Nickelback? or Nickel-Go-Back-to-Canada?

A petition came out about the recent decision to have Nickelback perform during the Thanksgiving Day Halftime show in Detroit, when the Lions battle it out against the Green Bay Packers. About 43,000 (and counting) people are against having the band play; instead, they are requesting a performer that represents Detroit or is at least from the state of Michigan.

The opposed show their strong feelings on the petition with comments such as “…I’d rather drink bleach than listen to Nickelback and have them be associated with Detroit,” and “Haven’t the good people of Detroit been through enough?”

It’s hard to convince Detroit fans on hiring a performer who doesn’t represent Detroit or lacks that “Motown Sound.” This isn’t the first time this has happened either– controversy also arose in 2006 when the Rolling Stones delivered a dull halftime act themselves.  Surely, the Lions administration doesn’t pick their performers by hiring the first band that comes up on shuffle on their iTunes. There may very well be a reason they chose Nickelback. However, the fact that such a large number of people are already so disappointed by a show that hasn’t even happened yet should raise a red flag. But what if there were another 43,000 fans that did want to watch Nickelback on Thanksgiving? This brings up an interesting question: should the fans in Detroit have a say in who should perform at the halftime shows? I’m interested to see if a quickly growing Internet petition will actually cause a change, or if it’s just a futile effort. For now, let’s give Nickelback a chance. Who knows, maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised by what they have in store.

By: Chris Swift

(Photo by Sarah K. Andrew under a Creative Commons license)