Silver Side Up


Silver Side Up is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Nickelback; it was released on September 11, 2001. According to AllMusic, Silver Side Up continued Nickelback's tradition of "dark high-octane rock" from the band's first two albums. It reached number one in Canada, Austria, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The album was certified 8× Platinum in Canada, 6× Platinum in the US, and 3× Platinum in the UK.
In late 2002 Nickelback hit the road once again in support of the latest UK single release "Never Again", which the band started playing in Sheffield on that night. This would be the band's first ever UK Arena/stadium tour stopping off in Brighton, Sheffield, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester & London at Wembley Arena with support coming from Vancouver’s rock band Default. This would end the Silver Side Up world tour before travelling back to Canada to begin work on their 2003 record The Long Road.

Background

By 2000, Nickelback had begun to receive commercial success through performing their 1998 album The State and its lead single "Leader of Men". In early 2001, The State was certified Gold in Canada and had almost reached the same certification in America. At this time, Nickelback was planning to enter the studio to begin recording their third studio album. In March 2001, Nickelback won their first Juno Award for Best New Group of the Year. In April 2001, Nickelback returned to the studio where they recorded The State to begin recording for Silver Side Up. Many of the songs from Silver Side Up were written before The State was released; and some of them, including "Hangnail" and "Hollywood," had been played live and many fans already knew them before Silver Side Up was released. "Just For" was originally released on Curb as "Just Four" in 1996. According to Chad Kroeger during a Vegas concert in 2018, "Where Do I Hide?" is about a friend of his who would bust out of prison all the time and would go back to Nickelback's hometown of Hanna, Alberta, Canada.
Nickelback took their time recording Silver Side Up, and eventually hired Rick Parashar to help them produce the album. By June 2001 the band had completed recording Silver Side Up; they announced the lead single from the album would be "How You Remind Me". Mike Kroeger, the bass player, wanted to release "Never Again" but the record label and bandmates decided "How You Remind Me" would be more appropriate. In July 2001, Nickelback sent "How You Remind Me" to radio stations. In August that year, Nickelback played their first German tour. In early September, the band set out to tour with their friends in 3 Doors Down. While on tour, "How You Remind Me" reached number one on both the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and the Modern Rock Tracks chart before Silver Side Up was officially released. Silver Side Up's lead single's success catapulted The State back onto the Billboard charts.

Release and chart performance

Silver Side Up was released on September 11, 2001. The album entered the Billboard 200, peaking at number two behind The Blueprint by American rapper Jay-Z and surpassing their previous album, The State, which peaked at 130. Silver Side Up peaked at number 2 in the Billboard 200 and number one in the Canadian albums chart, becoming Nickelback's first album to enter the Canadian albums chart. The band decided to tour with Default and others in late 2001. Silver Side Up received Platinum status from the RIAA, becoming Nickelback's first album to attain Platinum status. In Canada it also reached Platinum status, surpassing The State, which went Gold Status in January 2001. As the album was released on September 11, many listened to it to help grieve after the September 11 attacks. By late 2001, "How You Remind Me" had already become a massive hit. The music video for the song was heavily played on MTV and other channels.
In December 2001, "How You Remind Me" peaked at number one in the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for four weeks. The song stayed in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 for 20 consecutive weeks. By the end of 2001, Silver Side Up had been awarded double platinum by the RIAA. Follow-up singles were "Too Bad" and "Never Again", both of which reached number one on the rock charts, but failed to achieve the same success as "How You Remind Me".
In 2002 Nickelback toured worldwide to support Silver Side Up; they filmed a concert in their home province of Alberta, which the band released on DVD as Live at Home. The band won many Juno Awards and a lot of Billboard Music Awards. "How You Remind Me" became the number one song of the Hot 100 of the year for 2002. By early 2003, the band was nominated for the American Music Awards. The band also played at the American Music Awards. Silver Side Up was certified 6x Multi Platinum by the RIAA and 8x Multi Platinum by the CRIA.
In the United Kingdom, the album has sold over 1,117,000 copies as of June 2017.

Singles

The tracks released from Silver Side Up as singles were "How You Remind Me", "Too Bad", and "Never Again". The most successful of these was "How You Remind Me", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts.

Reception

As of December 22, 2010, the album had sold 5,666,000 copies in the U.S. According to IFPI, over 2,000,000 copies of the album were sold in Europe and over 8,000,000 copies were sold worldwide by 2002. It was ranked 47th on Billboard's 200 Albums of the Decade. Silver Side Up has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
The album received mixed reviews from critics. Rolling Stone critic Matt Diehl gave the album two out of five stars, stating "Nearly every song seems trapped in the amber of early-Nineties Seattle aesthetics, the sonic equivalent of too many unfortunate goatees."

Track listing

Personnel

;Nickelback
;Additional musicians
;Artwork
;Production

Weekly charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Appearances