After five years of hard graft, sold-out shows soon became a regularity for the group, and it seemed that they could breathe easy in the knowledge they finally had a hit on their hands. “It was really gonna show people if we were gonna be around for a while or not.”įortunately, Nickelback were not tied down to dollar-menu meals and damp rented vans for much longer. Silver Side Up “was going to be the make or break album for us”, Kroeger recalled.
Sure, they’d gained some fans along the way, and enjoyed moderate radio success, but “the moment” had yet to come. Credit to their incessant work ethic, Nickelback had toured extensively in support of their two previous albums, but there was little indication that anything concrete had come of it. However, the release of their breakthrough song came at a crucial time. In truth, with a powerful arsenal of radio-ready rock classics behind them (not least Breathe and Leader Of Men, both from The State), Nickelback were probably always destined for the spotlight. “It was gonna show people if we were gonna be around for a while or not” Igniting a spark in the popular imagination, the song also made clear that Nickelback were a band should (often, though not always) be taken seriously. Not only did How You Remind Me cement their position as the top dogs of the post-grunge game, it’s simple, familiar-sounding structure paved the way both for later ballads in their catalogue (Someday, from The Long Road) and for riff-laden, angst-ridden metal tracks (Side Of A Bullet, from All The Right Reasons). Yet the band’s decision to embrace their darker, more vulnerable side paid off.
“Just ’cause we thought it was really powerful, and maybe we were afraid to show the other side of Nickelback.” “We almost went with Never Again,” Kroeger later told Louder Sound.
When the girl who’d inspired the song said it sounded good, Kroeger took it to his bandmates, and How You Remind Me eventually fought its way to being released as the first single from Silver Side Up. Following a fight with his then girlfriend, the singer immediately retreated to his basement and, in a burst of petty resentment, penned How You Remind Me in just 15 minutes. “We were afraid to show the other side of Nickelback”įrontman Chad Kroeger could hardly have imagined that when writing the song. With its well-mixed guitars and spine-splitting drums, there would be no shying away from the “post-grunge” label, both in the band’s style and the song’s mastering, but, considering How You Remind Me’s subject matter, Parashar’s packed technique was essential to helping Nickelback realise their endeavours to create highly accessible radio-rock.
And, with production from grunge go-to Rick Parashar (Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Blind Melon), How You Remind Me still sounds as punchy as it did upon release. Rather, it found Nickelback perfecting their sound. But what was it about just another post-grunge release that enabled it to smash records and ignite a boom of interest in a genre that had begun to seem past its sell-by date?įirst off, How You Remind Me wasn’t just another post-grunge release. According to Nielsen SoundScan, it was the most-played song on US radio between 20 and, to date, has sold over three million copies. Released on 21 August 2001, How You Remind Me quickly became Nickelback’s signature song (until, arguably, the release of Rockstar, four years later), and saw immediate success on the charts, scoring Top 5 position around the world and hitting No.1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock charts. Speaking to Louder Sound in 2017, Nickelback guitarist Ryan Peake recalled that their label had “sunk so much money into us for our previous album, they were just like, this has to work or we’re gonna be fucked”. “This has to work, or we’re gonna be fucked”
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