Rep. Rodney Davis / Rep. Mark Pocan, via C-SPAN

The great national divide over Nickelback made its way to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday morning (March 7th), as Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pocan went head to head with Illinois Republican Rodney Davis over the merits of the polarizing band.

It all started when Congressman Pocan made a quip about the Canadian rock band while talking about a voting-rights provision, saying that only four out of 77,000 people who commented on the provision in a census survey wanted to keep it, adding, “that’s probably about the percent of people who think Nickelback is their favorite band in this country.”



Congressman Davis immediately took offense to Pocan’s quip, yelling, “Why would you criticize one of the greatest bands of the ’90s?” To which Pocan answered, “Wow! One more reason why there’s a difference between Democrats and Republicans — clearly found on the floor of Congress today!”

Now, if Davis was such a big fan, he would know that Nickelback hit it big in the 2000s, when “How You Remind Me” climbed to No. 1 on the charts in 2001. Yes, they did form in 1995, and released a couple of albums in the ’90s, but they can hardly be called a ’90s band.

But wait, the Nickelback debate was far from over! Davis used his turn at the podium to go on about the power of Nickelback, and how Pocan may have just flushed his political career down the toilet.

“I know he did not mean to offend the many thousands upon thousands of Nickelback fans in his district in Wisconsin,” Davis remarked. “I’ll stand here to save you from doing that and have to face the political consequences at the ballot box … And 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, even up at the dais, are still laughing about that.”

For the record, the Nickelback track that gets Davis’ motor running is “If Today Was Your Last Day”, as the congressman later posted on Twitter. The tweet also revealed that he digs Creed, Bush, and Poison!

Pocan, also took to Twitter later, poking fun at Nickelback’s “Photograph” video, while urging Republicans to vote “yes” on the H.R.1. voting-rights bill.

Now, if either of these guys were paying attention to Slipknot singer Corey Taylor recently, they would know that Imagine Dragons are the new Nickelback, thus making the whole argument a moot point.

Anyhoo, see it all go down in the C-SPAN footage and tweets below:

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

As mentioned on the House floor… pic.twitter.com/Sq7NCZ8EuR — US Rep Rodney Davis (@RodneyDavis) March 7, 2019