Saturday, December 22, 2001

Nickelback hit #1 with “How You Remind Me”

How You Remind Me

Nickelback

Writer(s): Chad Kroeger, Mike Kroeger, Ryan Peake, Ryan Vikedal (see lyrics here)

Released: August 21, 2001

First Charted: July 28, 2001

Peak: 14 US, 18 RR, 2 A40, 11 AA, 113 AR, 113 MR, 4 UK, 1 CN, 2 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 1.2 UK, 3.15 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 7.25.8 video, 685.19 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

When Nickelback recorded “How You Remind Me” in about ten minutes as a last minute edition to their Silver Side Up album, they had something special. SF The band has amassed a legion of detractors, and this song is “a guilty pleasure, to be sure,” TG but an “absolutely undeniable” TG “example of mainstream songwriting chops and flawlessly slick production.” TG

This was the first top 40 hit for the Canadian rock band and only the second #1 song by a Canadian group, the first being the Guess Who’s “American Woman.” SF “Remind Me” was the most-played song of 2002 in the U.S. SF and topped the Billboard year-end chart. Billboard named it the #1 rock song of the decade. WK Lead singer Chad Kroeger has referred to what is often considered their signature song as “the song that put Nickelback on the map.” WK

Kroeger told MTV he penned this song about an ex-girlfriend with whom he’d had a rather dysfunctional relationship. However, he kept the lyrics ambiguous so that listeners could relate to the idea of an ex pointing out one’s faults. SF

The band’s drum tech, Andrew Mawhinney, suggested the idea of the band dropping out at the last chorus in which Kroeger bellows, “for handing you a heart worth breaking!” Mawhinney was rewarded by the band for the suggestion with $5000. SF

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First posted 4/23/2020; last updated 11/7/2022.

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Friday, November 30, 2001

Clarke Speicher: The Top 100 Albums of All Time

Clarke Speicher:

The Top 100 Albums of All Time

In 2001, Clarke Speicher published his list of the 100 greatest albums of all time in the “Mosaic” column for The Review, a student-led newspaper for the University of Delaware. It appeared over multiple issues (volume 128, numbers 12-23). Here are the specific issues and their dates:

  • Issue #12 (10/9/01): 91-100
  • Issue #13 (10/12/01): 81-90
  • Issue #14 (10/16/01): 71-80
  • Issue #15 (10/19/01): 61-70
  • Issue #16 (10/23/01): 51-60
  • Issue #17 (11/2/01): 41-50
  • Issue #18 (11/6/01): 31-40
  • Issue #19 (11/9/01): 21-30
  • Issue #20 (11/13/01): 11-20
  • Issue #22 (11/20/01): 6-10
  • Issue #23 (11/30/01): 1-5
  • Issue #21 (11/16/01): 25 albums that barely missed the cut
These issues no longer appear online, but they have been referenced in multiple album reviews here at the DMDB. The original list appears below.

Check out other best-of album lists by individuals/critics here.

1. The Beatles Revolver (1966)
2. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966)
3. Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde (1966)
4. Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
5. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On (1971)
6. Velvet Underground & Nico Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
7. The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968)
8. The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
9. The Clash London Calling (1979)
10. The Stone Roses The Stone Roses (1989)

11. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972)
12. The Smiths The Queen Is Dead (1986)
13. Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
14. Nirvana Nevermind (1991)
15. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? (1967)
16. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959)
17. Van Morrison Astral Weeks (1968)
18. The Beatles Abbey Road (1969)
19. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
20. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

21. Love Forever Changes (1967)
22. Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
23. Radiohead OK Computer (1997)
24. Stevie Wonder Innervisions (1973)
25. The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965)
26. The Who Who’s Next (1971)
27. The Clash The Clash (1977)
28. Joni Mitchell Blue (1971)
29. Prince Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987)
30. The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed (1969)

31. Frank Sinatra Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! (1956)
32. Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks (1975)
33. U2 The Joshua Tree (1987)
34. The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night (soundtrack, 1964)
35. Elvis Presley The Sun Sessions (archives: 1954-55, released 1976)
36. R.E.M. Automatic for the People (1992)
37. The Doors The Doors (1967)
38. Patti Smith Horses (1975)
39. Otis Redding Otis Blue (1965)
40. James Brown Live at the Apollo Volume 1 (live, 1962)

41. Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
42. David Bowie Hunky Dory (1971)
43. Neil Young After the Gold Rush (1970)
44. John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965)
45. Nick Drake Five Leaves Left (1969)
46. Lou Reed Transformer (1972)
47. Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (1975)
48. David Bowie Low (1977)
49. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland (1968)
50. Television Marquee Moon (1977)

51. The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground (1969)
52. Miles Davis Bitches Brew (1970)
53. Ramones Ramones (1976)
54. My Bloody Valentine Loveless (1991)
55. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
56. Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy (1973)
57. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run (1975)
58. De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
59. Bob Marley & The Wailers Natty Dread (1974)
60. Joy Division Closer (1980)

61. The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)
62. Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967)
63. Sly & the Family Stone Stand! (1969)
64. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982)
65. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin I (1969)
66. Elvis Costello My Aim Is True (1977)
67. Pink Floyd The Wall (1979)
68. Dusty Springfield Dusty in Memphis (1969)
69. The Police Synchronicity (1983)
70. Carole King Tapestry (1971)

71. Paul Simon Graceland (1986)
72. Parliament Mothership Connection (1975)
73. Massive Attack Blue Lines (1991)
74. Van Morrison Moondance (1970)
75. Al Green Call Me (1973)
76. Jeff Buckley Grace (1994)
77. The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet (1968)
78. Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique (1989)
79. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica (1969)
80. Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)

81. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Déjà Vu (1970)
82. N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton (1989)
83. Pixies Surfer Rosa (1988)
84. AC/DC Back in Black (1980)
85. Sonic Youth Daydream Nation (1988)
86. The Who Tommy (1969)
87. Curtis Mayfield Superfly (soundtrack, 1972)
88. Ray Charles Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962)
89. Moby Grape Moby Grape (1967)
90. U2 Achtung Baby (1991)

91. Santana Abraxas (1970)
92. Peter Gabriel So (1986)
93. The Band The Band (1969)
94. Leftfield Leftism (1995)
95. Pearl Jam Ten (1991)
96. Fleetwood Mac Rumours (1977)
97. Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
98. Liz Phair Exile in Guyville (1993)
99. Talking Heads Remain in Light (1980)
100. Primal Scream Screamadelica (1991)

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First posted 3/16/2024

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Friday, November 9, 2001

Today in Music (1901): Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 premiered

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor

Sergei Rachmaninov (composer)

Composed: 1900-1901

First Performed: November 9, 1901

Peak: --

Sales (in millions): --

Genre: classical > concerto

Parts/Movements:

  • Moderato
  • Adagio Sostenuto
  • Allegro Scherzando

Average Duration: 33:40

Rating:

4.475 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Work:

Rachmaninov suffered a series of failures at the end of the nineteenth century. He was expelled from music school in 1885 and, after the failure of his first symphony in 1897, he turned to drinking. AM By 1899, his alcoholism was threatening his career – his hands shook to the point of hampering his ability to play. In 1900, he turned to neuropsychotherapy, hypnosis, and trance therapy to turn things around. It worked – not only did he compose this concerto, but over the last 40 years of his life, he never succumbed again to depression. AM

“The opening, C minor, movement in sonata form was composed last; structurally it is the most conventional. Ten bars of unaccompanied keyboard chords lead directly to a palpitant principal theme for violins, violas, and clarinets — motivic rather than tuneful, despite a melismatic extension for cellos. An episode links this to the second theme, in E flat, one of Rachmaninov’s most celebrated melodies, introduced by the piano. Following the development and a maestoso alla marcia reprise, there’s a brilliant coda — but no solo cadenza, yet.” AM

“In the E major, Adagio sostenuto movement, after four bars of Tchaikovskian string chords, piano arpeggios introduce a two-part principal theme, played first by the solo flute, then by the solo clarinet. Piano and orchestra develop both parts before a Tchaikovsky-like theme for bassoons nudges the tempo a bit. Further development goes even quicker, culminating in a solo cadenza that’s been teasingly postponed, after which the original material returns, soulfully.” AM

“The finale is an Allegro scherzando in C major. The strings play a rhythmic figure that builds to a staccato climax. The piano enters with a flourish, setting up the principal subject — again, as before in I, motivic rather than tuneful, but admirably constructed for developing. This is followed by another of Rachmaninov’s signature melodies, lushly undulant, sung by the solo oboe and strings. (In the postwar 1940s, this was garnished with words and performed unrelentingly by big-band vandals as Full Moon and Empty Arms). A fugato brings back the principal subject, followed by a Maestoso statement of ‘The Tune.’ Accelerating fistfuls of piano chords set up a crowd-rousing conclusion.” AM

The first performance of this concerto was “on November 9, 1901, with Alexandre Siloti conducting the Moscow Philharmonic Society.” AM

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Last updated 2/23/2026.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2001

Alan Jackson performed “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” at the CMAs

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning

Alan Jackson

Writer(s): Alan Jackson (see lyrics here)

First Performed: November 7, 2001

Released: November 26, 2001

First Charted: November 24, 2001

Peak: 28 US, 15 CW, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 0.4 US

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.2 radio, 34.82 video, 44.78 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

“Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” was Alan Jackson’s heartfelt reaction to the September 11 attacks. As soon as he saw the news on television, he knew he wanted to write a song about it, but couldn’t for several weeks. As he said, “I didn’t want to write a patriotic song. And I didn’t want it to be vengeful, either. But I didn’t want to forget about how I felt and how I knew other people felt that day.” WK

At 4 a.m. on October 28, 2001, he awoke with the melody, opening lines, and chorus going through his mind. He got out of bed and sang into a hand-held digital recorder. After his family went to Sunday school that morning, he finished the lyrics. The words focus on questions about how people reacted, such as, “Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow? / Go out and buy you a gun? / Did you turn off that violent old movie you’re watchin’ / And turn on I Love Lucy reruns?” He referred to himself as “a singer of simple songs” and “not a real political man” and concludes by paraphrasing The Bible with the line, “Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us / And the greatest is love.”

Still, he wasn’t sure about recording it, much less releasing it, because he didn’t want to capitalize on a tragedy. However, when he played it for his wife, Denise, and for his producer, Keith Stegall, they both gave their approval. He went into the studio and recorded it that week. He played the finished track for executives at his record label. RCA chairman Joe Galante said, “We just kind of looked at one another. Nobody spoke for a full minute.” WK Jackson later said the song was his greatest accomplishment. SF

Jackson premiered the song at the County Music Association’s annual awards on November 7, 2001. He originally was going to perform “Where I Come From,” which was #1 on the Billboard country charts. When Jackson’s manager, Nancy Russell, played “Where Were You” for four of the CMA’s top executives, they were overcome with emotion. WK Vince Gill introduced Jackson that night and Jackson received a standing ovation at the song’s conclusion.

The next morning stations were immediately playing the song. Based almost entirely on that airplay, the song debuted at #25 on the Billboard country charts the week ending November 24, 2001 – the highest debut in a decade. It was then released as a single and, only six weeks later, became the fastest rising song to #1 in four years. WK

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First posted 8/13/2022; last updated 1/25/2026.

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