgiving has already come & gone in Canada, but what other excuse could there be? Maybe bringing in Santana to jam with the band could be a compromise, but if you've got a better idea, please share it here, okay?
2 comments:
"...NFL officials, meanwhile, pointed out something that’s been lost in all the excitement: The league hasn’t actually named Nickelback as the performer for the Nov. 24 game at Ford Field."
Although neither a Nickelback nor football fan, out of curiousity I combed the web for a reason behind this anti-Nickleback frenzy and can find absolutely no single cause. It isn't as though they made any anti-Detroit comments. Their music is mediocre at best, but then so is much of what comes out of the US these days. All I can figure is some kind of weird anti-Canadian frenzy?
All this fuss over mere speculation. Thanks for clarifying things, Crhymethinc.
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