Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The origin of the name "Nickelback"

I assume Wikipedia is never wrong about anything, so they can't be wrong about the origin of the name "Nickelback."

There's such hype about the pride Chad and the band members have in the band, and how deep the lyrics are, and how awesome at life their fans are, but, did you ever stop and ask yourself, "Why, self, do I think they chose the name 'Nickelback' for such an incredibly awesome [at sucking] rock band?"

The answer lies with Starbucks. That's right, Starbucks. The frilled-up coffee place.

Turns out Mike Kroeger used to work at Starbucks serving what were no doubt some of the deepest, most thoughtful lattes this side of France. (Mike, by the way, for those of you who have too much of a life to care about these things, is the half brother of Chad Kroeger and bass player for this talented menagerie.) While working at Starbucks, Mike found that he would often have to provide the customer with 5 Canadian cents in change. 5 Canadian cents, when placed into one coin, is also called a nickel. (Similar to the US but at 70% of the value.) Apparently, during this transaction, he would frequently find himself saying "Here's your nickel back."

Long story short: Mike served crappy, over-priced coffee, gave people nickels, formed a crappy band and should now technically owe Starbucks all sorts of royalties. Thank God he didn't have to give people some sort of other change back or ever say anything else to any customers on a routine basis, like "Here's your penny back," or "Here's your receipt ma'am." Those would have been horrible band names.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nickelback is the cause of global warming, didn't you hear?

http://probablysucks.com/research-finds-nickelback-is-responsible-for-global-warming/

vinicius said...

Quem sabe onde baixar o dark horse me envie por email
viniciusinistrao@hotmail.com

..... gues... said...

LOL... you must have serious recreational issues..

the famous nickelback said...

Oh a combination of nickels and starbucks coffee. Well they did a great band name here in the music industry.

Anonymous said...

Actually, it refers to a nick back plating for a metallic tool or a bullet

me said...

They just actually picked two names like the grateful dead do then and a party someone can up with the coffee shop story.... Think of it what 20 years a ago how much was a Starbucks coffee and why would anyone and the costumer if they wanted they change

Anonymous said...

Hahah, Pennyback XD
That would be... funny :D

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. See the link below for more info.


#origin
www.matreyastudios.com

idontwantaprofile said...

As someone who was marooned in Cananda for twenty years and have seen so many shoddy Canadian products, "bands" and other entertainment, exalted by Canadian (it's like spelling banana) media and biased arrogants simply because they were Canadian, not ofcourse, you know, because they were ANY GOOD, I have to mention that I thought it was because on the back of a Canadian five-cent coin is a beaver, which is also means a pussy

idontwantaprofile said...
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idontwantaprofile said...
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idontwantaprofile said...

Waoh-ho HO. You think that's bad? Have you listened to Canadian rap? This country had me so fed with they're jealousy and hatred of the States while at the same time trying to be the cheap knock-off version. haha the pic of nickelback

idontwantaprofile said...
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idontwantaprofile said...

this is so funny/sarcastic

Claude Balloune said...

Well, very few, if any, Americans would know the following, as they are completely ignorant of anything that outside of their cynically-named and self-absorbed bastion of so-called "FREEDOM" -
BUT !
If you look at the back of a Canadian nickel, you will see the creative, industrious and hard-working rodent that is the proud symbol of ALL Canadians: THE BEAVER!
THIS is the object that the band "Nickleback" emulate, unlike some pussy that most American bands seem to be made of!

Anonymous said...

I thought Nickelback was code for "beaver" or pussy, as have seen running across Canadian nickels, beaver is on back of nickel.

Anonymous said...

I mean wow! What a way to describe thoughts! "its like words in my head" if I could come up with something so simple yet so intrinsically profound I'd be rolling in the nickel royalties too! Captainmidnite

Anonymous said...

I don't think Americans automatically hate Canadian bands, like Nickelback. One can actually gauge the decline of the western civilization by the influx of Canadian music/bands that made it to U.S. I.e. once they gave us real talent with the likes of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell,Guess Who, BTO,Skylark(Wildflower,great ballad produced by David Foster) Rush, Triumph, April Wine, Gordon Lightfoot, and for some Alana Morisette, Celine Dion, Shania Twain. Then things started going south in the 80s with Loverboy, Bryan Adams, and further into the abyss with Bare naked Ladies. There were a few bright spots with Saga, and Strange Advance(Worlds Away),Also Nova, for some Corey Hart. Now we've been reduced to Nickelback, Justin Bieber, and Karly Jepsen(call me maybe? Cute but c'mon) I shudder to think what could be next! Captainmidnite

Anonymous said...

Oh I forgot Honeymoon Suite(I got a new girl now) Darby Mills(Breakin' down) and Nick Gilder(Roxy Roller, Hot Child in the city) I'm not sure who did song "meanwhile back in Paris I was embarrassed...stick him in the ground six feet down" think is Canadian band too. sp. Mistake last post is Aldo Nova(life is just a fantasy) Another mellower guy from Montreal was Gino Vanelli. Captainmidnite

Anonymous said...

A couple more are good from late 70s? From Canada are: Powder Blues Band, Doug and the slugs, and I forgot Red Rider(Tom Cochrane went solo "life is a highway", after Lunatic Fringe, another good song by Red Rider is "white hot" about freedom fighters in Africa. Captainmidnite

Anonymous said...

holy sht. so much hate

Unknown said...


Now this is the kinda of stuff i like to read about. Thanks for brightening my day

Jorcel
www.imarksweb.org

Unknown said...

Nope. Their original name was Nickelbag. They changed it to something less provocative when they got signed. Forever cementing their corporate sell out status before they even released an album.

Anonymous said...

I thought Nickleback meant getting 5 bucks back for buying crappy dope.