Detroit’s Nickelback Concern

When people die in Detroit, they usually request their pallbearers wear team jerseys so the Lions can let them down one last time (sorry – had to go there). This year though, the cellar-dwellers are 6-2 and legitimately flirting with a playoff berth, which makes their annual Thanksgiving Day game all the more special.

Special enough that Dennis Guttman thought it deserved a special musical performance. And in his opinion, Nickelback isn’t it.

“There’s so much great music in Detroit,” Guttman reportedly said. “It’s the home of Motown. It’s Detroit Rock City.”

So Guttman began an online petition. It took off within 30 minutes and is very close to having 30,000 signatures. 

When asked why he was motivated to start the petition, Guttman replied, “It’s because they suck. I’m sure they’re great people, but I can’t stand their music. If people want to see them perform, go buy a ticket to their concert.”

The movement has picked up national attention from CNN to ESPN.

That in itself didn’t sit well with blogger Jeff Wattrick, who opined that Detroit has bigger concerns – like that it is running out of money and has 11 percent unemployment. It perplexed him that the citizens were more focused on whether the city should build a Robocop statue and if Nickelback should play a halftime show.

Yet, he wasn’t above piling on.

“Look, I get the second one. Nickelback is basically Creed with more suck,” he wrote. “Of all the scandals to befall Tiger Woods, his attendance at a Nickelback concert remains the one thing that diminished my opinion of him. The NFL pretty much goes out of their way to insult their core demographic with every overly-theatrical halftime show that doesn’t feature either Kid Rock or a really good marching band.”

Guttman’s next step? Asking a Detroit artist to step up and offer to play the show at Ford Field.