Nickelback

If colleges offered a course called Make It On Modern Rock Radio And Actually Succeed For More Than 15 Minutes, Nickelback's hit list — including the Canadian #1 debut of their 2005 album, All the Right Reasons, which went double platinum here in the U.K. and seven times platinum in the States — could fill the syllabus handsomely, with its torch ballads and brawny-but-always-catchy exercises in meaty guitar and no-nonsense hooks. Exhibit A: "Rockstar", which gets us under way in blistering fashion. Nickelback becomes synonymous with thundercrack, in Next Steps.

Our Next Steps exposes the bone marrow beneath Nickelback's more muscular tunes, revealing the band's way with tender melodies via unplugged performances and reflective tracks like "Savin' Me". There's no shortage of dynamite, either, as "Animals" and "Burn It to the Ground" remind us of why the predominantly metal label Roadrunner signed Nickelback in the first place. Away from Nickelback, frontman Chad Kroeger has lent his volcanic vocal to standouts like "Hero", from the Spider-Man soundtrack, and a decidedly groovy "Into the Night", with Santana.

Cover bands and Canadians take note: you, too, could enjoy a future topping charts and monopolising the memory banks of rock radio listeners with your singles. Just look at Nickelback, who went from rocking bars in Calgary to packing arenas on the strength of songs that are heavy without being intimidating and poppy without ever becoming boring or a bit too familiar. No wonder the four-piece (formed in '96) is stronger than ever more than a decade along the line and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Dive into this sampler, featuring reflective tracks along with multiple shots of post-Alice In Chains voltage ("Where?" "Cowboy Hat").