Music Why were Linkin Park and Nickelback criticised so much?

[User Anon 1848]

For the record I wouldn't consider either bands to be among my favorites but I enjoyed at least a handful of their songs and never understood the flack they got compared to other bands and musicians. I'd agree that a lot of their music started to sound the same after a while but I'd apply that same criticism to most music artists who have been around long enough, including my favorites. I know it's a hipster cold take but I find most modern mainstream music to be pretty generic so I wonder why Linkin Park and Nickelback were singled out. Music is highly subjective so I'm curious to hear your thoughts on these bands and the criticism they received.

 

[gimmepie]

Linkin Park earned criticism for being too "edgy" or for frequent stylistic/genre changes.
Nickleback gets shit for being radio rock I guess? Honestly now it's just because it's popular to.

I don't think most of the criticism for either is particularly well-founded.

 

[LucarioBread]

I don't think it is just about the music itself. It's also about the certain audience they have attracted at their peak, particularly tween and early teenage boys. They'd know these and go around bragging that they're listening to "adult music" now and act tough (especially with Linkin Park). Basically, these became stereotypical for the mentioned age and a lot of people want to forget those years because we're all a bunch of cringey kids at that time. The older audiences don't want to be associated with the demographic and feel repelled.

As for me, Nickelback just isn't my cup of tea and always was a bit boring to me. I find Linkin Park to be nothing too special, but it's alright. It does remind of old YouTube so i throw in a couple of their songs into my mix occasionally.