A Bit of a Rant

Most of the time on this blog, I do my own reviews of music. Now it's my time to blast someone else's take on my type of music. I, for one, am sick and tired of critics railing on how bad Nickleback is, according to them. Nickleback is without question the most successful rock band of this decade, yet published works like Rolling Stone and AllMusicGuide.com, no matter how much success Nickleback has, will ALWAYS speak negatively about them. I for one, am sick and tired of hearing it. Obviously, the so-called "experts" don't their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to music. Else that or the above-mentioned publications assign reviewers whose favorite genre of music must be country or classical music. The past three Nickleback albums are three of the best-selling CD's in recent history, yet the maximum rating given by AllMusicGuide is 3 out of 5, and that's only on "Silver Side Up", the other ratings are 2 out of 5. One critic went as far as to say that Nickleback was "unspeakably awful." The only thing unspeakably awful here is the reviewer's attitude.

Here are some sales performances of Nickleback, in the United States alone:

Silver Side Up: 5.3 million copies
The Long Road: 3.3 million copies
All The Right Reasons: 6. 7 million copies

Even Billboard Magazine gave credit where credit is due, saying that "All The Right Reasons" was the "biggest rock album of the century so far." I believe it is time for the people at Rolling Stone and AllMusicGuide to get their heads out of their asses and into the real world, and wake up and smell the coffee.

Tunes of Notice

Ok time for some TUNAGE!

Ok so its been a while since I talked about new music. The first song in the playlist above is not new, however, it's new to me, since I just discovered the song. The band Dope has always been considered an "obscene" band, whose lyrics center mainly around sex, drugs, and rock & roll. However, the song "Always" was an attempt at a rare radio-friendly Dope song, and it achieved mediocre success, landing at #36 on the charts. However, it is a great song, and one that deserves at least a listen.

Rock band Fuel has seen a small publicity increase, thanks mainly to their efforts to land Chris Daughtry as lead singer after original lead singer Brett Scallions left. Fuel, known for their hit "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)", released a new album in late 2007 with a new singer, Toryn Green. The new album has a rich, fine tuned sound, more in the vein of 3 Doors Down and Nickleback. The two songs in the playlist represent what I think are the best sounds off the new album. Both songs are radio-ready, and will appeal to a mass audience. Fuel doesn't win any awards for originality on this album, but its like the old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Disturbed is coming off a platinum successful album, and looking to sell another one. The new album "Indestructible", hits stores this summer, and the first single "Inside the Fire" is signature Disturbed music at its finest. This song contains what I think is one of the best examples of modern rock guitar sound, especially in the bridge portion of the song. Inside the Fire is lead singer David Draiman's story about his girlfriend when he was younger, who committed suicide at the age of 16. The song details David's war against the temptation to take his own life, to join her "Inside the Fire."

Taproot has been a moderately successful band over the years, partly thanks to inclusions on several video game soundtracks. Taproot is self-producing a new album titled "Our Long Road Home", and the song "You're Not Home Tonight" was released a short time ago to give fans a taste of what the new album sounds like. It has a fresh sound to it, with Taproot combining their aggressive style with a melodic rock vibe.

3 Doors Down...what can you say about them? Well, they are highly popular, yet when you look at chart performances, they really haven't done a whole lot since their debut album, which had four number one hits itself. That is changing now. With their upcoming self-titled fourth album, 3 Doors Down has released a new single titled "It's Not My Time", which concert-goers might recognize, as the song was formerly named "I Won't Go", which 3DD played many times over the past 2 years while on tour. "It's Not My Time" has become 3DD's first #1 hit since 2003's "When I'm Gone," and is rising rapidly on other charts as well.