In your opinion, what is the worst rock band in history and why do you think they gained a large following?

Creed—Compared to the other two, I would push them slightly ahead of both only because their music wasn’t comprised of good times, violence, sex and frat-bro antics. Creed was allegedly a Christian rock band that went mainstream. It’s debatable. But that holier than thou sound got old very quick. It was the same formulaic template for every song on every album. I admit, My Own Prison did have a certain Alice in Chains, brooding quality albeit it being released more than 3 years after the last grunge album. But one could chalk that up as an homage to their influences. The album however was produced with so much slickness and gloss that it lost its luster. Unlike Alice in Chains, there was no rawness. It was filtered and saturated, made for anyone who wanted to carry the spiritual heaviness with gloves and a forklift along with a love for Jesus. They then used the same approach for their next several albums. There’s only so much Bible Belt rhetoric the ears can take.

It’s a choice between three. As someone who clearly remembers the beauty of 90s music, but also the nightmare these are the ones which immediately come to mind: Creed, Nickelback and Limp Bizkit. They are in no particular order, but all are a part of a wretched musical monolith filled with bone-headed, misogynistic, spiritually pretentious, knuckle dragging, drink-until-you’re-drunk, neanderthal manufactured party music that serves no purpose other than providing a sobering PTSD moment of that time between 1998 and 2001 when these bands ruled the airwaves. Understand that there are worse bands than these – but the question does account for the fact that the ‘worst band’ has a large following. Hence, these bands take the cake.

Limp Bizkit—the Captain of the Nu-metal Titanic, this band showcased everything which was cringeworthy of that genre. In fact, they are arguably the quintessential band of nu-metal, filled with bombastic pyrotechnic drumming, static crunchy guitar and flowless rapping. Their mission was to incite external rage and anger. Look no further than Woodstock ‘99. Limp Bizkit perhaps thought they were the heir successor of Rage Against the Machine with a nod to the Beastie Boys. They were not. In fact, they were/are the antithesis to those great bands catering more towards a demographic of WWE wrestling, shotguns, pickup trucks and any consumable liquid that has alcohol.

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Nickelback— I just finished watching their documentary ‘Hate to Love’ on Netflix, not because I was eager to learn more about them, but to see if this film was as boring as their music. And it was. There is nothing about this band which has an ounce of creativity. Soulless is a better word. The lyrics are mind numbing almost to the point of sounding like nursery rhymes. The lead singer apparently likes to be as blunt as possible, evading any sense of literary allegory, metaphor or personification. It’s Ponderosa steak and potatoes. What you see is what you get. And that might be good for people who don’t like to stray away from the herd or the conformist path. But the subject matter is simply depressing. Whether it’s nostalgia, rock star life, sex, breakup and more sex it's a cycle of some form of small-town dreams and heartaches. Every song is either a ballad or a hard rocker. Pick your poison. Nickelback is also one of those post-grunge bands that went immediately to the commercial route, hired producer Mutt Lange and took the Def Leppard elevator to the penthouse. They are a band who realizes they can make music as a financial way to live rather than a band who lives to make music. But maybe that’s OK. Given they are from some remote spot in Alberta, Canada perhaps this was their ticket out and paying a price to make lame rock is just a sacrifice one needs to accept in order for that to happen.