Yes, it’s true. They represent everything that is sh!tty about rock these days. Overwrought singing of lyrics written in the style of a 14-year old boy. Generic middle-of-the-road crap. This caller disagrees. Hear him out:

Nickleback is Great!

And, as a bonus, here’s something I did a few years ago at another radio station in Toronto. We took the banal lyrics of Nickleback, and made a short radio-play:

Nickleback Theatre

Hawksley stopped by the station for the Rock Report to have a chat. He’s in town visiting his brother before heading to Edmonton for their Folk Fest. The new album Los Manlicious hits in August. Listen to the interview:

Hawksley Workman Interview

According to a new list compiled by editors of Spinner.com, Baha Men’s hit Who Let The Dog’s Out? has been named the worst song of all time. The track, which topped charts around the world in 2000, beat off tough competition from rapper Vanilla Ice’s Ice, Ice Baby, who landed at number two. Others on the worst list include Ricky Martin’s She Bangs and Los Del Rio’s Macarena. Add your faves in the comments section! Check out the complete list below:

1. Who Let The Dogs Out  Baha Men

2. Ice, Ice Baby Vanilla Ice

3. She Bangs Ricky Martin

4. Barbie Girl Aqua

5. U Can’t Touch This MC Hammer

6. I Am Woman Helen Redey

7. I’m Too Sexy Right Said Fred

8. Ebony And Ivory Paul MCCartney And Stevie Wonder

9. Macarena Los Del Rio

10. My Heart Will Go On Celine Dion

Listen: Song Montage

St. Louis’ Ludo are out on the Warped Tour, which comes through Calgary on Wednesday. Keyboardist Tim Convy gave me a call on the phone, and this is what it sounded like:

Ludo Chat

This is pretty awesome:

The unveiling of the lineup was made at the 2008 E3 Media and Business Summit, where new and updated features of the second edition of the game were also revealed. A total of 84 songs will be included with the game itself, with 20 more to be made available for free downloading in the fall. Among the other artists contributing tracks to Rock Band 2 are Pearl Jam, Metallica, the Allman Brothers, Devo, Paramore, Modest Mouse, Nirvana, the Who, Jimmy Eat World, Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and many more.

• Rock Band 2 will make its debut on Xbox 360 this September, and will be available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Wii systems later this year.
• The official Rock Band 2 track listing is:
  1. AC/DC - “Let There Be Rock”
  2. AFI - “Girl’s Gone Grey”
  3. Alanis Morissette - “You Oughta Know”
  4. Alice in Chains - “Man In The Box”
  5. Allman Brothers - “Ramblin’ Man”
  6. Avenged Sevenfold - “Almost Easy”
  7. Bad Company - “Shooting Star”
  8. Beastie Boys - “So Whatcha Want”
  9. Beck - “E-Pro”
  10. Bikini Kill - “Rebel Girl”
  11. Billy Idol - “White Wedding Pt I”
  12. Blondie - One Way Or Another”
  13. Bob Dylan - “Tangled Up In Blue”
  14. Bon Jovi - “Livin’ on A Prayer”
  15. Cheap Trick - “Hello There”
  16. Devo - “Uncontrollable Urge”
  17. Dinosaur Jr. - “Feel the Pain”
  18. Disturbed - “Down With The Sickness”
  19. The Donnas - “New Kid In School”
  20. Dream Theater - “Panic Attack”
  21. Duran Duran - “Hungry Like the Wolf”
  22. Elvis Costello - “Pump It Up”
  23. Fleetwood Mac - “Go Your Own Way”
  24. Foo Fighters - “Everlong”
  25. The Go-Go’s - “We Got the Beat”
  26. The Grateful Dead - “Alabama Getaway”
  27. The Guess Who - “American Woman”
  28. Guns N’ Roses - “Shackler’s Revenge”
  29. Interpol - “PDA ”
  30. Jane’s Addiction - “Mountain Song”
  31. Jethro Tull - “Aqualung”
  32. Jimmy Eat World - “The Middle”
  33. Joan Jett - “Bad Reputation”
  34. Journey - “Anyway You Want It”
  35. Judas Priest - “Painkiller”
  36. Kansas - “Carry On Wayward Son”
  37. L7 - “Pretend We’re Dead”
  38. Lacuna Coil - “Our Truth”
  39. Linkin Park - “One Step Closer”
  40. Lit - “My Own Worst Enemy”
  41. Lush - “De-Luxe”
  42. Mastodon - “Colony of Birchmen”
  43. Megadeth - “Peace Sells”
  44. Metallica - “Battery”
  45. Mighty Mighty Bosstones - “Where’d You Go”
  46. Modest Mouse - “Float On”
  47. Motorhead - “Ace of Spades”
  48. The Muffs - “Kids in America”
  49. Nirvana - “Drain You”
  50. Norman Greenbaum - “Spirit in the Sky”
  51. The Offspring - “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)”
  52. Panic at the Disco - “Nine In The Afternoon”
  53. Paramore - “That’s What You Get”
  54. Pearl Jam - “Alive”
  55. Presidents of the USA - “Lump”
  56. Rage Against the Machine - “Testify”
  57. Ratt - “Round & Round”
  58. Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Give it Away”
  59. The Replacements - “Alex Chilton”
  60. Rise Against - “Give it All”
  61. Rush - “The Trees”
  62. Silversun Pickups - “Lazy Eye”
  63. Smashing Pumpkins - “Today”
  64. Social Distortion - “I Was Wrong”
  65. Sonic Youth - “Teenage Riot”
  66. Soundgarden - “Spoonman”
  67. Squeeze - “Cool For Cats”
  68. Steely Dan - “Bodhitsattva”
  69. Steve Miller Band - “Rock’n Me”
  70. Survivor - “Eye of the Tiger”
  71. System of a Down - “Chop Suey”
  72. Talking Heads - “Psycho Killer”
  73. Tenacious D - “Master Exploder”
  74. Testament - “Souls Of Black”
  75. The Who - “Pinball Wizard”

Maritimes band Slowcoaster were through town for a show, and stopped by the X92.9 Studios at 17th Ave and 2nd to have a chat.

Interview Audio

Brendan Canning and Sam Goldberg of Broken Social Scene came by to chat about the band’s Sled Island appearance and his latest release,  Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning, Something for All of Us…. Here’s the interview:

Brendan Canning Interview

Carolina Liar played this past weekend at the Calgary Virgin Fest. I had a backstage chat with Chad Wolf, lead singer of the band. Heres’ the interview:

Carolina Liar Interview

Stars played the mainstage at the Calgary Virgin Fest. I sat down in the band’s trailer for a chat with Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell. Here’s the audio:

Stars Interview