The merit of Nickelback as a rock band is apparently still a hotly contested topic in 2019. This week, the debate made its way to the floor of congress, where rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat from Wisconsin, and rep. Rodney Davis, a Republican from Illinois, gave us a real taste of democracy in action.
Before we go any further, lets not forget that Rolling Stone officially ranked Nickelback as one of the worst bands of the ’90s; second only to Creed.
A US representative called Nickelback “one of the greatest bands of the ’90s” before getting roasted by his colleague on the floor of congress.
During a debate about an amendment to end prison gerrymandering, the two took a brief moment to discuss the Canadian pop rock band. It began with a dig from Pocan, who equivocated the number of Nickelback fans in the US to the four out 77,000 constituents who wanted to keep a particular voting provision. “That’s probably about the percent of people who think Nickelback is their favourite band in this country.”
“It’s pretty low,” Pocan said.
Shocked and offended, Davis was pretty quick to object. “Why would you criticise one of the greatest bands of the ’90s?”
“Wow! One more reason why there’s a difference between Democrats and Republicans,” Pocan shot back laughing. “Clearly found on the floor of Congress today!”
The debate ended with Davis apologising to “thousands and thousands” of offended Americans on behalf of Pocan.
“I’ll stand here to save you from doing that and have to face the political consequences at the ballot box!” Davis continued. “Yes, I actually do have a Nickelback song on my running playlist that I listen to on a regular basis. I was ridiculed for that when I posted my playlist one time, and I know some in this chamber … are still laughing about that.”
I’m sure we can all agree that freedom of speech is a wonderful thing; Nickelback not so much.
Rodney Davis actually kept talking about his love of Nickelback for another 40 seconds or so when it was his turn to speak again. pic.twitter.com/PQQERt9d6S
— Adam Smith (@asmith83) March 7, 2019
