Why do you think Nickelback is disliked by so many musicians?

Nickleback is not my jam, but I think the dislike of the band is one of the purer examples of classism. Nickleback is explicitly a business, much like Bachman Turner Overdrive was run on tour (and Metallica is). They have a product (guitar-driven pop-rock) and they deliver it like clockwork.

They’re a bunch of guys from Hanna, Alberta. Hanna is boondocks. Mike Kroger named the band after the change he gave people while working at Starbucks.

Music journalists have a pretty classist outlook on authenticity and what a proper rock band looks like. Working class guys running a rock-and-roll business don’t fit in their petty-bourgeoisie mental model of how the world works.