I was the EVP of Roadrunner Records when we signed Nickelback and when they peaked with All the Right Reasons. Their music wasn't to my personal taste, but Chad's songwriting and their ability to live up to that genius with their performance had an appeal that could not be denied. Their music meant so much to so many people and deserves the greatest respect. I was not involved creatively, but I was a data hound with a front row seat, and at one point I noticed that "Far Away", which was a huge radio hit, sold an inordinately high amount of ringtones. They were sometimes called "truetones", as they were an edit of the actual recording, and we did a brisk business selling them prior to the advent of smartphones. After researching some anecdotal comments about Far Away, I realized that the song had become an anthem of sorts for military families, who would assign that song as their ringtone when they were called by their sons and daughters on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. The song still brings me to tears every time I come across it.
Incredible. Ringtones were such a weird blip in the industry. I think in like 2008 they represented a significant portion of revenue. Who else was on the label?
Roadrunner was known for its heavy metal artists - King Diamond, Sepultura, Type O Negative, Slipknot and countless others. Overtime, we broadened our approach, and in addition to Nickelback, our roster included Theory of a Deadman, the Dresden Dolls and Young the Giant, as well as latter day Lynyrd Skynyrd and the NY Dolls.
Here's another success story emblematic of a nearly forgotten music delivery medium. In 2006 we released a licensed album from the British power metal band DragonForce, known for their technically elaborate guitar solos. Their song "Through the Fire and the Flames" was licensed to Guitar Hero, the play along video game, wildly popular at the time. Guitar Hero placed it as their ultimate track, if you were good enough to unlock every level of expertise with your guitar chops, you'd unlock this song as the final challenge of the game. This led to a flood of countless YouTube postings of would-be guitar heroes facing this seemingly impossible achievement:
Thank you for making me chuckle. I had no idea there was a 'butt rock' genre, but your list makes it very clear this was not, is not, and never will be music I will choose to listen to. Based on the sounds herein, the genre deserves a band named 'All Cheeks'.
It’s amazing seeing the old tech (handheld cameras, flip phones, etc.) in some of these videos. I was obsessed with the latest tech back then, and for awhile Best Buy was my happy place!
I was the EVP of Roadrunner Records when we signed Nickelback and when they peaked with All the Right Reasons. Their music wasn't to my personal taste, but Chad's songwriting and their ability to live up to that genius with their performance had an appeal that could not be denied. Their music meant so much to so many people and deserves the greatest respect. I was not involved creatively, but I was a data hound with a front row seat, and at one point I noticed that "Far Away", which was a huge radio hit, sold an inordinately high amount of ringtones. They were sometimes called "truetones", as they were an edit of the actual recording, and we did a brisk business selling them prior to the advent of smartphones. After researching some anecdotal comments about Far Away, I realized that the song had become an anthem of sorts for military families, who would assign that song as their ringtone when they were called by their sons and daughters on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. The song still brings me to tears every time I come across it.
Incredible. Ringtones were such a weird blip in the industry. I think in like 2008 they represented a significant portion of revenue. Who else was on the label?
Roadrunner was known for its heavy metal artists - King Diamond, Sepultura, Type O Negative, Slipknot and countless others. Overtime, we broadened our approach, and in addition to Nickelback, our roster included Theory of a Deadman, the Dresden Dolls and Young the Giant, as well as latter day Lynyrd Skynyrd and the NY Dolls.
Here's another success story emblematic of a nearly forgotten music delivery medium. In 2006 we released a licensed album from the British power metal band DragonForce, known for their technically elaborate guitar solos. Their song "Through the Fire and the Flames" was licensed to Guitar Hero, the play along video game, wildly popular at the time. Guitar Hero placed it as their ultimate track, if you were good enough to unlock every level of expertise with your guitar chops, you'd unlock this song as the final challenge of the game. This led to a flood of countless YouTube postings of would-be guitar heroes facing this seemingly impossible achievement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMkjmiVo6jA
This was also the heyday of ITunes downloads, and we sold so many of the original track that the single went gold.
"Despite your feelings about Scott Stapp’s enunciation or Jesus’s Annunciation..." 👏👏👏
Jeez, man, I hope you get danger pay.
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Thank you for making me chuckle. I had no idea there was a 'butt rock' genre, but your list makes it very clear this was not, is not, and never will be music I will choose to listen to. Based on the sounds herein, the genre deserves a band named 'All Cheeks'.
Nickelback gets so much shit for being safe and boring but when the alternative is Seether I pick nickelback any day of the week
It could always be worse
It’s amazing seeing the old tech (handheld cameras, flip phones, etc.) in some of these videos. I was obsessed with the latest tech back then, and for awhile Best Buy was my happy place!
It was really trendy to hate on Nickelback for a while, but some of their stuff is... not bad. Good even. I think they just got piled on.