This article is about the Nickelback album. For other uses, see Long Road (disambiguation).
The Long Road
studio
ArtistNickelback
CoverNickelback - The Long Road.albumcover.jpg
ReleasedSeptember 23, 2003
RecordedDecember 2002–April 2003
StudioGreenhouse Studios (Burnaby, British Columbia) · Mountain View Studios (Abbotsford, British Columbia)
Genre
Length40:34
60:08 (bonus tracks)
LabelRoadrunner
Producer
Prev year2001
Next year2005

The Long Road is the fourth studio album by Canadian rock band Nickelback, released on September 23, 2003. Recorded at the famed Greenhouse Studios in Vancouver,[5] it is the band's final album with Ryan Vikedal as drummer, and features a notable change in style towards more aggressive guitar riffs and the inclusion of double bass drumming. The album is the first collaboration with producer Joey Moi; who engineered their previous album, Silver Side Up, and produced the band's next three albums.

Composition

Most of the album's songs were an experiment from the band into writing heavier downtuned riffs in either B or C tuning.[6] On tracks such as "Flat on the Floor", "Because of You", and "Throw Yourself Away"; Vikedal implemented the use of double bass drumming.[7] Despite this; the album features several prominent acoustic segments on songs such as "Someday", "Believe it or Not", and "Should've Listened". Kroeger's lyrics often revolved around topics ranging from breakups, self-harm, sex, and personal motivation. Kroeger wrote the lyrics to "Throw Yourself Away" about Melissa Drexler's infamous 1997 infanticide at her high school prom.[8]

During the band's appearance at Bizarre Festival in Weeze, Germany, on August 16, 2002; "Figured You Out" made its first live appearance.[9]

"Someday" later made an appearance as a part of Nickelback's appearance on MTV Unplugged in London on September 3, 2003.[10][11]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 in the United States and sold 200,000 copies in its first week of release.[12] The album was quickly certified platinum by the RIAA on October 24, 2003; eventually being certified double-platinum on March 6, 2004.[13] The album was later certified 3× Platinum in the United States on March 10, 2005; having sold 3,591,000 copies as of April 2011.[14] It has sold over five million copies worldwide and was the sixth best-selling album of 2003, having also sold over two million copies internationally.[15] It was later ranked No. 157 on Billboard's 200 Albums of the Decade.[16]

Critical reception

The album received polarizing reviews from critics. Journalists often praised the heavier musical direction and aggressive guitar riffs, but criticized the album's misogynistic lyrics.[17][18] The album was nominated for Rock Album of the Year at the 2004 Grammy Awards.[19][20]

Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly praised the album for its musical compositions, lauding the angrier direction and Vikedal's strong drumming on numerous tracks, claiming "The band hammers each song home with a single-minded fervor, cannily melding metal, grunge, and melody. As a singer, Kroeger possesses that rarest of latter-day rock-star commodities: an instantly identifiable voice imbued with passion and edge".[21]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album a modest review, criticizing Kroeger's songwriting but also praising the production of the album in addition to the band's darker change in musical direction, claiming "Nickelback courts it through their audience-pleasing grunge pastiche, which treats the style as just another variation of hard rock".[22]

Tour

The band embarked on tour in support of the album with Trapt and Three Days Grace hired as opening acts. Theory of a Deadman were later hired as an opening act in November 2003 replacing Trapt.[23] The tour included 45 North American dates, 25 European dates, three Japanese dates, and five Australian dates, the second longest tour to date from the band.[24] Prior to the second European leg, opening acts Theory of a Deadman and Three Days Grace were replaced by 3 Doors Down and Puddle of Mudd.[25] Following the tour, on January 2, 2005, Nickelback unexpectedly fired Vikedal after a minor royalty disagreement, replacing him with 3 Doors Down drummer Daniel Adair.[26] Kroeger later sued Vikedal to prevent him receiving any further royalties from the band's music, though the matter was later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.[27][28]

Personnel

Credits adapted from album's liner notes.[29]

