CALGARY – June 27, 2023 (CelebrityAccess) – Alberta rock band Nickelback was officially inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame on Sunday (June 25) with a formal plaque ceremony.
“It’s humbling and bizarre… Words fall short every single time, they truly do,” said Chad Kroeger, the band’s lead vocalist.
Nickelback was inducted into the Hall of Fame during the Juno Awards broadcast in Edmonton earlier this year. However, the boys from the band (Kroeger, Mike Kroeger, Ryan Peake, Daniel Adair) made it official, placing their plaque at the National Music Centre’s Studio Bell in Calgary.
“When you look at those legendary names, I would’ve thought that this honor might come to us someday, ten years in the future,” Chad said.
Studio Bell is the physical home of the Hall of Fame collection, and only the best in the business are recognized with names such as Rush, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn and more.
“(Nickelback has) obviously gone far beyond these borders, but the impact they’ve had on fans and the industry as a whole has just been incredible,” said Allan Reid, President and CEO of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Juno Awards and MusiCounts.
“We just thought about a year in advance; there’s probably no better artists to induct in Alberta than Nickelback … They are so deserving of this honor. We thought, if we’re going to do it, this is the place to do it,” he said.
Reid was on hand alongside National Music Centre CEO Andrew Mosker to welcome Nickelback into the Hall of Fame. But, according to Kroeger, he was also one of many record company executives who decided against signing Nickelback in the early days.
“You have to be prepared to be shot down by the likes of Allan Reid. We got passed up by a lot of record companies because there was just such different music going on when we were coming up. It was hard. There were a lot of boy bands, and there were a lot of female pop artists, Christina (Aguilera) and Britney (Spears) and the likes of that, and then you’ve got these four heathens from some place called Hanna in Alberta (saying) ‘Hey, you should sign us.’ Allan, I don’t blame you. But we weren’t what anybody was looking for back then, so we got a lot of rejections.
Nickelback has 23 chart-topping singles, 50 million albums sold, more than 10 billion online streams, 12 Juno Awards, and nine Grammy nominations.
“They’re one of the most popular touring bands in the world, certainly the most popular from Canada at this point. They’ve written tons of great rock anthems that the world and Canadians love,” said Andrew Mosker, president and CEO of the National Music Centre.
Along with Nickelback’s new plaque, the National Music Centre is also presenting a temporary exhibition featuring instruments, clothing, videos and other artifacts from the band’s 30-year career.
Nickelback is touring their 10th studio album, Get Rollin’, which brought the rockers to the Saddledome on Sunday night (June 26). While the Canadian leg of the tour will soon wrap up, Kroeger says the band still has 54 dates scheduled worldwide. Hinting at an upcoming documentary, Nickelback says its rock and roll journey is far from over.
