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fall out boy nickelback

Nickelback and Fall Out Boy CD Reviews

Courtesy of Roadrunner Records

Courtesy of Uprising

Nickelback keeps chugging out the rock hits and Fall Out Boy tries to see the sunnier side of life. Kidzworld checks out Dark Horse and Folie à Deux.

Nickelback :: Dark Horse

A “dark horse” is phrase that describes someone who used to be unknown and is now suddenly famous. Dark Horse is Nickelback’s sixth studio album and since the band has had some crazy commercial success maybe the title is tongue-in-cheek. A lot of critics hate these guys, but the sales speak loud and clear—the fans love them. Dark Horse has the same post-grunge sound of their other work and the band deals with the themes we’ve come to expect—getting stupid with friends, ladies who’ve done them wrong and the hard life of some working class dudes who happened to make it big. Nickelback is good if you don’t dig too deep—these songs work best as background or as a quick listen on the radio.

Fun Facts

The band records in Chad Kroeger’s barn that he converted into a studio.

Dark Horse was certified platinum on December 9, 2008 after only three weeks after its release.

The album’s producer, Mutt Lange, also worked on records by AC/DC, Def Leppard and Shania Twain.

Hot Tracks

Gotta Be Somebody, Something in Your Mouth, If Today Was Your Last Day

Rating:

Fall Out Boy :: Folie à deux

The latest Fall Out Boy abum is crammed with stadium-sized rock and resonating anthems that will stay in your head for days after you hear them. If you like your pop punk and your boys in make-up, this is the album for you. The lyrics of the first single, I Don’t Care, read “I don’t care what you think/as long as it’s about me”—it seems like the band is aware of their popularity and the backlash that comes along with it. Nevertheless, Pete Wentz and the boys bring back the sexy riffs and heartbreaking lyrics you remember, but the self-pitying angst of their other work seems lessened—and this is a good thing. Maybe the boys are growing up!

Fun Facts

The album was originally slated for release on November 8, 2008 (Election Day), but the band decided they didn’t want to piggyback on the election hype, so they pushed back the release date to December 16, 2008.

Catch Me If You Can, a track originally released online by Pete Wentz, eventually showed up on The Quilt—a record by Fall Out Boy’s friends, the Gym Class Heroes.

The album has lots of guest stars including Debbie Harry from Blondie, Elvis Costello, Lil Wayne, Pharrell, Panic at the Disco and The Academy Is....

Folie à deux means “madness of two” and is a psychiatric syndrome (like paranoia) shared by two people.