Nickelback

Additional musicians

  • Brian Larson, Cameron Wilson, Henry Lee, Zoltan Rozsnyai – strings (track 3)
  • Corrine Youchezin – female voice (track 5)

Production

  • Joey Moi – producer, engineer, digital editing
  • Nickelback – producer
  • Alex "Laquaysh" Aligizakis – assistant engineer
  • Ryan Andersen – digital editing
  • Randy Staub – mixing
  • Zach Blackstone – mixing assistant
  • George Marino – mastering

Track listing

Standard edition

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2003)Peak
position

Year-end charts

Chart (2003)Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[30]58
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[31]51
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32]57
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[33]28
UK Albums (OCC)[34]92
US Billboard 200[35]100
Chart (2004)Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[36]22
US Billboard 200[37]26

Decade-end charts

Chart (2000–2009)Position
US Billboard 200[38]157

References

  1. ^ "The Long Road - Rolling Stone - 11/13/03". Rolling Stone
  2. ^ Martins, Jorge (September 17, 2024). "10 Divisive Post-Grunge Albums From the 2000s That Are Actually Great". Ultimate Guitar. Archived September 16, 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  3. ^ Howell, Maddy (March 1, 2023). "Every Nickelback album ranked from worst to best". Classic Rock. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
  4. ^ "NICKELBACK – The Long Road: Metal Express". 23 September 2003.
  5. ^ Reesman, Bryan (November 1, 2013). "In The Studio With Nickelback". Mix.
  6. ^ "10 Nickelback Lyrics that Would fit Metal Songs". Loudwire. 21 April 2023.
  7. ^ "In the Studio With Nickelback". November 2003.
  8. ^ "Nickelback - Throw Yourself Away lyrics"
  9. ^ "Nickelback Setlist - August 16, 2002: Bizarre Festival - Flughafen Niederrhein, Weeze, Germany". setlist.fm
  10. ^ "Nickelback - Live MTV ( Acoustic )". YouTube. 11 June 2015.
  11. ^ "Nickelback on tour The Long Road Tour: pg. 11"
  12. ^ "Fansided: People Finally Realize Nickelback Sucks As Album Flops"
  13. ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum - Nickelback". Recording Industry Association of America
  14. ^ Grein, Paul (13 April 2011). "Week Ending April 10, 2011. Albums: Adele Is Everywhere". Chart Watch. Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 24 April 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  15. ^ "Billboard 200: Week of October 11, 2003". Billboard. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  16. ^ "Best of the 2000s: Billboard 200 Albums". Billboard.com. Showing 141-160. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  17. ^ "The Long Road - Nickelback: Metacritic". Metacritic
  18. ^ "Album review: Nickelback, The Long Road (2003)". 4 December 2017.
  19. ^ "2003 GRAMMY WINNERS"
  20. ^ "Nickelback - The Long Road: Rhino"
  21. ^ "The Long Road review by Tom Sinclair: Entertainment Weekly". Entertainment Weekly
  22. ^ "Nickelback's the Long Road - Allmusic". AllMusic
  23. ^ "Theory Of A Deadman Pushes For Its Own Identity". Billboard
  24. ^ "Nickelback on tour The Long Road"
  25. ^ "Hopes High for 3 Doors Down/Nickelback". 29 May 2004.
  26. ^ "Betrayed Nickelback Drummer"
  27. ^ "Nickelback's Former Drummer Ryan Vikedal Sued and Dismissed"
  28. ^ "Chad Kroeger Wants His Nickels Back From Ex-Drummer". MTV. Archived from the original on June 11, 2023.
  29. ^ The Long Road (booklet). Roadrunner. 2003.
  30. ^ "ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2003". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  31. ^ "Jahreshitparade Alben 2003". austriancharts.at. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  32. ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  33. ^ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2003". hitparade.ch. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  34. ^ "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2003". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  35. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2003". Billboard. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  36. ^ "ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2004". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  37. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2004". Billboard. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  38. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums". Billboard. p. 166. Retrieved May 18, 2021. – via World Radio History.