The Decade in Events (The Bad Pt. 1)

Nickelback

No one defined generic cock rock quite like Nickelback. Sure there was plenty of boring run of the mill rock acts this decade such as Godsmack, Creed, Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, Crossfade, Staind, Linkin Park etc. But Nickelback took the level of craptasticly awful to an all new level.

Maybe it's the facial hair, maybe there is something in the water in Canada were the rockers hail from. Maybe it's both. Who cares. Whatever it is that makes this foursome suck so hard must be pretty effective at its job.

I could write an entire blog about my massive all consuming hatred for these guys. But I'll just let the video below speak for itself. One side of the speaker plays "How You Remind Me" while the other speaker plays "Someday". Notice something funny?

Chinese Democracy Flops

When the last Guns N' Roses album of all new material was released, George Bush was President we had troops in Iraq, the economy was unstable and I was almost 3 years old. Fast forward 17 years and not much had changed except for the fact that no one cared about Axl Rose anymore.

While Use Your Illusion I & II was an event record with multiple midnight openings at music stores across the country and fans lining up to get their hands on one of the most anticipated albums ever, Chinese Democracy was sold exclusively at Best Buy, received little to no promotion, debuted at number 3 on the Billboard Charts behind Kanye West and Taylor Swift, had its first single debut on a video game, and has barely sold 1 million copies to date. Pretty much an epic fail for what was supposed to be the greatest rock record of all time.

Jay-Z Post Retirement

When Jay-Z retired after releasing The Black Album in 2003, HOVA became the CEO of Def Jam records thus trading in his luxurious lifestyle as one of rap's most important icons for another luxurious lifestyle sitting behind a desk.

Everyone knew that he wouldn't stay retired. However no one knew how bland his music would be when he did come back. 2006's Kingdom Comes found Jay-Z simply rapping about being rich and being back in da game. He dug up old dirt to find his past glory that no longer existed.

While 2007's American Gangster was a much welcomed improvement this year's The Blueprint 3 was yet another mediocre release from someone who just 8 years ago was sitting on top of the rap world. I don't care what anyone says, "Empire State of Mind" is a terrible song. We get it Jay... you like New York. Find a new subject please. Rap about Beyonce's ass or something.