My Insulated Life

Being without a series at the moment, last night I was browsing movies on Netflix. And happened upon the documentary Hate to Love: Nickelback. Knowing little about this band other than derisive opinions I've heard, I was mildly intrigued. So I clicked and the streaming began. Over its hour and a half running time I felt sort of removed rather than engaged. Increasingly I was feeling more like I was watching a fabricated account of some fictional band. A la This is Spinal Tap. Because I live a somewhat insulated life which leaves me blissfully free from much of the current and past pop culture, I have heard of Nickelback but have never heard, at least consciously, an entire song that they perform. Meaning that as far as I am concerned, they reside in the same imaginary realm as Spinal Tap. Today I feel as though I should consult YouTube for a sampling of Nickelback's videos so I can make a reasonable determination about whether I enjoy their music or not. But I feel unmotivated. None of the snippets of songs I heard over the course of the documentary inspired me enough to look further. Part of me wants to leave them where they are. Characters in a mockumentary about a band that people seemingly love to hate. I also wish to avoid a relentless earworm that could possibly get stuck in my head and overwrite a musical motif that I enjoy having there. Maybe I should just sit back and be grateful for the insulation. Enough interesting and novel information sneaks in through the chinks to keep me entertained. It's possible that I have subliminally set up filters so only truly provocative and worthy content makes its way through into my conscious brain. This has perhaps come about to shield my delicate sensibilities from an onslaught of the mediocre. I am, after all, a sapiosexual. I am attracted to intelligence in all its forms, not just the carnal variety.  

A notable difference between the two bands is that Spinal Tap had nine drummers over its incarnation, all of whom died under weird circumstances, while Nickelback has thus far had two, both of whom are currently alive, and we hope, well.