Review: 'Hate To Love: Nickelback'

Every generation finds a band that it becomes very popular to dunk on. They're too commercial, they've "sold out" in some way, members of the band are just asshats. Sometimes the group somewhat brings it on themselves, but the only thing that's clear is that you can't figure out why people respond to the band in that way. They just do and both the band and their fans are forced to go with it until the hate inevitably dies down a bit.

In the early aughts, the musical punching bag de jour was Canada's Nickelback. And that ride up and down the ladder of hipness and popularity is laid out with workmanlike skill in the new documentary Hate To Love: Nickelback.

Formed in Hanna, Alberta in 1995 by Chad Kroeger, Ryan Peake, Mike Kroeger and Brandon Kroeger, the band self-released albums in 1996 and 1998, then replaced drummer with Ryan Vikedal and then signed to heavy metal label Roadrunner Records. 

The 2000 album The State was a modest success, hitting #120 on the Modern Rock charts and a couple of Top 10 Mainstream Rock hits. 2001's Silver Side Up spawned three straight #1 Mainstream Rock chart hits. But one of the tracks - "How You Remind Me" - went to #1 on the Billboard Top 100 and that success drove the album to the #2 position on the album charts.

The 2003 album The Long Road included the #6 hit "Someday," and the album sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. The band then changed drummers again, adding Daniel Adair, before releasing All The Right Reasons in 2005. And that album was a massive worldwide hit. The album sold eighteen million copies worldwide and ten million just in the United States. The album's first single was "Photograph," which went to #2 on the Billboard Top 100. Five different tracks from the album eventually became Top 20 hits, including the #6 hit "Rockstar."

The band was overexposed and worn out and the follow-up album "Dark Horse," did well. Well enough that most bands would have been happy with another two Top 20 singles. But that was the last of a string of radio hits for the band and as they struggled, they also found themselves the target of a lot of social media and pop culture ridicule. 

While the hits had stopped coming, their albums sold well and they were headlining huge arena tours. But that mocking obviously ate at the band and this documentary is their authorized attempt to rewrite the headlines.

The resulting film isn't bad - it plays pretty much like a standard rock documentary, following the band from its earliest days to the present. There are certainly plenty of snippets of insider footage to please the band's hardcore fans and if you're not familiar with the group's history, it's interesting to find out a bit more about them.

But the documentary is almost completely devoid of any real insight, so that when a moment does come along, you're reminded just how little of it is in the rest of the film. At one point the band meets and has a discussion about albums. They enjoy recording them and they continue to sell. But they aren't spinning off any radio hits. So the band struggles with how that dynamic should be reflected in their live shows. It seems crazy to record new music and not play at least some of it live. But the fans coming to the concert are going to expect all the hits. So how do they balance that creative tension?

It was a brief conversation, but it was by far the highlight of the documentary. It showed the band vulnerable and working through the kind of challenges that comes with having a long career and some recent downsides.

In the end, the documentary just sort of fizzles out and while I certainly didn't dislike the film, I think it's best enjoyed by fans of the band. 

Which to be honest, also describes about 80 percent of all music documentaries.

Hate To Love: Nickelback is now streaming on Netflix.