Hating Canadian rockers Nickelback has almost become a competitive sport.
Sure, they have loads of fans. Nickelback's last album, 2011's "Here and Now," hit No. 2 on Billboard's Top 200.
But a sort of viral dislike for the band blossomed properly on the Internet in 2010 when a woman founded a Facebook page called "Can this pickle get more fans than Nickelback." She won.
More recently, Detroit Lions fans were incensed that the band would play the halftime performance during the Thanksgiving Lions-Green Bay Packers game, and got over 55,000 signatures to prevent it from happening. They lost.
And earlier this January, the drummer for The Black Keys told Rolling Stone that the band is essentially killing rock music, calling it "watered-down, post-grunge crap."
That seemed to be the straw that broke the Nickel's back: Suddenly, the band's official Twitter account was reaching out, and on Jan. 5 they tweeted, "Thanks to the drummer in the Black Keys calling us the Biggest Band in the World in Rolling Stone. Hehe."
Well, they are Canadian. The stinging insults are going to naturally be a bit softer.
But starting about a week ago, things stepped up a little more -- and someone behind the band's Twitter account got busy, tweeting personal responses to individual attacks, which were compiled on BuzzFeed. Among some of the zappers:
Sedated_Nights: "My stereo turned itself back on again, to nickelback AGAIN. DOES IT KNOW I F------ HATE THEM WITH A FIREY BURNING PASSION?"
Nickelback: "@Sedated_Nights that makes your stereo excellent. Enjoy the flames"
Mybueno: "I blame Nickelback"
Nickelback: "@mybueno we blame you. Not sure for what, but it was definitely you."
@HistoryClassPro: "So Pandora thought it would be cool and skip over some music that I wanted to hear, then played Nickelback..."
Nickelback: "@HistoryClassPro isn't it amazing when they get it so right?"
On the one hand, exhibiting a sense of humor in light of such public ribbing is worth a thumbs up. But on the Internet, poking the trolls is something of a risky business: Trent Reznor got into a battle with some of his Twitter followers and deleted his account in 2009. (He did ultimately return.)
For now, Nickelback is keeping it interesting ... but based on their anti-fans' vitriol, they may need to hire someone to tweet full-time pretty soon.
Are you a Nickelback fan, a hater, or indifferent? Take our poll, and tell us on Facebook.
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