When I was a kid, my music taste was non-existent until about sixth or seventh grade. I was much more of a book reader, and while that may have made it difficult to relate to my peers, it was what I liked to do.

I had no idea what I was missing out on. I found that listening to music was a great supplement to reading. It made visualizing scenes while reading, or just thinking about in my head, so much easier than without the music.

It was the Christmas of either 2005 or 2006 (my memory isn't the greatest when it comes to dates, but I'm pretty good at approximating) when my parents gave me three CDs as a gift. (If you are reading this and don't know what a CD is you can at least know how to Google it).

One was Kelly Clarkson's sophomore album "Breakaway," the second Aly & AJ's first album "Into the Rush," (yes, I was a Disney music fan of the early-mid aughts - AKA the 2000s for you weirdos - and loved/still love the Michalkas' music to this day, bite me), and Nickelback's "Silver Side Up."

When I look back on it now, I don't think I could have asked for better parents to give me two CDs that make absolute sense together and one that does not connect to the other two in any way fundamentally.
But that can be enough of a story for another article, let's go back to "Silver Side Up."

It was their third studio album and probably my favorite album of theirs after listening to the rest of their music.

It featured their single "How You Remind Me" and songs that basically were along the same vein of the high-octane rock that was circulating the airwaves back in 2001.

I loved everything about it. I loved the gravelly voice of Chad Kroger (even today I'll give that album a listen just to pass the time). I loved the blend of acoustic and electric guitar in songs like "Good Times Gone" and "How You Remind Me." I loved the images that would play through my head as I listened to "Never Again." The lyrics were that descriptive and with my overactive imagination, it made for a healthy way to get some really horrible imagery and emotions out.

Now my parents probably didn't realize that the very first song was my first cognizant introduction to the F-word. But I even loved that. It gave me a way to see and hear the word in a context that would have made the climax of the conflict in the song lack something had it not been used. It showed me that "curse words" are just words with a higher range of meaning that sometimes need to be used in order to get the point across that something is pretty damn important. (See what I did there?)

So, yeah, sure: Nickelback is this generation's Creed, but just like Creed, the band holds a special place in my heart. It was the foundation of my music tastes and helped me figure out what I actually like in music. Because of Nickelback, I listen to bands like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Imogen Heap, Nirvana, and even The Chainsmokers today. I listen to such a large expanse of bands that I would have never given a second look to without listening to this band.

It has made such an impact in my life that I am not ashamed to like it.

However, let's just forget "Dark Horse" ever happened, okay?